I was looking through some of Steven Knight recent fleet updates from the last fortnight on Twitter and thought I would take note of them as their is some interesting additions in the Reserves at various depots likewise the has been a number interesting disposals, I say because some of these vehicles could of replaced much older vehicles which are still in the fleet across the country.

From looking at the lists below i'd happily take the B7RLE's from Fenstation to replace the Alexander ALX300's or those god awful ManViro 200's on some our local routes providing they've been upgraded to Euro 6.

I'd also take those Omnicity Double Decks at Cambridge to displace some of the older E400's in the Fleet, again providing they are Euro 6, however the vast majority of these will more than likely be used for the Common Wealth Games Fleet in Birmingham between 28/07/22 and 08/08/2022 however are a few months away from that and I doubt Stagecoach would want these vehicles sat doing nothing for 5 months. 


Stagecoach Reserve Fleet

Scania Omnicitys 15074/75/78/81/83/85/87/89/90/92 – Cambridge

Tridents 18055/18433 - Lincoln

E400 19146 - Lincoln

Volvo B7RLEs 21221-31 – Fenstation / 21263 – Hull / 21270 - Skegness

Enviro 300s 27520-23 - Cambridge

Dart SLFs 34881/82 – Banbury / 35237 – Hastings / 34565/34708/34709 - Cumbria

Manviros 200’s - 39723/25/27/29-32 – Sunderland

Enviro 200s 36012/41/60/61, 36301/02/06/07/08 – Bedford / 36738 Reserve – Ayr / 37200 - Hull

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 44010 – Exeter

Optare Solo 47517 - Chester

Optare Solo SR 47812 – Inverness

 
Stagecoach Disposals

Stagecoach South West  Dart SLFs 34612/14. 34777, 34859/77, 35168/70 and Solos 47698/99.

Stagecoach North East Manviro 200 39703 from South Shields.

Stagecoach West MAN/Enviro 300s 22844/45 along with Optare Solos 47242 and 47596 as well as Van Hool Astromega 50237

Stagecoach Highlands Volvo B7Rs 53254 and 53305; Volvo B9R 53624 and Optare Solo 47574 whilst Volvo B7RLE 21205 is reported as scrapped with Volvo B12B 53108 and Volvo B7Rs 53304/14 being sold to Ensign Bus.

Stagecoach Cumbria Optare Solo 47452 has been sold

I reckon a few ALX300's will be on the 'dead' list this year

(14 Feb 2022, 9:42 pm)V514DFT wrote I reckon a few ALX300's will be on the 'dead' list this year

You'd think the withdrawal of the 18, 32/32A and 35 will see off the remaining 54 reg examples

(14 Feb 2022, 10:22 pm)peter wrote You'd think the withdrawal of the 18, 32/32A and 35 will see off the remaining 54 reg examples

Only if Stagecoach don’t win these contracts back! I’d imagine they’ll be bidding competitively.


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(14 Feb 2022, 10:48 pm)Dan wrote Only if Stagecoach don’t win these contracts back! I’d imagine they’ll be bidding competitively.


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Oh! I assumed because they had cancelled them on VOSA that was that and that someone else must have got them!

(14 Feb 2022, 11:09 pm)peter wrote Oh! I assumed because they had cancelled them on VOSA that was that and that someone else must have got them!

Nope - they’ll need to re-register them if they win them back. Go North East have similarly registered its cancellations for all their affected services and if they win any services back they will also have to re-register them.

Tender results due to be awarded on 28 February so nothing will be registered until at least then, and in reality it will probably be closer to the end of that week.

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(15 Feb 2022, 6:38 am)Dan wrote Nope - they’ll need to re-register them if they win them back. Go North East have similarly registered its cancellations for all their affected services and if they win any services back they will also have to re-register them.

Tender results due to be awarded on 28 February so nothing will be registered until at least then, and in reality it will probably be closer to the end of that week.

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Am I the only one uncomfortable with this system?

Maybe if the operator who has decided not to run the unprofitable trips is ruled out of tendering for public money, or better still, the local authority puts all trips for that route throughout the day (with any profits going back into the public purse) for tender, it may focus the minds within the various companies who decide that putting their hand out is the  easy option.

(15 Feb 2022, 12:43 pm)Bazza wrote Am I the only one uncomfortable with this system?

