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Post by VPL630 on Aug 24, 2015 15:29:33 GMT
48's, it's so nicer going somewhere different even if I sat on Lodnon bridge for 10 mins not moving... 17750 for my first half which was a slow bus but just nice to drive a TA agin I think I have 17814 for my second half until 2203 if you are interested in a leisurely drive around the 48 route  |
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Post by capitalomnibus on Aug 24, 2015 19:55:58 GMT
48's, it's so nicer going somewhere different even if I sat on Lodnon bridge for 10 mins not moving... 17750 for my first half which was a slow bus but just nice to drive a TA agin I think I have 17814 for my second half until 2203 if you are interested in a leisurely drive around the 48 route I remember 17814 had a bad gearbox fault when new, used to jolt like crazy when braking. Had to get sorted under warranty IIRC. |
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Post by VPL630 on Aug 24, 2015 21:58:32 GMT
48's, it's so nicer going somewhere different even if I sat on Lodnon bridge for 10 mins not moving... 17750 for my first half which was a slow bus but just nice to drive a TA agin I think I have 17814 for my second half until 2203 if you are interested in a leisurely drive around the 48 route I remember 17814 had a bad gearbox fault when new, used to jolt like crazy when braking. Had to get sorted under warranty IIRC. It still does, 4th gear won't engage, the retarder is very sharp and grabby when it wants to be, you really can't brake smoothly in this bus but they seem to have sorted GreenRoad out to allow for this, really was a bad a bus to drive and on my last trip the retarder just gave up completely, you could smell the brakes by the time I got to bakers arms  There were also harsh vibrations on acceleration and braking between 10 and 30mph all duly noted on the defect card |
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Post by capitalomnibus on Aug 25, 2015 11:08:43 GMT
I remember 17814 had a bad gearbox fault when new, used to jolt like crazy when braking. Had to get sorted under warranty IIRC. It still does, 4th gear won't engage, the retarder is very sharp and grabby when it wants to be, you really can't break smoothly in this bus but they seem to have sorted GreenRoad out to allow for this, really was a bad a bus to drive and on my last trip the retarder just gave up completely, you could smell the brakes by the time I got to bakers arms There were also harsh vibrations on acceleration and braking between 10 and 30mph all duly noted on the defect card Wow, its strange how some traits never leave specific vehicles. They should have replaced the gearbox. Didn't realise Stagecoach went "Green Road" like Metroline/Go-Ahead. Think First London had it with Drive Green. |
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Post by Nathan on Aug 25, 2015 12:27:32 GMT
Excuse my naïvety, but what is this 'Green Road' you speak of?
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Post by snoggle on Aug 25, 2015 12:46:44 GMT
Excuse my naïvety, but what is this 'Green Road' you speak of? It's the on board driver monitoring system. It logs how smoothly / roughly a driver drives. There are those little displays of red and green lights on the dashboard which go green when drivers make sure buses move like snails with walking sticks and go bright red when a driver stamps on the accelerator and makes the engine play tunes.   It's clear drivers' performance is logged and they are rated overall and ranked against each other. I assume that repeated poor performance would warrant being "told off" by the relevant manager and being required to change driving styles. For the operators it's about getting good mystery shopper [1] scores and reduced fuel consumption / less wear and tear on vehicles & components. [1] TfL use mystery shoppers to rate the "journey experience" and driving quality. |
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Post by Nathan on Aug 25, 2015 12:53:57 GMT
Excuse my naïvety, but what is this 'Green Road' you speak of? It's the on board driver monitoring system. It logs how smoothly / roughly a driver drives. There are those little displays of red and green lights on the dashboard which go green when drivers make sure buses move like snails with walking sticks and go bright red when a driver stamps on the accelerator and makes the engine play tunes. It's clear drivers' performance is logged and they are rating overall and ranked against each other. I assume that repeated poor performance would warrant being "told off" by the relevant manager and being required to change driving styles. For the operators it's about getting good mystery shopper [1] scores and reduced fuel consumption / less wear and tear on vehicles & components. [1] TfL use mystery shoppers to rate the "journey experience" and driving quality. Ah right, I see. Thank you, Snoggle. I've always wondered what that little display does. |
