(30 Oct 2013, 12:03 am)gtomlinson wrote O..... K

Sooooo. Solars are still rubbish on Waggonway

Erm. Yeah. Awkward

Nothing wrong with them, they've ran perfectly for 11 Years at Washington and still sound healthy, minus the one with a banging sound coming from the rear wheels if that is now a Waggonway that is, that's been like for over a year now.

My Connections 4 Photos, Still need to capture 5358/60/61, So expect some more photos at some point in the near future.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adammalarke...105139823/

(29 Oct 2013, 11:09 pm)Acky81 wrote I mentioned the drifter destination blinds weeks ago I stated gne weren't doing anything about it and yes I was right they haven't done nowt

Both vehicles were fixed. I've taken photos of both after complaints were made on this forum and e-mails were sent to the engineering department at Deptford.

(29 Oct 2013, 11:28 pm)Adam wrote ah right so that's why it won't work. Thanks anyway

Richard kenco stole it and posted it on a group

It looks like the 309 is going to do very well out of Arriva's investment on Volvo B5LH's on the 308. They can't even keep to time due to how slow they are and the Citaro's and Omnicities are always overtaking them even when the 309 is running slightly late. Arriva need to think of something drastic before the Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2's are launched in January on the 309. They will gain several passengers of the 308 due to the poor timekeeping of the 308!

(30 Oct 2013, 7:27 am)danpick wrote Richard kenco stole it and posted it on a group

Not to fuel last night's debate, but that photo you refer to has not been stolen from anyone.

http://www.simplygo.com/news/how-were-doing

Some of the info.

A fleet of new Mercedes buses has entered service on 'Connections 4', our frequent bus linking Houghton-le-Spring, Washington and Heworth every ten minutes during the day.
New buses are also coming for 'Citylink' 58 between Heworth, Gateshead, Newcastle and Hadrian Park; and our 'Drifter' services to Sunderland, Seaham and Dalton Park.

By January, we'll have introduced 100 new buses in just ten months.

It mentions NEXUS.

(30 Oct 2013, 11:28 am)Michael wrote http://www.simplygo.com/news/how-were-doing

Some of the info.

A fleet of new Mercedes buses has entered service on 'Connections 4', our frequent bus linking Houghton-le-Spring, Washington and Heworth every ten minutes during the day.
New buses are also coming for 'Citylink' 58 between Heworth, Gateshead, Newcastle and Hadrian Park; and our 'Drifter' services to Sunderland, Seaham and Dalton Park.

By January, we'll have introduced 100 new buses in just ten months.

It mentions NEXUS.

'Dalton Park' strange? Is that a typo or is some new buses coming to the 61?
They've just posted Saltwell Park new look.

(30 Oct 2013, 11:53 am)CatsFast101 wrote 'Dalton Park' strange? Is that a typo or is some new buses coming to the 61?
They've just posted Saltwell Park new look.

Might be, not sure

I go back on what i said about the colour for the Saltwell park... it look's quite good with the branding.

Thank's Liam. =)

I do like that new Saltwell Park, it looks very good.

I'm re-posting the delivery dates which Rob posted a while back.

I've removed the Connection's 4 - cause their all here and in Service..



8 Wright Streetlite for Drifter - All here - getting branded now - out 10th November.
8 Wright Streetlite for Saltwell Park - Not sure how many is here.

14 Optare Versa for Citylink, which are due to start arriving mid/late October. - has any even arrived yet?

12 Optare Solo SR for Venture, which are due to arriving mid November.

34 Volvo B9/Wright Gemini for Fab Fifty Six and Cobalt Clipper, which are due to start arriving late December.

From the initial arrival dates, it will take a few weeks for everything to arrive, be fitted with the key smart card readers, have blinds programmed, branded, tested and ready to go.

In terms of the additional 15 vehicles which could be arriving next year, details have not been confirmed. What I will say, is that there is 1 route which has had no change for a while, and a lot of you have speculated for a while that it will get upgrades before the Waggonway. That one!

(30 Oct 2013, 12:16 am)Adam Malarkey wrote Nothing wrong with them, they've ran perfectly for 11 Years at Washington and still sound healthy, minus the one with a banging sound coming from the rear wheels if that is now a Waggonway that is, that's been like for over a year now.

Over a decade old they aren't in peak condition. I personally don't like em

I do like like the Design for the Decals to go on the side/rear of the Bus, But I think it would been more effective under a different base colour.

Has anyone seen the latest 'open reporting'?

www.simplygo.com/news/how-were-doing/

Satisfaction is dropping (87%) and apparently QCS will increase fares by 40%!

Amazingly considering the size of the network, GNE have made 17 million journeys - 'nearly twice as many as metro'.

More PR patter...

Edit. Just noticed Michael put it on. Sorry!

(30 Oct 2013, 2:53 pm)Andreos1 wrote Has anyone seen the latest 'open reporting'?

www.simplygo.com/news/how-were-doing/

Satisfaction is dropping (87%) and apparently QCS will increase fares by 40%!

