(09 Sep 2014, 7:47 pm)mb134 wrote Could some of 7514-21 be refurbished for it?

And how would you propose to free them up?
I think it's more likely that a new order will be placed for the 7. There are a few runs that require double deck capacity, but don't expect all 11 Pulsars to be displaced.

Case of wait and see with the Streetlites but I've been told they should be ok. I drove 1550 back from Middlesbrough to the depot last week and it seemed ok, but wasn't massively impressed. 3 more arrived today from Thorntons, giving us 8 so far. The other two should arrive before the end of the week, and maybe if Thorntons can crack on with 1512, it may also be brought down.

Our launch will be in Middlesbrough town centre (near BHS) on Monday, between 1200-1330... I'll be there and be nice to see a few of you there too We'll have a Streetlite there (fully branded of course!) and Princess Kate of course will be helping us to launch them, maybe even Prince William and George will put in an appearance!

(09 Sep 2014, 7:52 pm)tyresmoke wrote And how would you propose to free them up?
I think it's more likely that a new order will be placed for the 7. There are a few runs that require double deck capacity, but don't expect all 11 Pulsars to be displaced.

Case of wait and see with the Streetlites but I've been told they should be ok. I drove 1550 back from Middlesbrough to the depot last week and it seemed ok, but wasn't massively impressed. 3 more arrived today from Thorntons, giving us 8 so far. The other two should arrive before the end of the week, and maybe if Thorntons can crack on with 1512, it may also be brought down.

Our launch will be in Middlesbrough town centre (near BHS) on Monday, between 1200-1330... I'll be there and be nice to see a few of you there too We'll have a Streetlite there (fully branded of course!) and Princess Kate of course will be helping us to launch them, maybe even Prince William and George will put in an appearance!

Do you think passenger numbers will grow with the introduction of the streetlites?

(09 Sep 2014, 7:52 pm)tyresmoke wrote Our launch will be in Middlesbrough town centre (near BHS) on Monday, between 1200-1330... I'll be there and be nice to see a few of you there too We'll have a Streetlite there (fully branded of course!) and Princess Kate of course will be helping us to launch them, maybe even Prince William and George will put in an appearance!

I would have gone but I have a dentist appointment that day
Will be riding them on the 5/5A on the Tuesday though.

When the Darington depot manager said 'No more deckers' because of, frankly, one decker incident, why suddenly has he changed his mind and MAY, I repeat MAY be considering an E400 order for the 7? I get the capacity issue but there must be another reason?

Deckers always coped well under the Cornmill and around the town, only once was there a major incident

If ANE has any left out of 7514 - 7521 after MAX refurbs for the X14, they could join 2 up with 7501 - 7509. I know 7 year old deckers aren't ideal but you should look at it from what the routes demand. The X21 / X22 are more demanding particularly the X21 and, the spec doesn't match either due to only 7 out of the 16 having buggy bays and a low height. I know that would be the case with 9 not having them plus 1 extra and one spare having them for the 7 but in terms of routes, I'd say that the X21 / X22 are more important than the 7 particularly due to the loads.

You mean someone in Arriva has actually stood up to a depot management team and tell them what's what?

(09 Sep 2014, 8:00 pm)Tom wrote Do you think passenger numbers will grow with the introduction of the streetlites?

They certainly will. I've seen the figures for the other Sapphire routes, and they're all out performing DB's expectations. We've had extra capacity added in July with the additional journeys, the new X5 express has helped with that, and they are now taking off on their own now the colleges are back.

Obviously we can't operate deckers on the 5s or X3/X4 so if passenger numbers grow we will have to add to the frequencies - and they're certainly expected to. For example one journey today (to Nunthorpe school...) I had 65 on my Pulsar, and left another 15 or so for the next one to get. There are known issues but there's only so much that can be done.

(09 Sep 2014, 8:31 pm)tyresmoke wrote They certainly will. I've seen the figures for the other Sapphire routes, and they're all out performing DB's expectations. We've had extra capacity added in July with the additional journeys, the new X5 express has helped with that, and they are now taking off on their own now the colleges are back.

