First Manchester

[AlexBus12]

RE: First Manchester

(13/09/2016 14:28)T42 PVM Wrote:  Bolton need the B9s for Schools hence them sending them.

Bolton don't have many school routes left now, after they lost tender at the begging of sept. Plus they had the school buses provided by TFGM for those. The B9s were rarely if not never used on school routes.

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: First Manchester
The B9s will be used on them now as the X reg Deckers that have left where not allowed on Schools anyway

[AlexBus12]

RE: First Manchester

(13/09/2016 15:55)T42 PVM Wrote:  The B9s will be used on them now as the X reg Deckers that have left where not allowed on Schools anyway

They have the yellow school buses which cover the school routes that are left.... No deckers are used on school routes routes

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: First Manchester
Not every School Bus First have left requires a Yellow School Bus, still a PVR of 1 for another Decker on there then you also got to keep a spare for when a School Bus is VOR for whatever reason

[AlexBus12]

RE: First Manchester

(13/09/2016 16:17)T42 PVM Wrote:  Not every School Bus First have left requires a Yellow School Bus, still a PVR of 1 for another Decker on there then you also got to keep a spare for when a School Bus is VOR for whatever reason

Yeah, i guess that's whats happening at Oldham. But all of the school routes by first Bolton are ran by the school buses.

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: First Manchester
39214 is repainted into new livery also

[AlexBus12]

RE: First Manchester

(13/09/2016 19:45)Dentonian Wrote:  I assume this has just happened from the start of 2016/7 school year. As I understand it, until last school year, the ALXs were confined almost totally to Schools services. Certainly, I've nevedr seen a Bolton example in service, and when I enquired about this I was told that apart from the odd peak working on the 36 which ran off a School contract, they never normally worked regular services

They were always on normal service, infact, made up the 507/519/520 fleet. 30915 was on the 36 a lot. The alxs never got used for school work (other than burys but it did no work in Bolton)

[AlexBus12]

RE: First Manchester
30912 and 30915 are being repaired for bad chassis rot at OM

[Quackdave]

RE: First Manchester

(18/09/2016 17:16)Dentonian Wrote:  I can only assume you are talking specifically about the 2015/6 school year, when 30894/912/5 replaced 30874/7/8. I can assure you that in the three years or so the W-regs were there, I never once saw any in service on visits to Bolton. On enquring on this - or another - forum, I was told they were mainly for schools and the bus workings were such that only one of the three had any non-school work on. That was when it finished an afternoon school contract, it ran dead to Piccadilly to operate a single journey on the 36 around 1715-1730 hours. They never left the depot at weekends.

Can't speak for M-F, as I never visit Bolton during the week, but the X-reg were certainly out most Saturdays, on a variety of routes, although 519/520 were their most common haunt.

My memory doesn't extend to how often I saw the W-reg ones, but I definitely did see all of them at least once, which implies they must have been used on Saturdays to some extent; and a search for their registrations on Flickr suggests that it wasn't especially unusual for them to be found in ordinary service.

(Back to the present, 30894 was on the 425 on Saturday.)

[AlexBus12]

RE: First Manchester

(18/09/2016 17:16)Dentonian Wrote:  I can only assume you are talking specifically about the 2015/6 school year, when 30894/912/5 replaced 30874/7/8. I can assure you that in the three years or so the W-regs were there, I never once saw any in service on visits to Bolton. On enquring on this - or another - forum, I was told they were mainly for schools and the bus workings were such that only one of the three had any non-school work on. That was when it finished an afternoon school contract, it ran dead to Piccadilly to operate a single journey on the 36 around 1715-1730 hours. They never left the depot at weekends.

They were on normall routes everyday except Sundays, and 30915 made a rare appearance on the 36 3or more times. They usually ran on services 507/519/520. The only ALXs that ran schools were the bury ones. But as you say they may have been brought to Bolton to do schools and then on the last minute they received the green school buses.