Maybe if the operator who has decided not to run the unprofitable trips is ruled out of tendering for public money, or better still, the local authority puts all trips for that route throughout the day (with any profits going back into the public purse) for tender, it may focus the minds within the various companies who decide that putting their hand out is the  easy option.

That’s exactly what is happening.

Operators have decided some routes are no longer commercially viable so have cancelled them. Nexus is procuring a replacement for most of these routes, at least in part. That includes the full daytime service, not just evenings and Sundays.


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The system is broken…. If it ever worked in the first place

Bazza [b wrotepid='271828' dateline='1644929019']Am I the only one uncomfortable with this system?[/b] 

Maybe if the operator who has decided not to run the unprofitable trips is ruled out of tendering for public money, or better still, the local authority puts all trips for that route throughout the day (with any profits going back into the public purse) for tender, it may focus the minds within the various companies who decide that putting their hand out is the  easy option.

Nope. You're not.
To think an operator may just not break even, but is more than happy running it under subsidy shows how broken the system really is.

They're not bothered about passengers. They're not bothered about the tax payer.
Because if they were, I'd argue that this whole process wouldn't exist in the first place.

Theres been many an example of an operator running something courtesy of their begging bowl, to then suddenly decide that very same service is commercially viable once someone else wins the tender.

(15 Feb 2022, 1:58 pm)Andreos1 wrote Nope. You're not.
To think an operator may just not break even, but is more than happy running it under subsidy shows how broken the system really is.

They're not bothered about passengers. They're not bothered about the tax payer.
Because if they were, I'd argue that this whole process wouldn't exist in the first place.

Theres been many an example of an operator running something courtesy of their begging bowl, to then suddenly decide that very same service is commercially viable once someone else wins the tender.

 More recently the 29 which used to be secured then GNE took it commercially as GCT were though to have had a good chance to run it.

Also going back i while i remember the 44b being run by OK travelo as a conection from newcastle to dinnington via hazlerrig when Northumbria changed the 44 to hazlerigg to whitlybay.  It made so much money the ok travel took it on commercially. Go ahnead then took them over and it disappeared.

(15 Feb 2022, 2:40 pm)Rob44 wrote  More recently the 29 which used to be secured then GNE took it commercially as GCT were though to have had a good chance to run it.

Also going back i while i remember the 44b being run by OK travelo as a conection from newcastle to dinnington via hazlerrig when Northumbria changed the 44 to hazlerigg to whitlybay.  It made so much money the ok travel took it on commercially. Go ahnead then took them over and it disappeared.

It proves how infrequently this happens when we still cling onto the 29 as an example of this happening. Wasn’t this 5+ years ago now?


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I definitely think this is a case of "don't hate the player, hate the game".

If you know the LA are going to pay you to run a service you cancel, why wouldn't you?

(15 Feb 2022, 2:50 pm)Dan wrote It proves how infrequently this happens when we still cling onto the 29 as an example of this happening. Wasn’t this 5+ years ago now?


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Very true but as you know dan its one of the services i am sometimes forces to use...... so it is relevant to me......... and TBH it seemed to be more reliable when it was secured!

(15 Feb 2022, 12:43 pm)Bazza wrote Am I the only one uncomfortable with this system?

Maybe if the operator who has decided not to run the unprofitable trips is ruled out of tendering for public money, or better still, the local authority puts all trips for that route throughout the day (with any profits going back into the public purse) for tender, it may focus the minds within the various companies who decide that putting their hand out is the  easy option.

The worst services are the ones which they run during the day then ask for money in the evenings and Sundays.

At least if they have the whole route, 'IF' it was run properly then there's potential to grow the service. Under the above then it's like saying well we will do the profitable bits, take the money and share it with our mates then you can do the unprofitable bits for us. So morally wrong.

Nexus also need to change the tendering process as it's crap to put it polite. The services are badly run, disjointed and are just an after thought. Say in comparison to the Hexham Local Services or Durham P&R which are both the same which both are well ran, well advertised and from an average punter you wouldn't know the difference since they're done on longer contracts with growth and the customer actually thought about rather than it being an inconvenience since it's not the Metro.

(15 Feb 2022, 2:50 pm)Dan wrote It proves how infrequently this happens when we still cling onto the 29 as an example of this happening. Wasn’t this 5+ years ago now?


