26 Jan 2016, 2:45 am
#567
(25 Jan 2016, 10:36 pm)DaveyBowyer Are any more of Percy Mains B9s away for retrofits?
I know this sounds a bit daft but I can see why GNE and other Go Ahead subsidaries are going for the Streetdeck over other alternatives because if GNE are taking the opportunity to retrofit carbon flywheels on 2 year old B9s, then that surely tells us something. Although the B9 is efficient and can return rougly 7mpg without the mods, the Streetdeck can return more and although a very nice vehicle, the E400MMC according to various sources struggles to achieve 7mpg at times which is less than the B9 or Streetdeck.
The trial is ongoing on the two already retrofitted (6085 and 6104), but I'm doubtful any further examples will receive these modifications.
(26 Jan 2016, 12:58 am)Ambassador Ah for the simple days of rollerblinds.
I appreciate the detail and care that goes into destination displays but sometimes I feel there's too much. The 21 scroll seems to last a lifetime
In future, we will be able to remove via points once the bus passes a certain GPS location.
We tried this on Quaylink, and it was a success (to a degree), but it has also caused issues because the Next Stop Announcement system on these vehicles is so old (for now, anyway!) The new HTC system which replaced the old HANCIS system is more robust and gives us more opportunities to play around with the technology available.
Comments were recently made about the long list of via points on service 20. The local connections offered on this service are ultimately as important as the connections between the main cities and towns on the route, so it is in our commercial interests to show the via points that we do. If/when vehicles with Next Stop Announcements are allocated in future, we can remove via points which are no longer relevant, after the bus has passed that location. Upon arrival into South Shields, the service could in theory have a single via point of 'Harton Nook', for example.