Obviously we can't operate deckers on the 5s or X3/X4 so if passenger numbers grow we will have to add to the frequencies - and they're certainly expected to. For example one journey today (to Nunthorpe school...) I had 65 on my Pulsar, and left another 15 or so for the next one to get. There are known issues but there's only so much that can be done.

I bet the 4/X4 is popular too! I know Stockton won't have a problem, but I hope Redcar can keep them in a good condition.

7617/21 are both now in service at Blyth

(09 Sep 2014, 8:35 pm)Tom wrote I bet the 4/X4 is popular too! I know Stockton won't have a problem, but I hope Redcar can keep them in a good condition.

Yes the X4 is growing massively, spoke to a few Redcar drivers and it's much busier. A Redcar-Whitby link has been asked for and we finally have it!

(09 Sep 2014, 8:23 pm)aureolin wrote You mean someone in Arriva has actually stood up to a depot management team and tell them what's what?

Could actually seem this way, if the 7 gets deckers then the answer will be a yes!

(09 Sep 2014, 8:46 pm)tyresmoke wrote Yes the X4 is growing massively, spoke to a few Redcar drivers and it's much busier. A Redcar-Whitby link has been asked for and we finally have it!

Brilliant to hear! I wonder if it could be upped to every 20 minutes, and the X3/X3a upper to every 20 minutes (if that's doing well) to provide a service every 10 minutes between Redcar and Middlesbrough?

(09 Sep 2014, 8:51 pm)Tom wrote Brilliant to hear! I wonder if it could be upped to every 20 minutes, and the X3/X3a upper to every 20 minutes (if that's doing well) to provide a service every 10 minutes between Redcar and Middlesbrough?

If that did happen, either Lingdale or North Skelton would end up with an extra bus an hour in a 20/40 minutes frequency gap depending which part of the route justify the extra journey.

(09 Sep 2014, 8:53 pm)Kuyoyo wrote If that did happen, either Lingdale or North Skelton would end up with an extra bus an hour in a 20/40 minutes frequency gap depending which part of the route justify the extra journey.

Oh right. Maybe it could just be the 4/X4 upgraded then.

(09 Sep 2014, 8:57 pm)Tom wrote Oh right. Maybe it could just be the 4/X4 upgraded then.

At present, the X3/X4 are marketed as providing a 15 minutes Middlesbrough-Redcar-Saltburn service (full route all day Saturday and off peak weekdays, Redcar-Saltburn weekday PM peak times).

Another thing though deckers on the 7 on a night would be useless I'm currently on 1521 on the 22:15 ex Durham and there is me and 3 other passengers, on a Friday and Saturday night then the deckers will work but overall we should keep 2 sapphire pulsars for night work during the week

(09 Sep 2014, 8:59 pm)Kuyoyo wrote At present, the X3/X4 are marketed as providing a 15 minutes Middlesbrough-Redcar-Saltburn service (full route all day Saturday and off peak weekdays, Redcar-Saltburn weekday PM peak times).

There's a 15 min (or better) frequency all day Mon-Sat between Middlesbrough and Saltburn which should draw passengers away from the train.

Has anyone actually researched whether double-deckers take longer to load/unload - and therefore negate the benefit of being able to move more people in a given schedule?

Especially as the current procedure seems to be to wait until passengers are seated (or at least 'stable') before driving off and 'remain seated until the bus stops'.

Whilst I accept that some double deckers have more seats than some single deckers, I believe that the total capacity (including standees) isn't necessarily much greater with the limit being the all-up weight - and the staircase reduces the number of seats possible on each deck.

Maybe it is time for three-axle single deckers (with steering third axles)?

Erm...helps if they paint it.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ADKNr-Gg5ao/U0...am+(2).JPG

Redcar depot now have 1562 (NK14 GFA) for type training and Next Stop testing - the later of which it is performing today along the X4/4 route.

