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Post by VPL630 on Apr 8, 2023 14:41:19 GMT
Do bus drivers nowadays regularly use the microphone to make announcements? For example, in the event of a diversion or something else? I am currently working with Tfl to achieve a better quality of passenger information in the vehicle. What is your feedback? When I was a driver, and iBus wasn’t working which in 5/6 years was only a handful of times, I never made any additional announcements, at least 1 of those times it failed I was on the R5/10 where everyone knows where they are going anyway. Every time there was a diversion I’ve always made an announcement and depending on loadings I would get out the cab and just tell everyone as half the time people don’t listen or can’t hear it and it was a way of quickly answering peoples questions When I worked at Ensignbus, there is no PA system fitted so you had to get out and talk to the passengers about diversions etc but most of the time they knew the standard diversion we did and you could stop 90% of the questions by saying yes I am going Lakeside/Grays/*insert destination most people are going* I don’t think it’s acceptable to announce every stop if the iBus system isn’t working, People will normally ask you questions if it isn’t working anyway. Personally I think the iBus system currently in use is very basic for passenger information, even the latest version of it if you compare it to some other operators in the UK or Europe that are able to show live information for onward connections for buses/trains/trams etc
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Post by VPL630 on Apr 6, 2023 18:12:49 GMT
I would upload a picture of it but keep getting an error message “Error: This forum has exceeded its attachment space limit”
The damage done looks like this bridge is going to be out for a considerable amount of time, how they will fix it I’m not sure but it’s been sinking for a long time
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Post by VPL630 on Mar 31, 2023 8:14:12 GMT
Visual and audible onboard announcements will become compulsory on virtually all bus and coach services by October 2026. The Department of Transport has committed £4.65 million in funding to help smaller operators make the necessary upgrades. In addition, all new vehicles entering service after October 2024 must have a visual display that can be seen by a wheelchair user travelling in a rearward-facing wheelchair space. www.route-one.net/bus/onboard-bus-announcements-to-be-made-mandatory/Surprised it's taking them this long considering Ibus in London has been around for over 15 years Life outside London is very different and neglected in many areas
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Post by VPL630 on Mar 28, 2023 11:12:41 GMT
None of the above will be displayed, Ensign is a separate operation and 617 is 601
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Post by VPL630 on Mar 24, 2023 14:53:39 GMT
Has the new 720's entered service on the C2C. i have not seen any on the route, but do not use it that often. I have seen them parked up at Ilford depot though. No but I've seen them running between Crewe and Wembley Central on test, No C2C drivers are currently trained on them as none have been accepted for delivery yet
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Post by VPL630 on Mar 24, 2023 10:07:21 GMT
An obscene amount of money, time and effort was put into that, a lot of communication with the council on what was going to happen, scheduling, spare buses, stands with space and many many other issues. None of the routes were registered and it was a free operation hence anything could be used and no operator license is required. I’ll say now, it really isn’t just as simple as just saying I’m going to do this on this day and it’s going to work, it had been in the works for months if not a year, also finding a date that doesn’t clash with another event is another problem, I think if it happens again it will be on a day that’s a bit cooler And it was an excellent event too, well done to all involved with organising of it I'll take no credit as I didn't do much but, the group that I am part of did loads These are just some of the issues we came across off the top of my head We had buses offered to turn up but then pulled out, some with a lot of notice and others the night before When we went out to risk assess/route learn, we came across road closures and various other issues when trying to do route timings Accommodations had to be made for some buses/drivers so they were able to take part The timetable changed multiple times due to the changing amount of buses People in East Grinstead don't understand what a bus stop is and think it's an excellent place to park The day went well from what I saw with a few buses dropping out, there were a few incidents of childish behaviour but other than that nothing major
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Post by VPL630 on Mar 23, 2023 21:15:28 GMT
I've got a question to ask. U know when the NL Collection organised the Low-ish Floor running day last year how did there do that. As I want to one day help out or organise my own running day. I know it comes with a lot of responsibility. An obscene amount of money, time and effort was put into that, a lot of communication with the council on what was going to happen, scheduling, spare buses, stands with space and many many other issues. None of the routes were registered and it was a free operation hence anything could be used and no operator license is required. I’ll say now, it really isn’t just as simple as just saying I’m going to do this on this day and it’s going to work, it had been in the works for months if not a year, also finding a date that doesn’t clash with another event is another problem, I think if it happens again it will be on a day that’s a bit cooler
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Post by VPL630 on Mar 23, 2023 19:30:24 GMT
You can probably tell that I don’t tend to plan that much and today really highlighted that, all week I’ve been wanting a ride on one of the 2 Euro 2 Dennis Dart/ELC Spryte‘s and all this week they haven’t come out once, anyway I decided to head for Oxford in the hope it may appear.
