(17 Aug 2023, 7:00 pm)Unber43 wrote Seems that is definaetyly the case with Arriva.

But that means the only thing which can replace the 96 is another Optare Solo or a Van

It's the case with all operators, especially given majority are using the same ticket machines. As soon as it loses signal there's no chance of it tracking, which means Bustimes has no idea it exists. 

As it's not a defect, bar it potentially being a bit annoying for supervisors, it's unlikely that it'll get addressed as the driver will likely have no idea (and even if they do, why would they care?) so it won't ever be reported.

(17 Aug 2023, 7:03 pm)Storx wrote Admit, it's below the 33, but isn't there 31 seats in them? unless the seats in the disabled bay are discounted for whatever reason.

Sorry yes, you are right, they are 31.

(17 Aug 2023, 7:04 pm)mb134 wrote It's the case with all operators, especially given majority are using the same ticket machines. As soon as it loses signal there's no chance of it tracking, which means Bustimes has no idea it exists. 

As it's not a defect, bar it potentially being a bit annoying for supervisors, it's unlikely that it'll get addressed as the driver will likely have no idea (and even if they do, why would they care?) so it won't ever be reported.

I was waiting for the 28b one Sunday and wasnt tracking. pulled in to buys stop and drivers changed over and the drive knew it was tracking on the app and either couldn't or wouldn't do out to fix it

It comes up on the bottom of the Ticket Machine it says GPS then if its working it has a green tick, if not its a red cross (well GNE Ticketer, I assume it would be the same for Arriva)

(18 Aug 2023, 10:33 am)Rob44 wrote I was waiting for the 28b one Sunday and wasnt tracking. pulled in to buys stop and drivers changed over and the drive knew it was tracking on the app and either couldn't or wouldn't do out to fix it

The most they can realistically do is reboot the ticket machine, which takes ages and would make them late. Better to just carry on without delaying the service - and of course they don't know if it's just a temporary issue of it not tracking. 

(18 Aug 2023, 11:00 am)Unber43 wrote It comes up on the bottom of the Ticket Machine it says GPS then if its working it has a green tick, if not its a red cross (well GNE Ticketer, I assume it would be the same for Arriva)

Yes, some of the time it does. Sometimes everything is lit up green and it still doesn't track on Bustimes. Either way, the driver likely doesn't have a reason to prioritise it as something to report - it literally doesn't impact them at all. 

Quite often it's intermittent too, and quite frankly the driver has more important things to do when driving than constantly wake up the ticket machine to check if their bus is tracking on Bustimes!

(18 Aug 2023, 11:23 am)mb134 wrote
The most they can realistically do is reboot the ticket machine, which takes ages and would make them late. Better to just carry on without delaying the service - and of course they don't know if it's just a temporary issue of it not tracking. 


Yes, some of the time it does. Sometimes everything is lit up green and it still doesn't track on Bustimes. Either way, the driver likely doesn't have a reason to prioritise it as something to report - it literally doesn't impact them at all. 

Quite often it's intermittent too, and quite frankly the driver has more important things to do when driving than constantly wake up the ticket machine to check if their bus is tracking on Bustimes!

it started to tracked when the new driver logged on

(17 Aug 2023, 7:06 pm)RobinHood wrote Sorry yes, you are right, they are 31.

From what I can see the YJ59 solos have 29 seats, while the other solos have 31 seats.

The YJ59 Solos are smaller than the 08/58/11 plates. They were originally provided under lease to Arriva for the Durham Park an Ride contract. When this was later lost, Arriva purchased them and moved them all to Darlington releasing the last of the then ancient Metroriders to the great depot in the sky.

(19 Aug 2023, 3:51 pm)9920up wrote The YJ59 Solos are smaller than the 08/58/11 plates. They were originally provided under lease to Arriva for the Durham Park an Ride contract. When this was later lost, Arriva purchased them and moved them all to Darlington releasing the last of the then ancient Metroriders to the great depot in the sky.

Metroriders had long gone by that point (2014), believe most had gone from Darlington by mid 2008 when the Solo's started arriving and Darlington had the major network recast although a small number stayed on till 2009 on service 14 partly due to some nasty speed humps along the route at the time. Think these Solo's plus movement of more Omni's to Darlington whilst receiving the MAX treatment saw off a collection of low floor Darts at Darlo.

