(08/06/2016 22:00)Mayneway Wrote: [ -> ]It's normally worked by a MAN during the week which also does the school service but it's not uncommon to see Enviro400's or even the Trident used.
My sister uses the same bus on the 821 school bus she said the school kids were told the normal bus is broken, usually the mainstay of the 183 is 22056 MX53 FNC and occasionally 22055. Not sure if anyone can elaborate but anyone who knows the resident 183 driver may know more.
18440 and 18442 look like 2 of the confirmed buses going to Hyde Rd tommorow to help with Parklife im not sure what else is going from Rock Ferry but I suspect 18156 may also be going to help
MMCs 10586 and 10587 currently making their way to Ashton depot for service tomorrow
(10/06/2016 20:30)Benzo Wrote: [ -> ]MMCs 10586 and 10587 currently making their way to Ashton depot for service tomorrow
I wonder whether these will be used in Ashton tomorrow (Saturday) or on Parklife shuttles.
Intestingly the late evening 237's seem to be worked by MMCs now which is risky in it's self as hadfield can be tricky espically up shaw lane with double parked cars a plenty
One thing I've noticed about Ashton Depot is what might be the acute shortage of single deckers recently, over the past couple of weeks and deckers have even been turning up on the odd duty on 345 Denton Circulars as of late and even 347 seems to mostly Enviro400s these days with the odd Hybrid Enviro400 turning up on the route as well like yesterday and at least 3 days this week including yesterday a driver friend of mine has been taking a decker out for his morning School which then goes onto to 183s then his afternoon School as well
(11/06/2016 05:36)M60lad Wrote: [ -> ]One thing I've noticed about Ashton Depot is what might be the acute shortage of single deckers recently, over the past couple of weeks and deckers have even been turning up on the odd duty on 345 Denton Circulars as of late and even 347 seems to mostly Enviro400s these days with the odd Hybrid Enviro400 turning up on the route as well like yesterday and at least 3 days this week including yesterday a driver friend of mine has been taking a decker out for his morning School which then goes onto to 183s then his afternoon School as well
Apart from the 342/4 and possibly the 183 and 345 everything else can easily be run with double deckers. Services like the 236/7 and 347 suffer greatly with over crowding espically at peak so it makes sense to use deckers where possible. Why allocaters stick an Enviro200 on daytime 236's is anyone's guess. Not only does it pick up heavy loads at Tameside college but come half 2 it gets busy kids from west hill and Longendale.
17491
18156
18378
18440
18441
18442
19045
These are the Rock Ferry buses getting used at parklife
(11/06/2016 05:36)M60lad Wrote: [ -> ]a driver friend of mine has been taking a decker out for his morning School which then goes onto to 183s then his afternoon School as well
I know exactly who you mean I used to got on the 183 during his shift 18 months ago or so, he's a solid guy (very popular with his 821 passengers also).
(11/06/2016 13:59)Dentonian Wrote: [ -> ]How does they saying go? "That's 2 hours of my life I won't get back". With the rains not forecast to hit until later this afternoon, I decided to go and have a look for 18440-2 in particular, and possibly do a bit of shopping as well. Mistake number one was going for the train. Not only did it start raining (very lightly) barely half way to the Station, but when I was approaching it, five drunken smoking yobs (presumably on their way to Parkife) walked straight past the Euro6 MMC that would have dropped them right behind the Parklife bus queue, and at a flat £5 fare. They proceeded to follow me into the rail station and pay the extra £2.50 to crowd onto the late running 30 year old diesel. Still, that's the "Save the Planet" generation for you! For my part, catching the train meant seeing Parklife buses on Ducie Street, rather than approaching from the back. Not that it made any difference, as nothing of interest was seen throughout the hour plus I stuck it out in the unrelenting rain - and a minority of buses went straight up Aytoun Street to Piccadilly.
FTR, Of the Rock Ferry buses above, only Ribble liveried 18156 was seen, and this was occupied solely by Stagecoach staff - possibly indicating that most RF drivers/buses would indeed only be utilised later in the day, and these were drivers learning the route.
19062 was the only non Manchester bus seen on the Shuttle itself (and even this is no stranger to the city, of course) with the other buses seen comprising Tridents 17202/45, 17519, 2x Hybrids (including 12225) and at least 22 Enviro400s drawn from MagicBus, HE & AZ fleets. My bus home passes Hyde Road depot, but the sheer number of buses entering/leaving meant no chance of seeing anything parked up. Although, ironically, one of these departing buses was Magic 17269 which was one of a pair of, then, Gillmoss buses parked at the front of HE when I passed during last year's Parklife. On that occasion, 17111/3 were also sent over, but my afternoon journey along Rochdale Road and into the city centre again only yielded Manchester's own buses and the odd, bland MSL/NW bus.
18156 was showing us route training earlier
Expect delays to all services in and around City Centre today and tomorrow due to closure of Mancunian way, currently at the moment (08:20) Stagecoach are on twitter reporting delays of 40mins to services entering and leaving Manchester as other traffic tries to find alternate route in and out of the city