It didn’t so thought ah, let me tick off a Citaro on the Pulham’s 99’s, what’s the best way for me to get to Cheltenham or Gloucester from Oxford?
Now I could just get a train to Didcot and then another to Gloucester which would be logical but a Scania E400 had passed me on the S6, I made the silly assumption without checking that it must be Scania E400MMC operated, turns out waiting for the next one it wasn’t, a check of bus times showed more normal MMC’s but I thought I’ve never been under the bridge at Oxford (which is very very low) so let’s do this to Swindon and then get the 51 to Cheltenham, due to roadworks the S6 arrived into Oxford late and left late, lost more time on route, the fans on the front upper deck were really getting on my nerves after about an hour of listening to them, anyway arriving into Swindon after navigating the Magic roundabout a few buses decided they wanted to change bays, which meant we had to wait a few mins while they sorted themselves out, then I saw the heard of people waiting for the 51 and thought, no thanks, I’ll just get the train.
Train to Gloucester and then a short wait for the 99, a lovely high spec and well maintained Citaro C2 turned up, Single to Cheltenham please, that’ll be £3.60 oh, turns out Pulham’s are only doing the £2 single on their 51 route, oh well I wanted the bus so £3.60 it was. There is absolutely nothing along the 99 route to mention, it just connects 2 hospitals really, we lost a lot of time getting out of Gloucester due to traffic which meant a nice fast run down the A40 and into the outside lane for some overtakes, these Citaros pull so nicely, it’s a shame there aren’t more of them.
Due to the late running I missed my connection with the 801, so had about 45 mins to kill until the next one, had a quick walk around the town.
The 801 I was now going to get was to be a brand new MCV/B8RLE - DD23BUS, I’ve been on quite a few of these MCV’s now and they are quite nice and rattle free, the driver however after calming getting out of town then decided he was on a mission to get to Moreton-in-Marsh and it’s been a long time since I’ve been on a Volvo that’s been driven this hard, while these still have the boring Ecolife 2 in super eco mode, at one point it kicked down from 6th to 4th going up hill where he moved into the outside lane to overtake a slower moving car, I’ve never heard a Volvo D8K engine pull so hard, it was actually enjoyable for a modern bus, the route has lots of nice scenery as well, so double bonus, I did however have to pay £4.10 for the privilege, train from MIM to Pad
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Post by VPL630 on Mar 23, 2023 7:14:36 GMT
Again, another spontaneous trip up North planned on the morning as my cat decided that she must be fed at 0400 woke me up.
Ticking off a few things, A Voyager DMU, a MAN EcoCity an Ex London MHV and finally a MAN Engined Enviro 400.
So Avanti West Coast Voyager 221113 + 221109 to Chester, believe it or not this is the first time I’ve actually been on a Voyager in my life as I don’t ever really need to use Cross Country or Avanti, quite a pleasant ride up to Chester and arrived on time which is a first for me using AWC…
A short walk from Chester Station to the Bus Station to catch the X30 to Warrington and it was nice to see a bus station that’s had a half decent attempt at being good, I’m not saying it’s perfect but it serves its purpose, one side is somewhat sheltered from the elements and the bays are pretty sizeable.
The X30 is quite a boring route with quite lax timings, there were occasional nice views but nothing to write home about, at the end of the day I specifically chose this route to get a good run on a MAN EcoCity, I rode the Anglian Bus ones(Now with Plymouth Citybus) when brand new and they pulled very well at the time however with time and this seems to apply to all Gas Buses, they seem to lose a lot of their get up and go, with these also being fitted with the ZF Ecolife gearbox which does not have kickdown fitted they can be gutless dogs at times as proven by some of the inclines on the route, the gearbox also have a typical ZF trait of slamming into drive every time it was engaged. Uneventful journey, leisurely pace and heating working
From Warrington I was planning to do the Cat 5 or X5 to Altrincham but the Cat 5 was going to be CX65 BUH an Enviro 200 and tbh I have a strong dislike for any E200 built after 2011 and even more so a mini E200 so i decided to get the X5, only problem being it turned up on time, driver got out of bus, driver disappeared and 40 mins later the bus still hadn’t departed with no information, nothing on twitter, no one in the office and no one answering phone calls I decided I’ll just got the 100 as an EvoSeti had pulled in, very slow and boring drive to the Trafford Centre with questionable driving skills, mostly a boring route that follows a main road most of the way ducking into a housing estate along the way, very lax timetable, arrived on time, got some food and a quick check of bus times revealed that I was going to have the choice of 2 MAN Enviro 400’s to choose from.