(09 Sep 2014, 9:55 pm)G-CPTN wrote Has anyone actually researched whether double-deckers take longer to load/unload - and therefore negate the benefit of being able to move more people in a given schedule?

Especially as the current procedure seems to be to wait until passengers are seated (or at least 'stable') before driving off and 'remain seated until the bus stops'.

Whilst I accept that some double deckers have more seats than some single deckers, I believe that the total capacity (including standees) isn't necessarily much greater with the limit being the all-up weight - and the staircase reduces the number of seats possible on each deck.

Maybe it is time for three-axle single deckers (with steering third axles)?

Why would that be a barrier to purchasing Deckers? Every other route that has deckers seems to manage fine so i dont see why service 7 should be any different.

(10 Sep 2014, 3:17 pm)Robert wrote Why would that be a barrier to purchasing Deckers? Every other route that has deckers seems to manage fine so i dont see why service 7 should be any different.

For service 7, I couldn't imagine it to be too much of an issue, but this is one of the reasons why GNE's X66 service can't receive double deckers as investment.

(09 Sep 2014, 6:55 pm)Jimmi wrote 1712 was in use yesterday on service 13A/13B.

1612 is now parked up, front panel and fuel tank removed, brakes wound off. 1650 is also die to be gone by the end of the month as well

There's been a 7 duplicate listed on the PVR this week, presumably for one of the early ones into Durham. Things definitely need to change though, whether it's deckers, spares or whatever, but when buses are leaving Darlington with standing passengers, it means people are being left.

(10 Sep 2014, 5:08 pm)MrPottski wrote There's been a 7 duplicate listed on the PVR this week, presumably for one of the early ones into Durham. Things definitely need to change though, whether it's deckers, spares or whatever, but when buses are leaving Darlington with standing passengers, it means people are being left.

It's great to see passenger numbers growing so much and you're right we need to react now - the duplicate is just the start of things I am sure. It solves one of the problems for now, but it cannot be a long term answer

(10 Sep 2014, 6:19 pm)tyresmoke wrote It's great to see passenger numbers growing so much and you're right we need to react now - the duplicate is just the start of things I am sure. It solves one of the problems for now, but it cannot be a long term answer

As I asked the other week and the split Durham/Stockton allocation for the x1 - why can't Durham take on the 7?
Could solve the issues that Darlo have with deckers

(10 Sep 2014, 6:26 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote As I asked the other week and the split Durham/Stockton allocation for the x1 - why can't Durham take on the 7?
Could solve the issues that Darlo have with deckers

There is no real issue with double deckers at Darlington depot, if Belmont can use double deckers on the 7 then Darlington depot can use double deckers.

This was the incident which is what sparked the fear of having double deckers at Darlington depot.
http://m.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/9752...collision/
Another stupid decision from the predestination of Darlington Town Centre.

Also there has been problems with peak time capacity on the 7 for years, I had many problems for my first two years at New College as buses would fail to turn up on regular occasions and every morning the bus had to drive straight past Ferryhill Market Place because the bus was full and on a regular basis buses on that journey would fail to turn up so we had to get on the bus behind which meant people living in Ferryhill were often late for college.

Just out of curiosity do you think that the scania omnicity that are going on x15 to berwick are a bit small for that route

(10 Sep 2014, 6:50 pm)Philly rf wrote Just out of curiosity do you think that the scania omnicity that are going on x15 to berwick are a bit small for that route

I certainly do - and I can't imagine standing for the Berwick - Alnwick stretch would be particularly pleasant!

(09 Sep 2014, 7:35 pm)Kuyoyo wrote 7501-9 would be very hard to get under the Cornmill Centre Bridge in Darlington Town Centre - marked 14ft 6ins as you enter, and reduces to 14ft 3ins at the top end, 7501-9 are 14ft 6ins.

There's a bit of a safety margin built in there. Bishop used to put 7272/7275 under there no problem and they were 14'6"