(19 Aug 2023, 10:57 pm)Jimmi wrote Metroriders had long gone by that point (2014), believe most had gone from Darlington by mid 2008 when the Solo's started arriving and Darlington had the major network recast although a small number stayed on till 2009 on service 14 partly due to some nasty speed humps along the route at the time. Think these Solo's plus movement of more Omni's to Darlington whilst receiving the MAX treatment saw off a collection of low floor Darts at Darlo.

Did they not sent up Solo's to Blyth at the same time which saw off some of their Vxxx DNL darts aswell. Believe it was roughly that time they started turning up here.

See Redcar has just become a grave yard again.
Busses currently off the road at Redcar
1568
1569
1572
4716
4717
4719
4720
7401
7404
7424
7426
7610

Granted some of these are only off with being in traffic a few days ago.
However majority of them haven't tracked since the end of July to the beginning of this month.

Seems like both Redcar and Durham are majority being used a grave yard

(26 Aug 2023, 8:32 am)Ryland wrote See Redcar has just become a grave yard again.
Busses currently off the road at Redcar
1568
1569
1572
4716
4717
4719
4720
7401
7404
7424
7426
7610

Granted some of these are only off with being in traffic a few days ago.
However majority of them haven't tracked since the end of July to the beginning of this month.

Seems like both Redcar and Durham are majority being used a grave yard

4720 has been in service almost every day this week, as it’s broke down at least 3 times that I know of. Was tracking as 2866 the other day. 4716 I had on 63s on Thursday.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

http://nyenquirer.uk/more-woes-for-arriv...jmN3UZCJHE

Seems like arriva have been in trouble with the DVSA over the roadworthiness of over half the fleet at Whitby and/or Redcar

(26 Aug 2023, 1:54 pm)EastCoastMXZ1751 wrote http://nyenquirer.uk/more-woes-for-arriv...jmN3UZCJHE

Seems like arriva have been in trouble with the DVSA over the roadworthiness of over half the fleet at Whitby and/or Redcar

I'm not an expert and don't know the truth but there's absolutely nothing concrete and a lot of myths turned facts in that article. Would take it with a pinch of salt.

The rest of the site comes across as someone who is a complete nutter.

(26 Aug 2023, 1:54 pm)EastCoastMXZ1751 wrote http://nyenquirer.uk/more-woes-for-arriv...jmN3UZCJHE

Seems like arriva have been in trouble with the DVSA over the roadworthiness of over half the fleet at Whitby and/or Redcar

I notice that was posted over 2 months ago now. I'd be inclined to suggest that if there were serious "roadworthiness inadequacies", as he keeps banging on about throughout it, that we'd have heard something more 2 months on.

There's also a couple of points throughout which grabbed my attention:

• "In short, my three sources were bang on the money" - not really, the Arriva reponse notes that some issues were raised. The response doesn't state that half the fleet was not roadworthy - if that was the case I'd suggest that we'd have witnessed an even greater amount of VORs than we did, Arriva aren't going to send buses out in an unroadworthy condition following VOSA finding some issues. Aside from that, the "three sources" seems a bit of a stretch, one is directly quoted fair enough but then one is cited as overhearing part of a conversation, and there's not even a mention of a third source. 
  
• In a fair number of industries which have regulatory bodies in one form or another, a visit from said regulatory body (which in most cases are routine) always comes with the canteen talk of "oh but if they find anything that's us done!". The fear of it is essentially the entire point of the regulator, and the visit! I'm not saying that is what has happened here, but that message from the "informant" very much strikes me of it, especially given Arriva are still running buses 2 months later. 
  

I don't think anyone is doubting that vehicle availability could be improved at Redcar, and therefore there's obviously room for improvement with maintenance. However buses breaking down repeatedly does not necessarily equal unroadworthy, if it did then I don't think there'd be an operator in the country still going!

