(01 Sep 2023, 3:00 pm)Andreos1 wrote If there's a shortage of engineers to put right the knackered vehicles (and therefore maintain the PVR), then I am struggling to understand why they would make the fleet smaller.
Surely the opposite needs to happen, at least temporarily?
Its a bit of a catch 22 situation. Make the fleet bigger to help the local team sounds like the right thing to do, but just means more buses to inspect, repair defects and MOT test. In turn, makes life more difficult as they are spread more thinly across the fleet in terms of maintenance.
Actually reducing the number of buses gradually, but providing more support (in terms of skilled engineers) from other depots is the chosen direction to get them back on track.
(01 Sep 2023, 1:46 pm)Ryland wrote So Redcar are keeping
2857
2861
2863
2870
No 2857 is not staying.
(01 Sep 2023, 1:26 pm)Kuyoyo wrote There's a reason they're binning the Gas Buses - the cost of Gas is presently that expensive it's not worth it. Add to the fact they are currently one of the most unreliably vehicle types in the company (in ironic terms, Durham are also getting rid of most of their most unreliable vehicles - the E200s) which will help Darlington's operational reliability improve massively.
The gas buses are requiring overhaul of the gas delivery systems (pipework, regulators, storage etc), which costs more than the book value of the vehicle to do. This is why they are being withdrawn, as its cheaper to write them off.