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Macc again today substituted a solo on the 130 instead of the pulsar. 700 doing the honours.

Seems the solos are having a few issues:

Blown headlights, bulbs which is common enough.

Door flaps on the outside which are meant to keep draughts out are sticking folded up rather than down.

Engine warning lights have shown up on dashboards of quite a few now. Apparently it can only be sorted when they've been serviced which apparently can only be done by optare.

Also 704 has developed a whine from somewhere that can be heard under acceleration. Reckon this is an engine issue?

Engine warning lights are on quite commonly on st helens solos and Enviro400's along with the emissions light but get told its fine to drive and nothing to worry about.

It's interesting on the 130 branded Pulsars it says "Every 30 minutes" Surely putting a false claim on the side of a bus shouldn't be legal (whether you're Arriva or Boris Johnson.)

D&G claim the 88 route is 'up to every 30 minutes' yet during it's operating hours it is every 30 minutes except for one morning journey in the Knutsford direction which leaves Altrincham 35 minutes after the previous one.

Plaxton Centro 2615 on the 130 today. Should do 1358 ex Piccadilly next.

(19/04/2017 12:22)dca529x Wrote: [ -> ]Plaxton Centro 2615 on the 130 today. Should do 1358 ex Piccadilly next.

25 late away from Wilmslow heading back into Manchester, absolutely appaling!

When are the rest of the Centros heading to St Helens?

(19/04/2017 16:04)ant17612 Wrote: [ -> ]25 late away from Wilmslow heading back into Manchester, absolutely appaling!

Having looked at the 130 quite a bit over the last few months (thanks to the frequent non Sapphire allocations) I didn't consider the Centro being 25 late, anything unusual at all, and accepted it as quite normal. Just what the 'ordinary' passengers think is probably something less polite.

(19/04/2017 16:24)Lynx Wrote: [ -> ]When are the rest of the Centros heading to St Helens?

Not sure on numbers as it may not be the full batch that moves across and may just be a few but no date confirmed as of yet.

Regarding 130s I was in drivers mess room with a driver friend of mine recently and got talkig to 2 old timers from Macclesfield Depot and got told that Macclesfield are doing most Manchester journies now and there are no 25min dropbacks in Macclesfield, infact timings on 130 have been a problem for years.

I also got told that the problem is more noticeable now as when the old Macclesfield Depot (At the bottom of the hill) was open the drivers could ring up and let depot know that they were running late off 130s and a spare bus would be sent out on time to cover the late runner but these days the major problem is that the spare buses dont exist anymore so the late running is more noticeable so if a bus runs late its going to stay late.

There are many pinch points on 130 that generate late running including round Macclesfield in peak times sometimes it can take an extra 15 or even 20mins to get from Broken Cross to Macclesfield due to traffic going past the Hospital, also there's traffic round Wilmslow that depending on the day can be heavy or light and then there's the traffic in various locations round Manchester to deal with.

As for what you said Ant about 25min late being disgusting like I've just highlighted above sometimes it can't be helped.