There is definitely something behind that as DVSA did go in and throw a few off the road that’s for certain. Don’t know any detail on how many but I believe it was 5 or 6 at Whitby alone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

(26 Aug 2023, 3:23 pm)tyresmoke wrote There is definitely something behind that as DVSA did go in and throw a few off the road that’s for certain. Don’t know any detail on how many but I believe it was 5 or 6 at Whitby alone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There being something behind it isn't in doubt, there's a statement from Arriva there confirming it. But for half the Redcar & Whitby fleet to be found unroadworthy would mean around 30 vehicles would have to be pulled from the road. If it was that serious then there's not a chance that there wouldn't have been bigger waves made at the time. 

It's the level of seriousness which is doubtful. As you'll know there are small things which a driver may not check in the morning which would be a PG9 and the DVSA would take off the road, however would be extremely quick to fix. 

This isn't a post to defend the engineering at Redcar & Whitby either, as I've said a few times I think there's huge room for improvement there. It's more to point out that the situation likely isn't as bad as the article wants you to think it is.

(26 Aug 2023, 3:59 pm)mb134 wrote There being something behind it isn't in doubt, there's a statement from Arriva there confirming it. But for half the Redcar & Whitby fleet to be found unroadworthy would mean around 30 vehicles would have to be pulled from the road. If it was that serious then there's not a chance that there wouldn't have been bigger waves made at the time. 

It's the level of seriousness which is doubtful. As you'll know there are small things which a driver may not check in the morning which would be a PG9 and the DVSA would take off the road, however would be extremely quick to fix. 

This isn't a post to defend the engineering at Redcar & Whitby either, as I've said a few times I think there's huge room for improvement there. It's more to point out that the situation likely isn't as bad as the article wants you to think it is.

Ah I didn’t get round to reading the whole article but yes that makes sense. It definitely wasn’t 30 vehicles and I think about 8 or 9 rings a bell.

The state of the fleet there isn’t helped by the pressure of trying to run services, some very demanding, with an ageing and tiring fleet. There’s a few long term VOR that I suspect they don’t have the budget to fix which in turn puts pressure on the rest of the fleet. The Streetlite that went bang (quite spectacularly) on Thursday has been running around for months with a poorly turbo but they’ll be under pressure to keep them going, caused primarily by the double deck fleet being poor.

Redcar haven’t managed full run out in months, even with a reduced operation on a Saturday they’ve had several boards missing today. It’s noteworthy when all 13 63s are operating on a weekday!
They won’t be helped by the two E400s going home this weekend either…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

(26 Aug 2023, 5:25 pm)tyresmoke wrote Ah I didn’t get round to reading the whole article but yes that makes sense. It definitely wasn’t 30 vehicles and I think about 8 or 9 rings a bell.

The state of the fleet there isn’t helped by the pressure of trying to run services, some very demanding, with an ageing and tiring fleet. There’s a few long term VOR that I suspect they don’t have the budget to fix which in turn puts pressure on the rest of the fleet. The Streetlite that went bang (quite spectacularly) on Thursday has been running around for months with a poorly turbo but they’ll be under pressure to keep them going, caused primarily by the double deck fleet being poor.

Redcar haven’t managed full run out in months, even with a reduced operation on a Saturday they’ve had several boards missing today. It’s noteworthy when all 13 63s are operating on a weekday!
They won’t be helped by the two E400s going home this weekend either…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Arriva NE really do need a sizeable order of new busses. I doubt it will happen anytime soon. 

I'd imagine this is just the tip of a very slippery iceberg.
There's probably enough breaches out there to keep VOSA busy for a very long time. And that's just in the North East.

(26 Aug 2023, 6:28 pm)solsburian wrote Arriva NE really do need a sizeable order of new busses. I doubt it will happen anytime soon. 

Only short term solution I could suggest which would be cheaper than new vehicles.......

- 7401-06 converted to Euro 6 and sent to Blyth.....only used on 43/44/45 or 306/308

- 6x E400 Classics (14/64/15) from Walkergate / Blyth to Ashington.........for use only on X20 or X21/X22

- 6x 72 plates E400MMCs to Whitby / Redcar for X93/X94

Surely if Arriva aren't in a position to invest, £20k a pop for a Euro 6 conversion will be cheaper than more new vehicles at £200k a pop.

(26 Aug 2023, 10:43 pm)L469 YVK wrote Only short term solution I could suggest which would be cheaper than new vehicles.......