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Post by VPL630 on Aug 25, 2015 13:57:12 GMT
Excuse my naïvety, but what is this 'Green Road' you speak of? It's the on board driver monitoring system. It logs how smoothly / roughly a driver drives. There are those little displays of red and green lights on the dashboard which go green when drivers make sure buses move like snails with walking sticks and go bright red when a driver stamps on the accelerator and makes the engine play tunes. It's clear drivers' performance is logged and they are rated overall and ranked against each other. I assume that repeated poor performance would warrant being "told off" by the relevant manager and being required to change driving styles. For the operators it's about getting good mystery shopper [1] scores and reduced fuel consumption / less wear and tear on vehicles & components. [1] TfL use mystery shoppers to rate the "journey experience" and driving quality. Too get an acceleration "event" you would have to do a handbrake takeoff, but in general if you drive smoothly and corner smoothly avoid all roundabouts it should stay in the Green, will post later explaining a lot more about the system |
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Post by capitalomnibus on Aug 25, 2015 14:12:36 GMT
Excuse my naïvety, but what is this 'Green Road' you speak of? It's the on board driver monitoring system. It logs how smoothly / roughly a driver drives. There are those little displays of red and green lights on the dashboard which go green when drivers make sure buses move like snails with walking sticks and go bright red when a driver stamps on the accelerator and makes the engine play tunes. It's clear drivers' performance is logged and they are rated overall and ranked against each other. I assume that repeated poor performance would warrant being "told off" by the relevant manager and being required to change driving styles. For the operators it's about getting good mystery shopper [1] scores and reduced fuel consumption / less wear and tear on vehicles & components. [1] TfL use mystery shoppers to rate the "journey experience" and driving quality. The system imo is a load of bullocks and has certain drivers driving like old grannies afraid for it to hit a yellow or worse red. After 2 flashing yellows within a certain time you would get a red. You can also get a straight red if you slammed on brakes violently, cornered like it was a slalom test. Don't know if its possible to get a yellow or red on acceleration though. You also get certain drivers would crawl at literally less than 5 mph to go over speed humps so they don't get an event. This has been to the annoyance of over road users causing them to take evasive action. Also if you do not press the gas or brake pedal you could literally go over a speed hump and not create an event; there are a few other flaws within the system that you could cheat it and still drive badly and not get events.
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Post by Nathan on Aug 25, 2015 15:48:40 GMT
It's the on board driver monitoring system. It logs how smoothly / roughly a driver drives. There are those little displays of red and green lights on the dashboard which go green when drivers make sure buses move like snails with walking sticks and go bright red when a driver stamps on the accelerator and makes the engine play tunes. It's clear drivers' performance is logged and they are rated overall and ranked against each other. I assume that repeated poor performance would warrant being "told off" by the relevant manager and being required to change driving styles. For the operators it's about getting good mystery shopper [1] scores and reduced fuel consumption / less wear and tear on vehicles & components. [1] TfL use mystery shoppers to rate the "journey experience" and driving quality. The system imo is a load of bullocks and has certain drivers driving like old grannies afraid for it to hit a yellow or worse red. After 2 flashing yellows within a certain time you would get a red. You can also get a straight red if you slammed on brakes violently, cornered like it was a slalom test. Don't know if its possible to get a yellow or red on acceleration though. You also get certain drivers would crawl at literally less than 5 mph to go over speed humps so they don't get an event. This has been to the annoyance of over road users causing them to take evasive action. Also if you do not press the gas or brake pedal you could literally go over a speed hump and not create an event; there are a few other flaws within the system that you could cheat it and still drive badly and not get events.
