(14 Oct 2021, 10:42 pm)Keeiajs wrote While the buses may not be that different in spec wise. The care that they get is just lower than the rest of the other fleet. 56 doesn't even have working plug sockets. Veras's don't have USB (yet), neither does EDE 65 but I think they are getting them. While the rest of the fleet are getting refurbishment. The old Saltwell parks and don't even have Wifi on 1 hour long routes, same with Drifter they should have USB's. They should have been retrimmed. The new livieries just look like the second thought and the liverys are different to what has happened with the Connections 4, with the front of the bus. I definitely think that Sunderland gets the left overs. they are losing a lot of the high spec streetlights. They don;t have enough double deckers most the time. Really S&D is just a cheap way to get passengers would help if they were allocated correctly.
To go back to the liveries compared the Red Kite Ranger to S&D Blue, or really any of them. And some of the names of the brand...I can think of better ones. Mercedes are 13 years old, yes some are 11. And when Euro 6 thing is brought in Deptford will chance to get all the older OmniCity's/OmniDekkas when the 15 plate are going. Sunderland needs serious investment in new buses. Yes they have just branded 13 year old buses, but how long will they last. I give S&D Brand 2 years.
Just Disappointing.
By rushed job I think he means the branding is too small in places, the destination list should have more locations, just seems like its wrong.
All the Volvo B9s in the fleet are having their three-pin sockets removed (or covered up) and replaced with USB charging points. I believe Arriva started to do similar with some of their Sapphire buses a few years ago, as the three-pin sockets are unreliable, costly to maintain and stop working quite often.
Streetlites 8339 - 8346 all have Wi-Fi, so you're wrong there. By the end of the year once all intended Citaros and OmniCitys are withdrawn, every bus across the main service fleet (excluding school buses) will be equipped with Wi-Fi. A re-trim may follow at some point in the future, but it's clear that the current priority is getting buses completed which are in the 'wrong' brand, or are critical to future re-allocations (i.e. Volvo B5 Hybrid and Red Kite Ranger Volvo B9 into Consett).
I'm really not sure I buy the argument that Sunderland are getting 'leftovers' - the only buses being re-allocated are the ex-Citylink Citaros and the ex-Quaylink Versas - the rest of the buses were already based at Deptford.
There are no plans for Scania OmniCitys or Scania OmniDekkas to transfer to Deptford permanently. They have never operated this vehicle type other than small loan period stints. The 15-plate Streetlites will be surplus to requirements once Deptford receive all their remaining Cherry and Berries buses. They do not need any extra buses to allow these to be displaced.
(14 Oct 2021, 10:55 pm)Acky81 wrote Rushed job as in very little effort. Hardly any destinations, the brandings mean nothing to anyone.
The 39 I witnessed the other was extremely packed and just kept driving passed people at stops. These solos are far too small for this daytime route. These could be used after 7pm but during the day the 39 requires streetlites
Too many via points on the side of a bus is just a huge dogs dinner. They'd need to be smaller and it'd reach a point where they aren't actually easily readible. The via points on these buses have been centred between the front of the bus and the stripe, which often means there's no more than four or five.
The branding might mean nothing to anyone, but it's proving to be a success in that it's a huge talking point on this forum alone. Once the buses start being allocated to the correct routes (no denying that local staff aren't doing well to allocate them to the correct routes at the moment), and we're past the current period of journey cancellations due to staff shortages, I'm sure it'll be backed up with appropriate time and investment into marketing. By then all the buses will have been repainted and it'll give Go North East a very clear product to sell in the city. Hopefully the special offers on the enhanced ticket range in Sunderland to cover the wider city can remain, dependent on their success during the current trial period, which will complement this well.
I disagree that the Solos are 'far too small'. I have observed loadings at peak times and the buses haven't even been full. Should passenger numbers return to where they were pre-Covid (we're a long way off that yet), then I'm sure we'll see an upgrade in capacity (as we did the X20). These Solos will of course come in handy at some point in future as replacements for the eldest Solos in the fleet (the 10 and 11-plate Solos all becoming end of life in the fleet).
(14 Oct 2021, 10:58 pm)Keeiajs wrote The 39 needs solos just bigger than the ones which are on it. Maybe 9.9m or 9.2m
The Solos used are 9.25m in length, so I'm glad Go North East are providing suitably sized Solos in your opinion.
(15 Oct 2021, 12:03 am)stagecoachbusdepot wrote I'd argue the main way in which the changes represent a downgrade is all (?) of the incoming vehicles are not only older but more polluting (the reason they are being moved to Sunderland in the first place) - much like when Sunderland swapped the E200 for MANviros ... they may look the same to most passengers but are not. Clearly Sunderland aren't getting the good end of the deal in receiving vehicles that are too dirty for another city, and in some cases were I think due for withdrawal from the fleet had Covid not hit. Appreciate this is the somewhat inevitable flaw in the idiotic LEZ/CAZ/whatever it's called now - all it does is moves the pollution, and all the implications, elsewhere.
Yes, you're right. I suspect most bus users won't pay close attention to the age of vehicles or their pollution, however.
Pushing green credentials is something Go North East do well (Euro 6 leaves on all appropriate buses, green messaging on the rear and sides of some buses), but I'm not sure that many customers care. As in your example with Stagecoach, I suspect most customers wouldn't have even noticed the difference.
We've seen examples of this up and down the country with operators in areas with LEZ/CAZ restrictions imposed moving their oldest non-conforming buses to other parts of the country which don't have these restrictions. It is as you say the inevitable flaw in creating these restrictions.