Halton Transport

[trixmax2000]

 RE: Halton Transport

(15/08/2014 18:32)WidnesRuncornBus Wrote:  I agree Halton do seem to cope well on schools with single deck vechiles bar a few (notably riverside college services) that can get quite full. It does suprise me that Halton have never bought a few old second hand deckers to be used exclusivley on schools.

Halton have put DARTS 76/78/79 up for sale there are some 2 door Scania Omnicity's in the compound one is YT09BKN plus YT09BKG new to Metrobus

[WidnesRuncornBus]

RE: Halton Transport
Thats extremely intresting, not the type of vechile that I would of imagined Halton to have bought, but its a intresting choice. Shame about 76/78/79 all fantastic buses, what about 73/74/75/77 I take they are being retained?

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: Halton Transport

(15/08/2014 21:22)WidnesRuncornBus Wrote:  Thats extremely intresting, not the type of vechile that I would of imagined Halton to have bought, but its a intresting choice. Shame about 76/78/79 all fantastic buses, what about 73/74/75/77 I take they are being retained?

76/78/79 aren't 'fantastic buses'. I had them on the 44 plenty of times, noteably 79. They're really slow off the mark and struggle with roundabouts. 76 smells of damp internally and has gearbox problems and a slower speed. There's something wrong with 78 speed wise also, it's quite slow off the mark and struggles to reach around 40mph.


73/74/75/77 are the most reliable of the 7* fleet interestingly...

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: Halton Transport

(15/08/2014 18:32)WidnesRuncornBus Wrote:  I agree Halton do seem to cope well on schools with single deck vechiles bar a few (notably riverside college services) that can get quite full. It does suprise me that Halton have never bought a few old second hand deckers to be used exclusivley on schools.

Duplicates are ran on the 43 for exmaple to combat this issue

[WidnesRuncornBus]

RE: Halton Transport

(15/08/2014 21:25)Raawwwrrr! Wrote:  76/78/79 aren't 'fantastic buses'. I had them on the 44 plenty of times, noteably 79. They're really slow off the mark and struggle with roundabouts. 76 smells of damp internally and has gearbox problems and a slower speed. There's something wrong with 78 speed wise also, it's quite slow off the mark and struggles to reach around 40mph.

Matter of personal opinion, always liked them personaly, but I supose as you stated they do have there fair share of downfalls in there old age.

[Valandil]

RE: Halton Transport

(15/08/2014 19:31)trixmax2000 Wrote:  there are some 2 door Scania Omnicity's in the compound one is YT09BKN plus YT09BKG new to Metrobus

I'll agree with WidnesRuncornBus that it's a surprising choice of body type for Halton.

I wonder if they will be converted to single-door.
It wouldn't be good to have them out without the infrastructure to cope with dual-door operation.

[RSTurbo50]

RE: Halton Transport
Apparently they are not for Halton but are being stored there for Manchester Airport.

[Arriva3137]

RE: Halton Transport
There is at least 7 omnicity's in the yard now.

[Valandil]

RE: Halton Transport

(15/08/2014 21:27)Raawwwrrr! Wrote:  Duplicates are ran on the 43 for exmaple to combat this issue

It's quite a resource-heavy way of doing things, compared with having 1 driver and 1 DD vehicle.
Though low bridges and other issues may mean that DD's could be unsuitable for these routes or use outside these routes when required (especially around Runcorn).

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: Halton Transport

(16/08/2014 15:40)Valandil Wrote:  It's quite a resource-heavy way of doing things, compared with having 1 driver and 1 DD vehicle.
Though low bridges and other issues may mean that DD's could be unsuitable for these routes or use outside these routes when required (especially around Runcorn).

That's the problem with the 43, it passes through long sections of the busway, including low bridges.

Double Deckers tend to be three times the cost of midi/single decker buses as well. You can get a low floor 2003 reg dart for £4,000, yet a 1986 ECW Olympian for just over the cost of the modernish dart from PSV dealers