So why is it the case that we sometimes see the odd driver hammering down on the pedal as much as possible? For example, I've read on here that drivers of the N3 like to drive as fast as they can. I'm sure this is the case for most other night bus services too. |
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Post by capitalomnibus on Aug 25, 2015 16:58:23 GMT
The system imo is a load of bullocks and has certain drivers driving like old grannies afraid for it to hit a yellow or worse red. After 2 flashing yellows within a certain time you would get a red. You can also get a straight red if you slammed on brakes violently, cornered like it was a slalom test. Don't know if its possible to get a yellow or red on acceleration though. You also get certain drivers would crawl at literally less than 5 mph to go over speed humps so they don't get an event. This has been to the annoyance of over road users causing them to take evasive action. Also if you do not press the gas or brake pedal you could literally go over a speed hump and not create an event; there are a few other flaws within the system that you could cheat it and still drive badly and not get events.
So why is it the case that we sometimes see the odd driver hammering down on the pedal as much as possible? For example, I've read on here that drivers of the N3 like to drive as fast as they can. I'm sure this is the case for most other night bus services too. You don't need to hammer down the pedal to go fast. The type you say would hammer down the pedal, this would not stop the type, the type who always gets into the office, always has union reps fighting cases for them etc. if they get fired they usually go from company to company. |
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Post by greeny253 on Aug 25, 2015 21:07:08 GMT
It's the on board driver monitoring system. It logs how smoothly / roughly a driver drives. There are those little displays of red and green lights on the dashboard which go green when drivers make sure buses move like snails with walking sticks and go bright red when a driver stamps on the accelerator and makes the engine play tunes. It's clear drivers' performance is logged and they are rated overall and ranked against each other. I assume that repeated poor performance would warrant being "told off" by the relevant manager and being required to change driving styles. For the operators it's about getting good mystery shopper [1] scores and reduced fuel consumption / less wear and tear on vehicles & components. [1] TfL use mystery shoppers to rate the "journey experience" and driving quality. The system imo is a load of bullocks and has certain drivers driving like old grannies afraid for it to hit a yellow or worse red. After 2 flashing yellows within a certain time you would get a red. You can also get a straight red if you slammed on brakes violently, cornered like it was a slalom test. Don't know if its possible to get a yellow or red on acceleration though. You also get certain drivers would crawl at literally less than 5 mph to go over speed humps so they don't get an event. This has been to the annoyance of over road users causing them to take evasive action. Also if you do not press the gas or brake pedal you could literally go over a speed hump and not create an event; there are a few other flaws within the system that you could cheat it and still drive badly and not get events.
If other road users are having to take "evasive action" over a bus slowing down for speed bumps they are clearly traveling too fast. You can't go quickly over a speed bump in a bus - it'll be seriously uncomfortable for all concerned and the forces felt at the rear of the bus are greater than those at the front. It is possible to go over a speed hump on momentum alone but it's important to balance speed and passenger comfort. And I don't know about anyone else on here but I'd prefer to get a bus driven by a "granny" driver - I much prefer to not have to watch out of the windscreen as a passenger. I expect a comfortable journey. Unfortunately, far too many Lewis Hamilton wannabes on the buses up here  |
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Post by vjaska on Aug 25, 2015 21:39:51 GMT
The system imo is a load of bullocks and has certain drivers driving like old grannies afraid for it to hit a yellow or worse red. After 2 flashing yellows within a certain time you would get a red. You can also get a straight red if you slammed on brakes violently, cornered like it was a slalom test. Don't know if its possible to get a yellow or red on acceleration though. You also get certain drivers would crawl at literally less than 5 mph to go over speed humps so they don't get an event. This has been to the annoyance of over road users causing them to take evasive action. Also if you do not press the gas or brake pedal you could literally go over a speed hump and not create an event; there are a few other flaws within the system that you could cheat it and still drive badly and not get events.
