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Would say an unusual working - Dart SLF 33828 on the 18 yesterday
Photo @ Ray Parnaby

(22/09/2012 11:43)kuyoyo Wrote: [ -> ]Stands 1-8 on Stockton High Street will no-longer be in use from 1st October, effecting all Stockton areas services bar the 35 & 565. More details later.

(22/09/2012 21:12)kuyoyo Wrote: [ -> ]The closure of these stops is to do with the work on the High Street. From Monday, work starts on moving the bus stops from outside the Post Office to further over with the taxi rank moving in the other direction. The stops outside the Post Office are not affected for now, but as such the following changes are being made (more details will be included once the map and other stuff are on-line):

All services will use one of the 4 temporary stops being installed in the lay-by currently home to Stands 6-8. Stand 9 will also be used. Due to Stand 1 being closed, vehicles at the end of the day laying over will use the lay-by over the road outside the Shambles Market Hall, or alternatively the 'Coach' loading lay-by just after the High Street/Yarm Road/Bridge Road traffic lights.

(25/09/2012 21:35)kuyoyo Wrote: [ -> ]Full details thanks to Stagecoach's website
No map included though.

Don't forget - if you're in the Stockton area (or planning a visit to Teesside in the next 40 weeks), don't forget that today is the start of Phase 1 of Stockton High Street South Regeneration. And, as such, stand allocations have been changed

Full details here

Couple of rumours currently doing the rounds regarding the North East fleet, includes the revival of the almost two-year old rumour of Dennis Tridents for Stockton depot to replace the Olympians. Other Tridents are rumoured to arriving in the North East for Newcastle, I assume as replacements for 14669-71/3/4.

Wonder why this rumour has resurfaced again, Any ideas where they could possibly be coming from, I think hull was mentioned in the origional rumour if I remember rightly, I take it these Would be displaced by newer stock elsewhere, hope it does come to fruition this time as in my opinion the Olympians are long over due for replacement could also come in handy for peak 36 services as well.
One thing I've never understood and someone here maybe able to shed some light on this is there seems to be an abundance of ex London stagecoach tridents surfacing on eBay and ensign bus amongst others That surely could be converted to single door for relatively little cost and then cascaded to replace ageing Olympians and the like allover the uk, could it be a dda issue? Just seems madness and something I've never finally understood

(01/10/2012 19:33)Tango Wrote: [ -> ]Wonder why this rumour has resurfaced again, Any ideas where they could possibly be coming from, I think hull was mentioned in the origional rumour if I remember rightly, I take it these Would be displaced by newer stock elsewhere, hope it does come to fruition this time as in my opinion the Olympians are long over due for replacement could also come in handy for peak 36 services as well.
One thing I've never understood and someone here maybe able to shed some light on this is there seems to be an abundance of ex London stagecoach tridents surfacing on eBay and ensign bus amongst others That surely could be converted to single door for relatively little cost and then cascaded to replace ageing Olympians and the like allover the uk, could it be a dda issue? Just seems madness and something I've never finally understood

The Hull rumour was written off last year when the Tridents displaced by Enviro400s there moved elsewhere. As for where they're coming from, given it's just a rumour at the moment, it's not know.
As for the London Tridents, while slightly off-topic, they're sold off as they're no longer owned by Stagecoach. When Stagecoach sold the London operation back in 2006, the fleet then was sold to a leasing comnpany and as such, Stagecoach would have to buy back the lease. Therefore, they've just sold them on bar a small few, presumably the ones that will move to Newcastle for City Sightseeing if that rumour turns out to be true.

The older ex London Tridents were owned by Stagecoach, but due to the way disposals from London works, they went out to "public" tender, leaving them open to transfer around the UK or for sale to dealers. Coupled with the poor condition of the vehicles and low book value, they're often not worth the conversion costs to make them suitable for standard operations. The newer Tridents (2003 onwards I believe) have some sort of finance, but I don't know how exactly they're financed, or what will happen to those vehicles when their London life is up. If they're on HP, which some sources say, they could be bought by Stagecoach and transferred around the UK, or they might just be sold on.
A lot of Tridents currently on disposal from London are the short wheelbase variety, with a maximum of 64 seats with separate wheelchair and pushchair areas, 68 seats with a single wheelchair area, or 72 to non-DDA. The low capacity often makes them useless for school contracts specifying 70+ seats, more so in the case of 85 and 87 seat school contracts.
I don't have any information on the rumours, but a personal opinion is that some sort of Trident for conversion to open top would be likely. Cannot pass comment on Stockton's Olympian's as I don't know if they're under contract for a minimum seated capacity beyond that of a Trident, or if commercially operated, passenger figures not exceeding the capacity of a 10.5m Trident. Then of course there's cost, do the school routes pull the money in to pay for the Trident's.

(01/10/2012 21:59)cumbria0902150 Wrote: [ -> ]I don't have any information on the rumours, but a personal opinion is that some sort of Trident for conversion to open top would be likely. Cannot pass comment on Stockton's Olympian's as I don't know if they're under contract for a minimum seated capacity beyond that of a Trident, or if commercially operated, passenger figures not exceeding the capacity of a 10.5m Trident. Then of course there's cost, do the school routes pull the money in to pay for the Trident's.

The Macmillan routes are contract services, renewed 3 years ago (when they were renumbered from 341-348 to 301-308 though not in the same order). Not sure if there's a minimum seat capacity given the shorter N-LTN Olympians have been used on there in recent years. And considering they seat 75 (compared to the 87 of the R-OVN ones), depending on what the Tridents can seat, I can't really see it as a problem. Plus, having low floor deckers would enable us to use them in day-to-day service without the moans of certain passengers about the steps.

Compared to the Cumbrian examples the Olympians seem mechanically sound though so at the moment they dont need replacing. Although I havent actually been on a North East one as of yet. They are only R reg so they probably wont be replaced for a few years yet.

(02/10/2012 07:40)NK07 FZG Wrote: [ -> ]Compared to the Cumbrian examples the Olympians seem mechanically sound though so at the moment they dont need replacing. Although I havent actually been on a North East one as of yet. They are only R reg so they probably wont be replaced for a few years yet.

Although they are in good condition (they had work done on their chassis late last year, hence Stockton's use of 16707 to cover the required 10 Olympian allocation), they are starting to show their age. Though, they're certain more reliable than most of the rest of our allocated fleet.

Yes, Volvo's are built to last.