Arriva North West - Green Lane Depot

[M113 YKC]

RE: Arriva North West - Green Lane Depot
Plaxton Pointer 2 X219 ANC (2219) was unusually on the 14 yesterday (http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael2770...8242390/). I rode on it from Croxteth to Liverpool and, compared to what it was like at Bootle, it was an absolutely horrific ride! It was really sluggish; it seemed to change gear too early and it frequently struggled to change from second gear to third gear. Its interior was in a horrible state - certainly would benefit from a refurbishment! A lot of its seats were flat, although the ride-quality wasn't too bad. At Bootle, it used to be a lovely-sounding and fast bus - a favourite of mine, in-fact...

I also managed to ride sister-bus X215 ANC (2215) on either the 12 or the 13 from Liverpool to West Derby yesterday. This, like 2219, had gear issues, although worse than 2219's. It overrevved between gear one and two (but not too badly between two and three and three and four), however, worsely, if the accelearator was released in motion, the bus struggled to find its gear when it was applied again, which lead to a violent jolt and rev before it found its gear again...! It used to do this at Bootle a few years ago, although it was fixed and fine until it transferred to Green Lane because it definitely rode smoothly when I had it on the 345 one evening before its move. One nice thing about this bus is that it has a nice whistle when it slows down - something else that it's done for years, too!

Noteworthy...
- X216 ANC (2216) was a terribly-sluggish bus at Bootle - not managed to catch-up with this at Green Lane yet
- X217 ANC (2217) was a fine bus, albeit a bit rattly - not managed to catch-up with this at Green Lane yet
- X221 ANC (2221) sounded tired when I had it on the 8 or the 9 a few months ago, although I didn't ride on that one at Bootle for, at least, nearly a year before it moved
- X223 ANC (2223) was fast when I recently had it on the 68, however it had an awfully-loud grinding noise when it was travelling at a bit of speed (differential problems, as far as I know) and it rattled a lot
- X229 ANC (2229) was awful at Bootle in most (if not, every) department and awful when I had it on the 68 a few months ago - from violent gear problems to unbearable ride-quality
- X231 ANC (2231) didn't spend much time in service at Bootle upon its "P&P" treatment so I didn't manage to ride on it before it was transferred, although it was lovely to ride on when I had it on either the 12 or the 13 a few months ago - smooth, nice-sounding and quite fast off the line
- X236 ANC (2236) - like 2229, awful at Bootle and still awful at Green Lane
- X237 ANC (2237) was nice when I had it a few times at Bootle before it moved to Green Lane, although I haven't caught-up with it at Green Lane yet