- 7401-06 converted to Euro 6 and sent to Blyth.....only used on 43/44/45 or 306/308

- 6x E400 Classics (14/64/15) from Walkergate / Blyth to Ashington.........for use only on X20 or X21/X22

- 6x 72 plates E400MMCs to Whitby / Redcar for X93/X94

Surely if Arriva aren't in a position to invest, £20k a pop for a Euro 6 conversion will be cheaper than more new vehicles at £200k a pop.

Why should Arriva Northumbria bail out Arriva Yorkshire's (maintenance) or Arriva North East (operating area) problems. It's all one area now, send the crap down to Leeds not up here. Ashington needs the MMC's for the X14/X15/X18/X20, they don't need the crap back they've just got rid of rightfully and using 6 year old MMC's and downgrading a flagship route when there's a brand new train line opening in 12 months isn't the answer either.

Let them break their own buses.

(26 Aug 2023, 5:25 pm)tyresmoke wrote Ah I didn’t get round to reading the whole article but yes that makes sense. It definitely wasn’t 30 vehicles and I think about 8 or 9 rings a bell.

The state of the fleet there isn’t helped by the pressure of trying to run services, some very demanding, with an ageing and tiring fleet. There’s a few long term VOR that I suspect they don’t have the budget to fix which in turn puts pressure on the rest of the fleet. The Streetlite that went bang (quite spectacularly) on Thursday has been running around for months with a poorly turbo but they’ll be under pressure to keep them going, caused primarily by the double deck fleet being poor.

Redcar haven’t managed full run out in months, even with a reduced operation on a Saturday they’ve had several boards missing today. It’s noteworthy when all 13 63s are operating on a weekday!
They won’t be helped by the two E400s going home this weekend either…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think it's been mentioned in the past week or so, but the best thing that could happen is a substantial order for some new single deck vehicles to replace the tired Temsa's, and allow the Streetlites to be redeployed on more suitable work. It's said reasonably often that Arriva have no money, but that didn't stop a significant order for B8s for Wales and the NW last year (or the nationwide E400MMC order!). 

I didn't realise 7575/6 were moving back so soon. I would say that, at least when they arrived, a couple of Ashington drivers I'd talked to said that the Redcar Pulsars they received were pretty good to drive.

(26 Aug 2023, 11:01 pm)Storx wrote Why should Arriva Northumbria bail out Arriva Yorkshire's (maintenance) or Arriva North East (operating area) problems. It's all one area now, send the crap down to Leeds not up here. Ashington needs the MMC's for the X14/X15/X18/X20, they don't need the crap back they've just got rid of rightfully and using 6 year old MMC's and downgrading a flagship route when there's a brand new train line opening in 12 months isn't the answer either.

Let them break their own buses.

Still going to be impacted regardless whether there's new vehicles. X21 will suffer especially around the Bedlington Station area.....but if Arriva could somehow work out how to avoid Nedderton, they could still win passengers heading to Gosforth and the more Northernly parts of the City Centre around Haymarket as Central Station will be at least a 15 minute walk.

Getting back to topic......as for the X93/X94 though, it's a hard one to invest due to the seasonal nature of the route. Best time to have taken the B9TLs off would've been around 2020/21 when they still would've served some purpose and been fairly good on the X14/X20.

Unless Arriva are waiting to see how things play out at Blyth and if can still make money despite the ABTRL, maybe a large StreetDeck order with some 6-Cylinder examples thrown in for the X93/X94.

(27 Aug 2023, 9:50 am)L469 YVK wrote Still going to be impacted regardless whether there's new vehicles. X21 will suffer especially around the Bedlington Station area.....but if Arriva could somehow work out how to avoid Nedderton, they could still win passengers heading to Gosforth and the more Northernly parts of the City Centre around Haymarket as Central Station will be at least a 15 minute walk.

Getting back to topic......as for the X93/X94 though, it's a hard one to invest due to the seasonal nature of the route. Best time to have taken the B9TLs off would've been around 2020/21 when they still would've served some purpose and been fairly good on the X14/X20.

Unless Arriva are waiting to see how things play out at Blyth and if can still make money despite the ABTRL, maybe a large StreetDeck order with some 6-Cylinder examples thrown in for the X93/X94.

