(13/05/2014 19:28)J200ABW Wrote: [ -> ]Strange that I use Sapphire one 4/5 times a week to get to work and haven't experienced any problems with the Enviro's for 8-9 months. it's common to see 2799 on there but that's to be expected when you have no spare buses for a route. I guess I must just have been really lucky seeing as they're such awful, horrid buses.
I use Sapphire more than that in a week, if your telling me you've never had one problem on them Enviro400's then you must be a god of some kind....clearly, 2799 is the spare vehicle that says enough when thats out every day. yes they are "such awful, horrid buses." ask any of the staff at Wrexham to as ive said before drivers prefer a Transbus MPD that really does say a lot.
and you cant really slate our maintenance staff as their on limited funds and from the Start Arriva Buses Wales said they would pay for any repairs to the Sapphires which has some how gone out the window. Wrexham was the first Sapphire and the highest specification one to yet one of the worst on reliability....we should of had new buses from the start, but no.
I'd go out on a limb to say if Wrexham would have got new buses for the Sapphire route that they probably wouldn't have been deckers, purely on cost grounds. Out of all the converted routes, its the 1 they really went to town on.
(14/05/2014 11:32)CX06 EBK Wrote: [ -> ]I'd go out on a limb to say if Wrexham would have got new buses for the Sapphire route that they probably wouldn't have been deckers, purely on cost grounds. Out of all the converted routes, its the 1 they really went to town on.
Id rather have brand new Single Deckers and have a reliable service to be quite honest just have to up the frequency with the Single Deckers, but Rhyl get brand new ones which to me is beyond a joke....to be quite honest. Indeed they did which i do really like the Refurbishment but the vehicles are just so poor.
There are far better routes which should have received the treatment including the Southport 375/385, and the welsh X11. The enviro 400's should have just transferred with leather moquette and wifi.
Service 1 , is a prime people mover into Chester from Wrexham and should be afforded the flagship status that Sapphire gives it .
Well I think we could sit here all night and try and extol the virtues of every route for Sapphire status , but those buses come at a price and the route has to be viable enough to take the extra cost .
Im not saying Sapphire on the 1 corridor was a bad idea i think making it Sapphire was a step in a great direction but like ive clearly said its just the vehicles that really ruin it.
Sapphire should never have been introduced with existing vehicles , somebody thought aye up we are giving Laird Street those new hybrids what do we do with the enviros that they replace. Laird Streets enviros that went into normal service in Liverpool worked perfectly , but the ones with bits done to them just didn't want to work .
Finally someone who actually agree's with me, thats my point exactly they should of got new buses built to that specification people say ''its to money consuming'' yes but think of how much was spent in general and how much is being spent to actually repair them and on top of that 4421/22 as well... if your going to promote a premium bus service it should be brand new vehicles the 2/3 at the launch broke down slightly embarrassing isn't it and then with the constant unreliability just doesn't look good at all...
(14/05/2014 20:48)LJ51 DDA Wrote: [ -> ]Finally someone who actually agree's with me, thats my point exactly they should of got new buses built to that specification people say ''its to money consuming'' yes but think of how much was spent in general and how much is being spent to actually repair them and on top of that 4421/22 as well... if your going to promote a premium bus service it should be brand new vehicles the 2/3 at the launch broke down slightly embarrassing isn't it and then with the constant unreliability just doesn't look good at all...
Think the problem they have now is the money spent on this project has to be seen to be doing something , under normal circumstances the extra vehicles would not have been needed and the single decker sapphire spare would have been used sparingly .
With new buses if those faults had happened the vehicle would have gone back to the manufactures or bodybuilders for rectification , but with used vehicles its not so simple as that .
(14/05/2014 20:55)wirralbus Wrote: [ -> ]With new buses if those faults had happened the vehicle would have gone back to the manufactures or bodybuilders for rectification , but with used vehicles its not so simple as that .
Why not? If I bought a used car that immediately started developing recurring faults, it'd be straight back to the dealer. The principle is the same here; if the issues are due to the electrical systems which have been retrofitted as part of the refurbishment, then the vehicles should be sent back to the company responsible as the work hasn't been completed to a standard which should be expected i.e. actually working and functional. It'd certainly be reminiscent of the acceptance of an abhorrent standard of refurbishment completed on some of the ex-London vehicles at Wrexham if retrofitted electronics are to blame in this case.
I'd be grateful if anybody could actually confirm the main and recurring issues that the Sapphire Enviro400s are encountering; if it is indeed electrical, then it's not really got much to do with the age of the vehicles, more the standard of work completed. If it's mechanical, it must surely be down to the vehicles upkeep; the Bootle examples are performing fine as mentioned previously and they'd all had the same level of maintenance until their separation. If all of the work was completed the same on these refurbished examples as it would be on a new example, there should be no difference hence no actual need for brand new buses.