If other road users are having to take "evasive action" over a bus slowing down for speed bumps they are clearly traveling too fast. You can't go quickly over a speed bump in a bus - it'll be seriously uncomfortable for all concerned and the forces felt at the rear of the bus are greater than those at the front. It is possible to go over a speed hump on momentum alone but it's important to balance speed and passenger comfort. And I don't know about anyone else on here but I'd prefer to get a bus driven by a "granny" driver - I much prefer to not have to watch out of the windscreen as a passenger. I expect a comfortable journey. Unfortunately, far too many Lewis Hamilton wannabes on the buses up here I'd prefer to have the bus I'm on driven by someone in between a granny driver and a Lewis Hamilton wannabe. There is absolutely no need to drive at ridiculously slow speeds such as 5 & 10mph unless your moving through a bus station but of course, there's no need to be doing 50mph through a residential area unless signs indicate otherwise. |
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Post by VPL630 on Aug 25, 2015 22:22:03 GMT
The system imo is a load of bullocks and has certain drivers driving like old grannies afraid for it to hit a yellow or worse red. After 2 flashing yellows within a certain time you would get a red. You can also get a straight red if you slammed on brakes violently, cornered like it was a slalom test. Don't know if its possible to get a yellow or red on acceleration though. You also get certain drivers would crawl at literally less than 5 mph to go over speed humps so they don't get an event. This has been to the annoyance of over road users causing them to take evasive action. Also if you do not press the gas or brake pedal you could literally go over a speed hump and not create an event; there are a few other flaws within the system that you could cheat it and still drive badly and not get events.
So why is it the case that we sometimes see the odd driver hammering down on the pedal as much as possible? For example, I've read on here that drivers of the N3 like to drive as fast as they can. I'm sure this is the case for most other night bus services too. You can be hammering it down the road and it will be staying green if you are being smooth about it, not slamming on the brakes, not accelerating into/out of corners ect, smooth driving is the key, not granny driving at 10-15 mph even at that speed if you aren't reading the road ahead and an addison lee car cuts you up you are going to have to brake and you will most likely get an event for it. Here is a video that explains the system It's basically to just save money at the end of the day, there are case studies to prove this. Unless your safety score is quite bad and you are classed as a red driver you won't be hearing from anyone, If you do become a red driver and don't improve after being given a warning someone will come out to asses your drive and give you hints on how to improve ect ect, at Stagecoach anyway we have been told we won't be disciplined for having a bad score. Things most people don't like about the system, There are times and places where you genuinely can't avoid causing an "Event" for some people this is a big issue, driver's going through lights to avoid getting an "Event" for braking ect, There are some buses where the system is not calibrated correctly and you can get an "Event" for doing literally nothing, The system can also be set off by strong vibrations EG Sub woofer in passing cars... |
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Post by snoggle on Aug 25, 2015 22:33:04 GMT
If other road users are having to take "evasive action" over a bus slowing down for speed bumps they are clearly traveling too fast. You can't go quickly over a speed bump in a bus - it'll be seriously uncomfortable for all concerned and the forces felt at the rear of the bus are greater than those at the front. It is possible to go over a speed hump on momentum alone but it's important to balance speed and passenger comfort. And I don't know about anyone else on here but I'd prefer to get a bus driven by a "granny" driver - I much prefer to not have to watch out of the windscreen as a passenger. I expect a comfortable journey. Unfortunately, far too many Lewis Hamilton wannabes on the buses up here Tell the Sullivan Buses' drivers on Vic Line RRS "A" about speed over speed humps. Some of them just plough straight over them without adjusting their speed. Surprised there haven't been whiplast injuries for those at the back upstairs. While I take your point about safe driving this does not have to mean being overtaken by arthritic snails. All very slow driving does is annoy passengers who get very irritated if they think they're being delayed for no good reason or who are worrying about making connections / getting somewhere on time. I'm pretty certain that slow bus driving and being held to "regulate the service" would be pretty high up the list of passenger moans. On the opposite side of the coin I'd also expect being thrown around the bus and having to hang on for dear life would also be high up the same list too. It's a question of an appropriate balance between comfort, safety and make decent progress. I suspect really slow bus services are a turn off for people and would be a clear reason why people give up on using buses - more outside London than in to be fair but with 20 mph limits appearing everywhere now we are getting a less attractive service which will cost TfL more to run. Unless there are demonstrable local safety risks then I'm not convinced by blanket bans on main roads. Side roads and residential streets probably have a greater justification for lower limits. |
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