First Manchester

[Polo Mint]

RE: First Manchester
Thanks for clarifying, I knew I wasn't imagining Bury getting ex-Queens Road deackers. Hopefully they gain more as the Enviro's arrive for 524 and maybe even 472/474/469 although this is a bit of wishful thinking.

as well as the Enviro's doesn't Oldham have some Gemini 2's with the new fancy interior? Good to see such fleet investments although I was hoping for expansion and a more modern single deck fleet.

[P528LND]

RE: First Manchester
36279 and 36280, which I suspect are here purely by accident and won't last. My preferred of the two new deckers though, I do love B9TLs though.

[SF07]

RE: First Manchester

(15/12/2012 16:45)Nicholas Wrote:  

(15/12/2012 13:25)P528LND Wrote:  Also I just noticed a purple sticker on 66859 saying 'Working in quality in partnership' or something along those lines... I thought it quite odd actually! Can anyone shed some light?

That will be advertising the voluntary Quality Bus Partnership, with operators who have signed the Code of Conduct wearing them. They can also be found on Jim Stones Coaches and Stagecoach vechicles

Also on Arriva buses too.

[BY37393]

RE: First Manchester

(15/12/2012 13:25)P528LND Wrote:  37391-3 were Boltons.

Also I just noticed a purple sticker on 66859 saying 'Working in quality in partnership' or something along those lines... I thought it quite odd actually! Can anyone shed some light?

37390,4,5,6,7,8,9 etc were Bolton's however before transferring to Bury 37391/2/3 were in Oldham from new, you tube shows a good few videos of said buses doing Oldham routes

[P528LND]

RE: First Manchester
Indeed that is true but they did move from Bolton to Bury as late, hence why I describe them being Bolton's

[WWH44L]

RE: First Manchester

(17/12/2012 19:25)BY37393 Wrote:  

(15/12/2012 13:25)P528LND Wrote:  37391-3 were Boltons.

Also I just noticed a purple sticker on 66859 saying 'Working in quality in partnership' or something along those lines... I thought it quite odd actually! Can anyone shed some light?

37390,4,5,6,7,8,9 etc were Bolton's however before transferring to Bury 37391/2/3 were in Oldham from new, you tube shows a good few videos of said buses doing Oldham routes

37391-3 were new to Oldham but moved to BN for a while then moved back to OM and then moved to BY! 37389/90 were also new to OM but moved to BN in Sep 2011 then to BY.
From this area of the batch BN had from 37397 onwards, 37394-6 moved from OM early on in Apr 2009.

[M60lad]

RE: First Manchester
Oldham Depot were having problems keeping their 408s to time today due to roadworks/temporary traffic lights on Park Road near, Glodwick Road junction, it was especially bad after School kicking out time, I caught 15:43 408 Oldham-Stalybridge service tonight and while it left Oldham on time, it lost time heading up Park Road and by the time we had got to Abbeyhills Welcome Inn we were running about 10mins late, mind you that was nothing compared to how late the other bus on 408 was running, I also spotted that one round Abbeyhills at about 16:00 the time it should have actually been going through Royton heading towards Buckstones so it would have probably been about 30mins late by the time it got to Oldham.

Other news from Oldham today was the rare sighting of one of their Plaxton Darts on 81As today and 40321 unfournatly performed the honours on 17:20 343 Oldham-Dukinfield service, according to a friend of mine who was on it it was quite sluggish

[P528LND]

RE: First Manchester
40321 is very poor.

Noticed the 408s were very out today.

[james]

RE: First Manchester

(13/12/2012 18:18)Mayneway Wrote:  I noticed a Pioneer Solo on a school service in Ashton one afternoon last week and was quite surprised by it, when at the same time an Arrow was in the bus station on a 333. Yet more crazy allocating from First.

hi guys not been on in awhile but the solo in ashton on a school there is now 2 duties which infill as peak 348 and 350`s they come off 734 and another school but the spec on this route is officially a decker the demand side allocates it as a dart or solo because the 734 takes about 20 kids to droylsden. and the other is a copley or a saddleworth school if memory serves me right again low usage service (30 kids average) so if there isnt deckers available they will put solos on more often than not now because they can free up deckers for other high usage vehicles i.e the 333 comes off a 346 which gets hit by kids from astley and all saints schools and a dart/solo isnt suffice capacity so that has to be a decker service
there arrows left are norm on 346/393 * 1 and other on runarounds 346-333-331-389

it all boils down to in the daytime there is 1 maybe 2 deckers in depot where there is 6 darts/solos spare so if a deckers service has problems that needs a bus swap there wouldnt be any spares suitable. (ignore the tfgm schools spec for 734 + 820 there not accurate)
if unclear just ask me

[Mayneway]

RE: First Manchester

(19/12/2012 14:27)james Wrote:  

(13/12/2012 18:18)Mayneway Wrote:  I noticed a Pioneer Solo on a school service in Ashton one afternoon last week and was quite surprised by it, when at the same time an Arrow was in the bus station on a 333. Yet more crazy allocating from First.

hi guys not been on in awhile but the solo in ashton on a school there is now 2 duties which infill as peak 348 and 350`s they come off 734 and another school but the spec on this route is officially a decker the demand side allocates it as a dart or solo because the 734 takes about 20 kids to droylsden. and the other is a copley or a saddleworth school if memory serves me right again low usage service (30 kids average) so if there isnt deckers available they will put solos on more often than not now because they can free up deckers for other high usage vehicles i.e the 333 comes off a 346 which gets hit by kids from astley and all saints schools and a dart/solo isnt suffice capacity so that has to be a decker service
there arrows left are norm on 346/393 * 1 and other on runarounds 346-333-331-389

it all boils down to in the daytime there is 1 maybe 2 deckers in depot where there is 6 darts/solos spare so if a deckers service has problems that needs a bus swap there wouldnt be any spares suitable. (ignore the tfgm schools spec for 734 + 820 there not accurate)
if unclear just ask me

The Solo i saw last week on a school looked to have a lot more than 20 kids on. If more than a handful of kids are standing then clearly a bigger bus should surly be used. Having said that its not just First. I notice M Travel and GB Coaches using small Darts on school services and again many of the kids are forced to stand. Very poor in my opinion.