Blyth Issues / Dead mileage
Blyth Issues / Dead mileage
(29 Dec 2020, 11:23 am)L469 YVK Now, I'm not saying any other operator is perfect.
But 11 full journeys dropped in a circa 24 hour period! That screams investment is needed badly!
Doubt Arriva will invest though sadly.
(29 Dec 2020, 11:23 am)L469 YVK Now, I'm not saying any other operator is perfect.
But 11 full journeys dropped in a circa 24 hour period! That screams investment is needed badly!
Doubt Arriva will invest though sadly.
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Service Manager, Coatham Connect
The issue as I see it at Arriva in NE is a lot of the fleet is coming up to renewal age and there doesn’t appear to be any plan in place to sort this out. The Blyth fleet is almost entirely 2009-2012 VDLs on the front line services, so between 8-11 years old. Midlife currently but coming up towards the age when they need to be booted to secondary services. The same is true across all depots though - look at Darlington as a good example. 15 year old Scanias still putting in sterling service on front line express routes, and the town fleet is pretty much made up of a selection of 9-11 year old Solos. The B9s on the X93 for example are about to go into their 6th summer on a very demanding service, it’s about time they were given an easier life.
The issue with all of this is there is nothing coming in to replace anything, so the fleet is being pushed to work longer into their lives where reliability is going to start dropping off. That may be fine on some of the more backwater routes like Durham’s 56/57 or Ashington’s 35, but it won’t be accepted on front line services.
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(29 Dec 2020, 11:23 am)L469 YVK Now, I'm not saying any other operator is perfect.Many of the breakdowns occurred on Newcastle bound journeys so many ended up being round trips dropped bunking the number of journeys not ran up, the other issue is if a bus goes down then the driver is stuck with the broken down bus so even if there's another bus avaliable, there may not be a driver to drop into the route to pick a journey up.
But 11 full journeys dropped in a circa 24 hour period! That screams investment is needed badly!
Doubt Arriva will invest though sadly.
(29 Dec 2020, 11:23 am)L469 YVK Now, I'm not saying any other operator is perfect.Many of the breakdowns occurred on Newcastle bound journeys so many ended up being round trips dropped bunking the number of journeys not ran up, the other issue is if a bus goes down then the driver is stuck with the broken down bus so even if there's another bus avaliable, there may not be a driver to drop into the route to pick a journey up.
But 11 full journeys dropped in a circa 24 hour period! That screams investment is needed badly!
Doubt Arriva will invest though sadly.
It's not the Gemini's / Pulsars that are the problem at Blyth. It's the minibuses which are the problem, the same as Ashington.
1760 / 1766 / 1773 have all been off the road for over a week now and 2816 has seemed to have developed a fault today aswell resulting 1401 / 1402 / 1501 being on locals, it was worse yesterday. It leaves all Geminis being out pretty much every day with barely any time to do maintenence without dropping runs.
It's the same at Ashington where all 3 Solos are off the road and a MPD has somehow ended up on the X14 today with a decker, an Omnicity and a Streetlite on the 57/57A. (The other Streetlite being off the road).
Oh and btw might want to check Riverside depot out as it's been much worse there today. Just saying.
Sorry if I'm using the wrong forum but does anyone know what is going on with Ashingtons solos as they haven't been out for a while . 2809 has not been out since the 7th Dec. 2812 hasn't been out since Xmas eve and 2813 hasn't been out since the 13th Dec
(29 Dec 2020, 9:18 pm)Citaro5338 Sorry if I'm using the wrong forum but does anyone know what is going on with Ashingtons solos as they haven't been out for a while . 2809 has not been out since the 7th Dec. 2812 hasn't been out since Xmas eve and 2813 hasn't been out since the 13th Dec
(29 Dec 2020, 9:18 pm)Citaro5338 Sorry if I'm using the wrong forum but does anyone know what is going on with Ashingtons solos as they haven't been out for a while . 2809 has not been out since the 7th Dec. 2812 hasn't been out since Xmas eve and 2813 hasn't been out since the 13th Dec
(29 Dec 2020, 10:11 pm)mb134 They're absolutely shot. 2 of them, when working, are out all day every day and it's showing. 2812, I think, has been beyond problematic for a while.
They're obviously hoping another (proper) lockdown is on the way so they can reduce the service numbers and get the buses in most need of repair off the road for overdue work. The state of the fleet at Blyth is an absolute disgrace.
(29 Dec 2020, 1:03 pm)Jimmi Many of the breakdowns occurred on Newcastle bound journeys so many ended up being round trips dropped bunking the number of journeys not ran up, the other issue is if a bus goes down then the driver is stuck with the broken down bus so even if there's another bus avaliable, there may not be a driver to drop into the route to pick a journey up.
I'd say this is still a fairly regular number of breakdowns to occur in one 24 hour period for a depot, it just so happened all cancelled journeys were posted via the company's social medias, you'll get similar numbers if you go through say, the GNE Facebook on any given day or any other firm that regularly posts service disruptions.
