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RE: "New" Open Toppers
Could they put the euro6 engines/mods into the Toon Tour presidents? Is that doable or is it easier to repaint the London Tour vehicles?

Not sure which vehicles are newer due to the TTs having private regs on.



Edit: guess not if the London ones are being MOT’d.
Silly idea. Big Grin
RE: "New" Open Toppers
(18 Jan 2022, 12:27 am)busmanT wrote Presumably GNE hoping that they will have enough drivers to run all the normal services by the time that the Toon Tour is due to start

I don't think Percy Main are having problems with driver availability so probably won't impact on the Toon Tour.
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RE: "New" Open Toppers
(18 Jan 2022, 2:07 pm)ne14ne1 wrote Could they put the euro6 engines/mods into the Toon Tour presidents? Is that doable or is it easier to repaint the London Tour vehicles?

Not sure which vehicles are newer due to the TTs having private regs on.



Edit: guess not if the London ones are being MOT’d.
Silly idea. Big Grin

It costs around £15k per bus to add the Euro 6 SCRT.

I'd hazard a guess that the ex-London DAFs cost less than that, and they're marginally younger than the current Volvo B7s.
RE: "New" Open Toppers
(18 Jan 2022, 2:35 pm)Thomas12 wrote I don't think Percy Main are having problems with driver availability so probably won't impact on the Toon Tour.
Hahaha ask that to whoever decided to reduce services on an evening there
RE: "New" Open Toppers
(18 Jan 2022, 8:24 pm)Train8261 wrote Hahaha ask that to whoever decided to reduce services on an evening there
I think at most through a day they had 8, and that was only for a few days. 

Reducing services on a evening might just be blamed on COVID, but in reality passenger numbers aren't the best at those times.
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"New" Open Toppers
(18 Jan 2022, 8:24 pm)Train8261 wrote Hahaha ask that to whoever decided to reduce services on an evening there


Reducing the evening requirement on these services allows Percy Main to loan a greater number of drivers to other depots to assist with their coverage.

North Tyneside is an area of particularly low use during the day, let alone an evening, so makes perfect sense.


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RE: "New" Open Toppers
(18 Jan 2022, 9:16 pm)Dan wrote Reducing the evening requirement on these services allows Percy Main to loan a greater number of drivers to other depots to assist with their coverage.

North Tyneside is an area of particularly low use during the day, let alone an evening, so makes perfect sense.


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Irrespective of the 311 and when the evening journeys return, all 310 journeys ex Newcastle at xx:40 during the evenings should serve Hadrian Park.

It's very inconvenient making passengers wait up to almost an hour after finishing work for the 311 at xx:00 and not only that, but no bus to Hadrian Park after 11pm.

Yes, it makes sense missing Hadrian Park during the day as it does add time with more traffic etc despite people shouting for the 'useless' 311 to be axed and 310 re-routed despite no clear cost benefit.

But I don't think many passengers will care about a few extra minutes during the evenings especially for a certain few like myself after 5-6 pints.
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"New" Open Toppers
(18 Jan 2022, 9:33 pm)L469 YVK wrote Irrespective of the 311 and when the evening journeys return, all 310 journeys ex Newcastle at xx:40 during the evenings should serve Hadrian Park.

It's very inconvenient making passengers wait up to almost an hour after finishing work for the 311 at xx:00 and not only that, but no bus to Hadrian Park after 11pm.

Yes, it makes sense missing Hadrian Park during the day as it does add time with more traffic etc despite people shouting for the 'useless' 311 to be axed and 310 re-routed despite no clear cost benefit.

But I don't think many passengers will care about a few extra minutes during the evenings especially for a certain few like myself after 5-6 pints.


I think you’ve mentioned this a few times before!


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RE: "New" Open Toppers
(18 Jan 2022, 9:16 pm)Dan wrote Reducing the evening requirement on these services allows Percy Main to loan a greater number of drivers to other depots to assist with their coverage.

North Tyneside is an area of particularly low use during the day, let alone an evening, so makes perfect sense.


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How many drivers does that give up then. Can't be many then
RE: "New" Open Toppers
Just thinking would've not of been cheaper to covert a few of those convertible Ex Brighton Omnidekka's (3995/3996) come to mind and give them a Euro 6 upgrade rather than buying those 21 year old DAF's, as from looking at Martijn's photo there is an Omnidekka alongside the DLP264 with it's roof raised as though it's to be taken off..
RE: "New" Open Toppers
(07 Feb 2022, 7:42 pm)Malarkey wrote Just thinking would've not of been cheaper to covert a few of those convertible Ex Brighton Omnidekka's (3995/3996) come to mind and give them a Euro 6 upgrade rather than buying those 21 year old DAF's, as from looking at Martijn's photo there is an Omnidekka alongside the DLP264 with it's roof raised as though it's to be taken off..

Dan mentioned it earlier in the thread in this post:

(18 Jan 2022, 4:04 pm)Dan wrote It costs around £15k per bus to add the Euro 6 SCRT.

I'd hazard a guess that the ex-London DAFs cost less than that, and they're marginally younger than the current Volvo B7s.
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RE: "New" Open Toppers
(12 Feb 2022, 6:30 pm)Omega54 wrote I think that East Durham Explorer is 5391, it hasn't been in service for nearly 3 months

It's receiving a new engine.
RE: "New" Open Toppers
(23 Mar 2022, 12:20 pm)ne14ne1 wrote If 2022’s tour dates are similar to last years then Toon Tour recommences in less than a month, at weekends at least.

Are the current dual door open tops still around to run initially until the newer ones are prepped?

https://www.gonortheast.co.uk/toontour/
Two at Percy Main still in there livery they came up in. However from the tweet a few weeks ago that open topper is now at Percy Main sitting alongside the open topper with the British flag on it
RE: "New" Open Toppers
(14 May 2022, 2:51 pm)Unber43 wrote The 52 or 51 plate Gemini was spotted in CLS today, still has the base paint on. Could be X21 or 21 summer ops.

Huh? Do you mean President?
RE: "New" Open Toppers
Did anyone on 6998 yesterday (link to picture above) notice if the seat-backs had audio ports for earphones, rather than loud speakers for the tour commentary?
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"New" Open Toppers
(16 May 2022, 9:41 am)ne14ne1 wrote Did anyone on 6998 yesterday (link to picture above) notice if the seat-backs had audio ports for earphones, rather than loud speakers for the tour commentary?


The audio ports were removed.


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