It seems at least one of the ai-con Darts has been transfered out of Gillmoss as I saw 33029 P299AYJ parked up on one of the spare bays in Preston Bus Station yesterday afternoon, with what looked like Stagecoach Merseyside on the destination display, not to sure whether its a loan or actually a transfer
(18/10/2012 21:20)CX54 DKD Wrote: [ -> ]One also operated the 196 in St Helens as per normal this morning too.
Rules my theory out then.
Went to Gilmoss yesterday on a quick visit, it seemed quite a few P reg Darts (1 Crusader and most if not all other Hong Kong Darts) were moving in the depot, with a few over the pits then being put on the service line as well as one by the gates with trade plates on, so its probable that they are all for transfer. Also on the same line was an ALX200.
Their old yellow tow truck, the reg escapes me currently, was in the building nearing completion into Stagecoach's corporate livery, certainly looking the part!
No Solos present anywhere in the depot.
The comedy group metrobus has been gutted of running gear, the bus will be used as some sort of community bus in the Croxteth area.
Good to see the tow truck getting a repaint, it's needed a touch up for a very long time indeed!
On another note, 20/21 branded 24174 was on the 217 this afternoon. Rare to see an Enviro on here let alone a branded one!
ALL B10BLE's withdrawn on paper.
34473 PX53 DJV, 34579 PX04 DRZ, 34617 PX04 HTU, 34618 PX04 HTV and 34619 PX04 HTY all transferred in from Preston.
Spryte's 33148 and 33150 are listed as heading to Springfield.
All B10LE's including the W & X platers withdrawn as well, if so I am slightly surprised. Wonder where they are off to if they are.
Yes, W and X reg's too, it has surprised me to be honest, with only 5 Dart's going in I'd have expected only the 5 S reg's to come off, but the W's and X's have too. I can't see any major drop in work to justify losing an extra 8 buses (PVR only dropped by 2), but I suppose with the older, unreliable buses no longer at Gillmoss, they can lose a few extra spares (now have 17 spare buses rather than 23).
Capacity wise, the change from a B10LE to a dart just doesnt make sense, the services that the B10LE's get used on can be quite busy. So a full sized single decker to a smaller one, really good idea (not).
(22/10/2012 15:43)MPTE1955 Wrote: [ -> ]Capacity wise, the change from a B10LE to a dart just doesnt make sense, the services that the B10LE's get used on can be quite busy. So a full sized single decker to a smaller one, really good idea (not).
Hardly surprising any more though.
Sufficient capacity seems to be irrelevant with Stagecoach management.
(Solos on the 10 etc, what a joke).
The big push at the moment is DDA compliance, losing the B10BLE's gives Gillmoss a fully DDA compliant fleet on paper (though not in reality). The only vehicles listed on fleet that are not DDA certified are the Tridents, but they have been converted to DDA standards in the single door conversion process, so can obtain a certificate easilly. The full DDA compliance fleet removes the restrictions that B10BLE's had, for not meeting QBP standards, and also means every bus listed on fleet is at least Euro3, the minimum for QBP.