To be fair the best way to do it would be do something like this every 7.5 years:

New Buses: X14/X15/X18/X20/X93

The buses which are now 7.5 year old moved onto the 35/48/X46/X93(Summers)/P1/P2 with the last 3 moved to another depot to give much needed additional Christmas capacity during the winter months.

The busus from the above routes which are now 15 years old moved into spares / schools / withdrawn.

7.5 years, repeat again. Would keep a general upgrade going through on the hard routes and secondary routes. It's kind of being happening at Ashington anyway with the 57 -> 14/64 -> 72 plates.

---

Similar could be said for the 5/5A and X4 aswell, with those buses being moved to a secondary route - take a pick there's loads of them about, maybe the X2/X3/64 rota, there should be enough I think.

(27 Aug 2023, 9:50 am)L469 YVK wrote Still going to be impacted regardless whether there's new vehicles. X21 will suffer especially around the Bedlington Station area.....but if Arriva could somehow work out how to avoid Nedderton, they could still win passengers heading to Gosforth and the more Northernly parts of the City Centre around Haymarket as Central Station will be at least a 15 minute walk.

Getting back to topic......as for the X93/X94 though, it's a hard one to invest due to the seasonal nature of the route. Best time to have taken the B9TLs off would've been around 2020/21 when they still would've served some purpose and been fairly good on the X14/X20.

Unless Arriva are waiting to see how things play out at Blyth and if can still make money despite the ABTRL, maybe a large StreetDeck order with some 6-Cylinder examples thrown in for the X93/X94.

Why would they avoid Nedderton, and why would that make it more appealing than the train to those from Bedlington Station? 

I don't see a StreetDeck order, they've tried it on the X93 before and it didn't end well. The MMCs by all accounts have performed well on there this summer, and they already have around 30 in the fleet so that would be a far more sensible purchase in my view.

(27 Aug 2023, 10:38 am)mb134 wrote Why would they avoid Nedderton, and why would that make it more appealing than the train to those from Bedlington Station? 

I don't see a StreetDeck order, they've tried it on the X93 before and it didn't end well. The MMCs by all accounts have performed well on there this summer, and they already have around 30 in the fleet so that would be a far more sensible purchase in my view.

There is a clear preference for ADL double decker products in ANE going forward, to ensure fleet standardisation.

Wrightbus products are not the preferred vehicles by the current senior management team, which explains why ADL products have been the only purchases made since Feetham and Knox departed.

The lack of money argument doesn't really cut it with me, Arriva are a big company who choose to not order new buses until they absolutely have to. I think a better option would be to order a few each year, so it's a more gradual process, but it's up to them.
The X93/X94 is a money maker, it maybe seasonal but the season is long. There's only 4 months 'off' season, and you could always transfer spare double deckers to use on something like the X66 for more capacity for Christmas shoppers, for example.

But it could certainly do with new vehicles, and also some investment in the 63 and X4.

(01 Sep 2023, 8:37 am)tvd wrote The lack of money argument doesn't really cut it with me, Arriva are a big company who choose to not order new buses until they absolutely have to.  I think a better option would be to order a few each year, so it's a more gradual process, but it's up to them.
The X93/X94 is a money maker, it maybe seasonal but the season is long.  There's only 4 months 'off' season, and you could always transfer spare double deckers to use on something like the X66 for more capacity for Christmas shoppers, for example.

But it could certainly do with new vehicles, and also some investment in the 63 and X4.

Is it even that much of a money maker though? I'd be surprised if it's anywhere near the top of the list. Yes it gets good loads but it's the same passengers for over an hour, some two hours and outside the Summer isn't particularly busy at all.

Let's say each bus averaged 60 PAX per journey (which it probably roughly is) at £7 it's only £420 over 2 hours and the Diesel costs must be through the roof bombing across the Moors. It's the same with the X9/X10 with GNE (which had their frequency cut).

Compared to say the X21 at Ashington which might have 10 PAX from Newbiggin to Ashington, 10 to Bedlington, 30 through to Newcastle, 15 in between somewhere and can do 2 trips in the same time roughly. That's 130 PAX in the same at roughly lets say £4.50 it's £585 and the Diesel costs won't be anywhere near as high.

Do we know which bus has Redcar spare ticket machine in