(27/06/2012 20:48)anw2015 Wrote: [ -> ]I can confirm that the 319 wasn't taken off due to the driver retiring- it was merely taken off due as Stagecoach deemed it to not make enough money anymore.
thanks for that
regarding drivers trying to have arguments with you he was the only 1 of 2 drivers to ever argue with me the other was an arriva bolton driver who decided to tell me i was 16 and not 15, like i said to him * i learn something new every day* his face after i said that lol
Reminder that Darts appearing on Enviro 300 routes will not be rare for a while now. Buses will be off to London in a couple of weeks, and need to have every piece of branding removed before they go (dayrider/megarider information, as well as route branding etc).
Allocations have changed to reflect the Olympics period, I cannot post what the changes are, but they have changed to free up ADL Enviro300's on paper allocation, leaving MAN Enviro300's running at no spares. 2 Tridents off 86C for the summer are re-allocated on paper to 82/86, freeing 2 Darts to cover Enviro300's. PVR reduction on 17/19 (reduced by 5 as I said a few weeks back on the old forum) has again seen the paper allocation for those routes lose Darts to cover departing Enviro300's.
(27/06/2012 20:24)CX54 DKD Wrote: [ -> ] (27/06/2012 20:21)bolton bus basher Wrote: [ -> ]i was told the reason stagecoach pulled out was down to the fact the driver that was always on there retired, i take it what i been told is bull?
I believe that chap (who'd done the 319 for years and years) was indeed retiring but I highly doubt that was the reason as there was another regular driver who did the route a few days a week who was at most in his early thirties. The reason they pulled out was that the service stopped being profitable for them.
The thing which killed the route for Stagecoach was when Fairway brought the 39 journeys out from St Helens at 0730 and 0830 with the 0730 thus competing with Stagecoach for student custom. There was also at one point duplication with both Stagecoach and Fairway both running journeys at 1245 from Southport (I can remember being in Ormskirk and Stagecoach came in and the driver had said that the white bus (meaning Fairway) had missed out the Bus Station).
The 319 demise came when passengers could use there concession passes all the way through the boundaries and not have to pay as that's where they made 60% of there revenue on the route,so the moment the government allowed this to happen the route became 60% less profitable and that's what one of there supervisors told me where the profits didn't tally up to how much it cost to run the service.
Gillmoss as got an SPD DART out on the 10A as seen about 20 mins ago at old swan heading to st helens.
Today saw the Liberation of yet more Wright Liberators, returning to service after what I think to be over a year out of service! I spotted at least 3, possibly 4, all on the 17 or 19. Most I seen looked a bit tatty, some retaining 'different' destination layouts to the Darts and Renowns, but they all sounded excellent, I look forward to riding one!
PN02 KCC and PN02 KCC were both out on South Liverpool routes, the latter on the 82, not sure about the former as I only seen the back end of it as it was heading up Hanover Street as I was coming into L1 on my X1. IMO they are somewhat of an improvement than the 10.7m Darts that normally operate it, providing much needed extra capacity that should be being provided by Tridents, at least one of which was on the 17.
The above observations are from a half an hour stay in Liverpool as I was pushed for time, not sure if anyone else can expand on what I've said!
(28/06/2012 16:33)K853 MTJ Wrote: [ -> ]Today saw the Liberation of yet more Wright Liberators, returning to service after what I think to be over a year out of service! I spotted at least 3, possibly 4, all on the 17 or 19. Most I seen looked a bit tatty, some retaining 'different' destination layouts to the Darts and Renowns, but they all sounded excellent, I look forward to riding one!
PN02 KCC and PN02 KCC were both out on South Liverpool routes, the latter on the 82, not sure about the former as I only seen the back end of it as it was heading up Hanover Street as I was coming into L1 on my X1. IMO they are somewhat of an improvement than the 10.7m Darts that normally operate it, providing much needed extra capacity that should be being provided by Tridents, at least one of which was on the 17.
The above observations are from a half an hour stay in Liverpool as I was pushed for time, not sure if anyone else can expand on what I've said!
R866, 67 and 68 were the Liberators that I seen out yesterday - one was very high off the ground!
There always seems to be at least two Tridents per day on the 17/19!
A waste if you ask me, could be put to better use on the 82/6!
On my travels I seen R867 LHG, R868 LHG and R873 LHG. Seen another one as well but I wasn't quick enough to identify it unfortunately!
As I say, the ones I seen sounded brilliant, nice to see more variety from Stagecoach rather than most ADL Darts and Enviro 300s all the time!
The Liberators do not sound to bad at all in my opinion but I agree they do look a little tatty and tired , I noticed that myself ! Does anyone know why it's high off the ground ? Or is it just air pressure from the tires and hydraulics is a little high
buses dont have hydraulics. It will be the air supsension sticking as they have been parked up for quite some time