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+--- Thread: Fairbrother's of Warrington (/showthread.php?tid=316)
RE: Fairbrother's of Warrington - T42 PVM - 12/04/2015 22:02
V980 is good these days, T421 looked ran down but Mechanically It was in good condition
RE: Fairbrother's of Warrington - CX06 EBK - 13/04/2015 03:40
As far as I know V980 XUB has not had a replacement engine in recent times. Although it is slower in 'D' as it jumps straight out of 2nd into 3rd, it is a good performer if driven from 3rd to 30mph into drive. It is one of the most reliable performers at HTL though and shames a lot of the newer Solos and is very rarely off the road.
RE: Fairbrother's of Warrington - motormayhem1 - 13/04/2015 08:08
(13/04/2015 03:40)CX06 EBK Wrote: As far as I know V980 XUB has not had a replacement engine in recent times. Although it is slower in 'D' as it jumps straight out of 2nd into 3rd, it is a good performer if driven from 3rd to 30mph into drive. It is one of the most reliable performers at HTL though and shames a lot of the newer Solos and is very rarely off the road.
Newer the bus more electrical problems you tend to have with them so to be fair if you get a slightly older veichle you wont get as many electrical faults.
RE: Fairbrother's of Warrington - T42 PVM - 12/06/2015 13:42
Fairbrothers have bought another Optare Solo, He is keeping further Details a Secret until its had a refurb
RE: Fairbrother's of Warrington - motormayhem1 - 12/06/2015 15:12
And as another on order ;-)
RE: Fairbrother's of Warrington - Mayneway - 12/06/2015 22:47
Is it just me that reads that the use of Solo's instead of deckers suggests the services arnt as busy as they could be?
RE: Fairbrother's of Warrington - SK15 GZG - 12/06/2015 23:05
(12/06/2015 22:47)Mayneway Wrote: Is it just me that reads that the use of Solo's instead of deckers suggests the services arnt as busy as they could be?
Not necessarily - Optare Solos have better fuel economy than a double decker so it would be more profitable to operate a Solo than a DAF DB250
RE: Fairbrother's of Warrington - Mayneway - 13/06/2015 05:06
(12/06/2015 23:05)SL64 JDZ Wrote: Not necessarily - Optare Solos have better fuel economy than a double decker so it would be more profitable to operate a Solo than a DAF DB250
When they first launched the services as 'pound to town' they were using full size single deckers, then switched to double deckers and now a big drop down to Solo's suggesting he's happy with a handfull of passengers per journey. I do understand the fuel economy aspect though.
Although as someone in the industry once told me, a mini bus with a handful of passengers looks a lot less dramatic than a decker with a handful of passengers on
Out of interest what do Network Warrington and now of course GHA use on thier competing services with Fairbrothers?
RE: Fairbrother's of Warrington - T42 PVM - 13/06/2015 09:11
I have seen busy loads of the 16X so i dont think a Solo is the correct size there
RE: Fairbrother's of Warrington - stankevitch - 13/06/2015 09:57
(13/06/2015 09:12)Dentonian Wrote: I take it this "pound to town" offer no longer exists. You can't run a profitable service with revenue of "a handful" of pounds per journey, unless each bus is doing two or three round trips an hour.
Its only a pound on short sections, usually its £1.30 for a single and £1.80 for a return, highly competitive along sections where NW are charging around £2.10/2.30 for a single. A common section of that I used was between Wash Lane on the 1C and Warrington Town. Only issue I had was with Fairbrothers timings, as I'd have to get a NW back, or a taxi if I was at the pub late...
And given the load capacities of the services, they mainly use Solo's but still see a fair few deckers running the services, and the Solo's are M950s IIRC, ex Western Greyhound ones so do have a fair bit of size for them. And a 4 litre engine with a lighter vehicle gives a lot better fuel economy than a 7 litre double decker.
There are other plans afloat though too for the area.