The 23 or 25, as both of these beasts turned up at the same time it was a clear winner as to which one I was going to take, 19623 pulled in on the 23 but I clocked it was a new driver with a mentor, no thanks, I’ll take 19624 on the 25 which pulled in quite hastily behind it. 19624 is part of a batch of only 20 in the world MAN D0836 engined Enviro 400’s, unlike the many MAN E200’s and E300’s that have been repowered with Cummins Engines, these E400’s still retain their MAN Engines, internally you lose one rear seat to accommodate the cooling pack but other than that, they are a bog standard Enviro 400 with a trident chassis and even retain the standard E400 dash. While they don’t have kickdown they are still very powerful and this driver was eaking every bit of performance out of it, handbrake takeoffs, tricking it to kick down and just generally giving a fast ride, I will also say the engine was actually a lot quieter than the Cummins lump, quite a nice experience if you ever get to ride one.
After arriving in Stockport, a boring and packed journey home on a 9 car Pendolino
AWC 221113 + 221109 1D83 0902 London Euston to Chester Arriva 5009 - MX13 ABF, X30 Chester to Warrington Go-North West 3065 - BV66 VHC, 100 Warrington to The Trafford Centre Stagecoach Manchester 19624 - MX59 KHT, The Trafford Centre to Stockport AWC 390008 1A66 Stockport to London Euston
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Post by VPL630 on Mar 21, 2023 9:28:47 GMT
I really fail to see how driver CPC has an effect on driver shortages?
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Post by VPL630 on Feb 26, 2023 18:07:35 GMT
When I was there a few weeks back, we got the ADL's on the M19, M29 and 186, we also saw one on the 218 which has some heritage vehicles. A lot of the routes the MAN DD operated routes have changed to Citaro G operation, and they are all of the 4 Speed Voith Variety, you will still see them about mainly on the M routes, we got one on the M29 Shame the DDs have mostly been replaced with the bandies, I thought the flagship 100 and 200 routes would be the go to places to find the E500s, backed up by this picture of one of the MMCs on the 100 route. Not my photo obviously commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BVG_Alexander_Dennis_Enviro_500.jpgThere is currently a weight limit imposed on those routes which prevent's DD operation from what I've been told by others
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Post by VPL630 on Feb 26, 2023 17:08:41 GMT
Have fun, what are you after? bus wise, as far as I know there isn't something like LVF Well top of my priority list are the Enviro500 MMCs and the 2007/8 MAN LionCities as they don’t think they have long left. But don’t know where to find them as they run of tons of different routes When I was there a few weeks back, we got the ADL's on the M19, M29 and 186, we also saw one on the 218 which has some heritage vehicles. A lot of the routes the MAN DD operated routes have changed to Citaro G operation, and they are all of the 4 Speed Voith Variety, you will still see them about mainly on the M routes, we got one on the M29
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Post by VPL630 on Feb 26, 2023 11:50:12 GMT
I’ll put this here as I surely someone will know where to find it I’m going to Berlin this week on holiday and I’m trying to find an LVF-equivalent bus and route tracker for Berlin buses? I’ve so far been unsuccessful in finding one but surely one of you must know if one exists or where to find it Have fun, what are you after? bus wise, as far as I know there isn't something like LVF
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Post by VPL630 on Feb 17, 2023 14:15:30 GMT
The X43 has some of the best spec'd E400MMC's I have ever been on, a lot of thought has gone into them, the announcements are slightly annoying but it's shows what can be done The other day I did X43 Manchester to Burnley 152 to Blackburn 22 to Clitheroe M2 to Burnley M1 to Accrington X41 to Manchester Completely unplanned A great summary! You saw a good chunk of East Lancashire there. The announcements on the X43 were recorded by Jennie McAlpine, who plays Fizz in Coronation Street. I mainly went for the B10BLE’s but due to the journey I wanted being cut and then the alternative turning up to be a B7RLE and then finally getting one and it being driven at an absolute snails place, I thought I might as well ride some 6pot versa’s, X41 left about 10 late as the driver didn’t even get in the bus until 5 mins after he should have left
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Post by VPL630 on Feb 16, 2023 21:13:18 GMT
In March I'm due to ride with Transdev from Rochdale to Rawtenstall on route 464 then Rawtenstall to Prestwich or through to Manchester on route X43. This is an extension of an Oldham & Rochdale day out. It will prove cheaper to pay both £2 singles plus a bus & tram Daysaver rather than a Wayfarer. The X43 has some of the best spec'd E400MMC's I have ever been on, a lot of thought has gone into them, the announcements are slightly annoying but it's shows what can be done The other day I did X43 Manchester to Burnley 152 to Blackburn 22 to Clitheroe M2 to Burnley M1 to Accrington X41 to Manchester Completely unplanned
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