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And if we are using the 44B as an example we are going back almost to the dawn of time!!

At least to a different era, before out of town retail parks, out of town business parks and Sunday trading.

We're in a completely different place now, with passenger numbers c25-30% below pre covid but with bus operating costs about 106% of pre-covid (driver wage increase plus extra cleaning costs). Many operators have yet to feel the increase in fuel cost as they are hedged, but that will be the next big cost increase.

(15 Feb 2022, 11:00 pm)busmanT wrote And if we are using the 44B as an example we are going back almost to the dawn of time!!

At least to a different era, before out of town retail parks, out of town business parks and Sunday trading.

We're in a completely different place now, with passenger numbers c25-30% below pre covid but with bus operating costs about 106% of pre-covid (driver wage increase plus extra cleaning costs). Many operators have yet to feel the increase in fuel cost as they are hedged, but that will be the next big cost increase.

the 44b was reverse of what normally happens though. it was secured. made money for nexus ( or tyne and wear PTE as it probably was then) so then a private company... in this case OK motor service took it over as a commercial deal. And from what i remember thats when it used to try to get into the haymaerket bus stand before the 44 from Whitley back to pick up more fares.

(15 Feb 2022, 3:42 pm)Rob44 wrote Very true but as you know dan its one of the services i am sometimes forces to use...... so it is relevant to me......... and TBH it seemed to be more reliable when it was secured!

Ouch!

(15 Feb 2022, 3:42 pm)Rob44 wrote Very true but as you know dan its one of the services i am sometimes forces to use...... so it is relevant to me......... and TBH it seemed to be more reliable when it was secured! 

It would be interesting to compare the before and after stats for reliability, but I reckon the financial claw backs were a factor when it was secured!

(16 Feb 2022, 1:46 pm)Andreos1 wrote It would be interesting to compare the before and after stats for reliability, but I reckon the financial claw backs were a factor when it was secured!

Didn’t it run with a brand new Solo (which the contract would have paid for) at the time, and now runs with a 12 year old Versa?


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It ran with a mini bus that was a t time very busy but didn't half struggle up ??? Whitehall road bank i think ( off saltwell road). Now it runs on versa, although it did run with the white bus that looked like it had been pull from the scrap yard. But to be positive i once saw and xlines branded bus ( x21 i think) on the 29 so that was a nice change

(16 Feb 2022, 1:58 pm)Dan wrote Didn’t it run with a brand new Solo (which the contract would have paid for) at the time, and now runs with a 12 year old Versa?


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Not sure what is allocated at the moment, but yeah, pretty sure a Solo was allocated when it was supported.

Didn't get a proper look, but saw an Alx300 being towed along the A66 in Middlesbrough today.
It had the X47 still showing on the blind.

Any ideas?

Stagecoach East, South East and South West will have plenty of singles and deckers going spare given they've taken a butchers knife to the respective networks in October.

(21 Sep 2022, 6:13 pm)Andreos1 wrote Didn't get a proper look, but saw an Alx300 being towed along the A66 in Middlesbrough today.
It had the X47 still showing on the blind.

Any ideas?

Well stockton are meant to be getting all the ALX300S moved down in exchange for some batch of something, might of been coming down here but may of broken down on the way or it may be 22064 went out for a test and broke down

(21 Sep 2022, 9:22 pm)Lollist wrote Well stockton are meant to be getting all the ALX300S moved down in exchange for some batch of something, might of been coming down here but may of broken down on the way or it may be 22064 went out for a test and broke down

By my reckoning it headed off in to Eston Road in the South Bank/Grangetown area.
No idea what's down there mind.

(21 Sep 2022, 6:13 pm)Andreos1 wrote Didn't get a proper look, but saw an Alx300 being towed along the A66 in Middlesbrough today.
It had the X47 still showing on the blind.

Any ideas?

Will be 22082, after it’s withdrawal it was left with X47 Kingston Park; most likely gone for scrap.


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https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_f...ZSxM8nL6Ml&id=100064289462295&sfnsn=scwspmo

Looks like the heritage fleet is being disposed of.

Do you think I could take like a headlight or something off of a withdrawn vehicle to remember the vehicle if I asked like for free or something?

Probably not.