Amazingly considering the size of the network, GNE have made 17 million journeys - 'nearly twice as many as metro'.

More PR patter...

Edit. Just noticed Michael put it on. Sorry!

Dont worry about it

Just a random stab in the dark for why the Versas haven't arrived. Is it possible there isn't room for them at Saltmeadows due to all the Streetlites there. No doubt they might start arriving once the first lot of Streetlites tootle off to Deptford for storage and driver training prior to entering service.

I had a ride to Beamish on the Waggonway with my family today. The Solars coped with the hills quite well, a lot lot lot better than the DAFs. It even managed to get up the Long Bank with a decent pace. Was quite surprised.

(30 Oct 2013, 5:26 pm)Liam wrote 2 Citylink Versa have arrived.

thanks

(30 Oct 2013, 5:26 pm)Liam wrote 2 Citylink Versa have arrived.

Are they arriving already branded or not??

(30 Oct 2013, 6:26 pm)Wellsey18 wrote Are they arriving already branded or not??

It would make sense if they were, considering that they are late arriving. But I'm not sure how likely the is. The one at the bus and coach live, was probably branded so it looked better, a branded bus better than a non branded bus.

(30 Oct 2013, 6:53 pm)CatsFast101 wrote It would make sense if they were, considering that they are late arriving. But I'm not sure how likely the is. The one at the bus and coach live, was probably branded so it looked better, a branded bus better than a non branded bus.

Why go to the expense of branding externally though when it's bound to be cheaper applying the decals in house (at Saltmeadows).

Only one should be arriving branded. Rest should be plain Orange. Optare never sends vehicles to their operators branded up unless they are off on show somewhere.

(30 Oct 2013, 7:19 pm)GMitchelhill wrote Only one should be arriving branded. Rest should be plain Orange. Optare never sends vehicles to their operators branded up unless they are off on show somewhere.

Only 12 will be orange to cover the PVR, 2 will be red so they can be used on other routes when not needed on 58

(30 Oct 2013, 10:28 pm)busmanT wrote Only 12 will be orange to cover the PVR, 2 will be red so they can be used on other routes when not needed on 58

They've bought two fleet livered spares? Sounds a bit daft. I assumed the PVR was 14, but if it's 12 why not get the 13 and brand them all. In that case there should never be anything but a Versa on the 58 see how long that lasts..

(30 Oct 2013, 11:08 pm)CatsFast101 wrote They've bought two fleet livered spares? Sounds a bit daft. I assumed the PVR was 14, but if it's 12 why not get the 13 and brand them all. In that case there should never be anything but a Versa on the 58 see how long that lasts..

I also thought the PVR was 14... if so i agree with Cats fast... they should only be versa's on the 58 at all times.

Anyone considered the PVRs of the Fab56 and Cobalt too? 15 for each iirc, and we have 17 for both Fab56 and Cobalt...
Northern B9s..!

Surely it is the best option though? It means customers do not suffer with an SPD if their branded vehicle is VOR and they get the Northern equivalent of the bus instead. When all branded buses are on the road... other customers see the benefit!

(30 Oct 2013, 11:16 pm)Dan wrote Anyone considered the PVRs of the Fab56 and Cobalt too? 15 for each iirc, and we have 17 for both Fab56 and Cobalt...
Northern B9s..!

Surely it is the best option though? It means customers do not suffer with an SPD if their branded vehicle is VOR and they get the Northern equivalent of the bus instead. When all branded buses are on the road... other customers see the benefit!

Now u gave more examples its a good idea having spares for the routes, i think the 56 needs a extra bus out and about

Well it's a good idea in principal but I'm not sure if it works in practice. How many times has a branded vehicle appeared off route while that service uses anything spare. I think it's good but it just seems a bit daft buying a new bus (or 2) as a spare when other services go without any new investiments and make do with rattling MPD's/SPD's or frequent examples of Olympians.

I think having a branded spare is good and is certainly helps in something which I think is a key- Brand Recognition, But in this case why not use existing vehicles as branded spares? I mean a quick example, would be like 8306-8309, allocating one as Drifter spare, two as CityLink spare and one as Saltwell Park spare.

However in this case they're not branded and it just seems silly to have a non-branded spare, Citylink Versa isn't available use 4966?

(30 Oct 2013, 11:16 pm)Dan wrote Anyone considered the PVRs of the Fab56 and Cobalt too? 15 for each iirc, and we have 17 for both Fab56 and Cobalt...
Northern B9s..!

Surely it is the best option though? It means customers do not suffer with an SPD if their branded vehicle is VOR and they get the Northern equivalent of the bus instead. When all branded buses are on the road... other customers see the benefit!

How many B9's have been ordered? The 56 has currently 16 branded vehicles, 309/310 has 17 branded vehicles. Don't know now that compares to their PVR though.