(29 Dec 2020, 5:57 pm)Storx It's not the Gemini's / Pulsars that are the problem at Blyth. It's the minibuses which are the problem, the same as Ashington.
1760 / 1766 / 1773 have all been off the road for over a week now and 2816 has seemed to have developed a fault today aswell resulting 1401 / 1402 / 1501 being on locals, it was worse yesterday. It leaves all Geminis being out pretty much every day with barely any time to do maintenence without dropping runs.
It's the same at Ashington where all 3 Solos are off the road and a MPD has somehow ended up on the X14 today with a decker, an Omnicity and a Streetlite on the 57/57A. (The other Streetlite being off the road).
Oh and btw might want to check Riverside depot out as it's been much worse there today. Just saying.
(29 Dec 2020, 1:03 pm)Jimmi Many of the breakdowns occurred on Newcastle bound journeys so many ended up being round trips dropped bunking the number of journeys not ran up, the other issue is if a bus goes down then the driver is stuck with the broken down bus so even if there's another bus avaliable, there may not be a driver to drop into the route to pick a journey up.
I'd say this is still a fairly regular number of breakdowns to occur in one 24 hour period for a depot, it just so happened all cancelled journeys were posted via the company's social medias, you'll get similar numbers if you go through say, the GNE Facebook on any given day or any other firm that regularly posts service disruptions.
(29 Dec 2020, 5:57 pm)Storx It's not the Gemini's / Pulsars that are the problem at Blyth. It's the minibuses which are the problem, the same as Ashington.
1760 / 1766 / 1773 have all been off the road for over a week now and 2816 has seemed to have developed a fault today aswell resulting 1401 / 1402 / 1501 being on locals, it was worse yesterday. It leaves all Geminis being out pretty much every day with barely any time to do maintenence without dropping runs.
It's the same at Ashington where all 3 Solos are off the road and a MPD has somehow ended up on the X14 today with a decker, an Omnicity and a Streetlite on the 57/57A. (The other Streetlite being off the road).
Oh and btw might want to check Riverside depot out as it's been much worse there today. Just saying.
(30 Dec 2020, 12:16 am)Driver9*** They're obviously hoping another (proper) lockdown is on the way so they can reduce the service numbers and get the buses in most need of repair off the road for overdue work. The state of the fleet at Blyth is an absolute disgrace.But the depot back then was looking at National awards back in 2013/14. Back then though, the fleet was a lot newer.
(30 Dec 2020, 12:16 am)Driver9*** They're obviously hoping another (proper) lockdown is on the way so they can reduce the service numbers and get the buses in most need of repair off the road for overdue work. The state of the fleet at Blyth is an absolute disgrace.But the depot back then was looking at National awards back in 2013/14. Back then though, the fleet was a lot newer.
(30 Dec 2020, 11:09 am)L469 YVK But the depot back then was looking at National awards back in 2013/14. Back then though, the fleet was a lot newer.
Maybe if Arriva are committed to Northumbria operations going forward, they'll buy wisely and make sure that for every 7-8 vehicles purchased that 1x spare is bought in addition.
The Blyth - Newcastle routes (okay perhaps the X8 & X9 need a bit of a rejigg) are recession proof if managed properly. They get good loads even during antisocial hours.
(30 Dec 2020, 11:09 am)L469 YVK But the depot back then was looking at National awards back in 2013/14. Back then though, the fleet was a lot newer.
Maybe if Arriva are committed to Northumbria operations going forward, they'll buy wisely and make sure that for every 7-8 vehicles purchased that 1x spare is bought in addition.
The Blyth - Newcastle routes (okay perhaps the X8 & X9 need a bit of a rejigg) are recession proof if managed properly. They get good loads even during antisocial hours.
(30 Dec 2020, 11:35 am)Storx They have a spare for every 7 - 8 vehicles though or just slightly under?But historically, they didn't order spares when purchasing new vehicles.
(30 Dec 2020, 11:35 am)Storx They have a spare for every 7 - 8 vehicles though or just slightly under?But historically, they didn't order spares when purchasing new vehicles.
(30 Dec 2020, 11:35 am)Storx They have a spare for every 7 - 8 vehicles though or just slightly under? 1 Pulsar and 3 Gemini's for a PVR of 34.
Ashington has a had a nightmare on the 57/57A again this morning though with 3 dropped runs (partially) already after they've decided to put 2809 out for the first time in a month and the usual has happened - https://bustimes.org/vehicles/189805. Seems to be back going again now.
Edit according to bustimes (not sure on reliability) it appears to have broken down again and is now starting short from Delaval.
(30 Dec 2020, 11:35 am)Storx They have a spare for every 7 - 8 vehicles though or just slightly under? 1 Pulsar and 3 Gemini's for a PVR of 34.
Ashington has a had a nightmare on the 57/57A again this morning though with 3 dropped runs (partially) already after they've decided to put 2809 out for the first time in a month and the usual has happened - https://bustimes.org/vehicles/189805. Seems to be back going again now.
Edit according to bustimes (not sure on reliability) it appears to have broken down again and is now starting short from Delaval.