(18 Jul 2014, 5:06 pm)citaro5284 wrote icomera have still not completed checking every vehicle, still a number of the 100+ still to do. Once they have, I would expect the wifi to be sorted. The issue has been made worse as we had a third party to fit the units, however icomera have found issues with how these have been connected up, hence why it is taking longer to get round the fleet.

Good to hear work is still being done to fix the Wi-Fi issues on the buses. Personally, I've had no issues as of late minus the occasion on a "Cobalt Clipper" yesterday.

(18 Jul 2014, 5:08 pm)citaro5284 wrote Do not know if it has been mentioned, but GNE are supplying 20 double deckers + drivers to help First out for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Interesting! I had hoped I'd see some interesting things up there, but I think I planned my trip a bit too soon - as I'm going up next Wednesday when it's only the Opening Ceremony.

(18 Jul 2014, 5:06 pm)citaro5284 wrote icomera have still not completed checking every vehicle, still a number of the 100+ still to do. Once they have, I would expect the wifi to be sorted. The issue has been made worse as we had a third party to fit the units, however icomera have found issues with how these have been connected up, hence why it is taking longer to get round the fleet.

Do icomera provide GNE a fully managed service for the APs? Or are they just a supplier? If it's fully managed I'd have expected the provider to have alarms setup if they lose contact with the AP, or if DHCP processing time exceeds a certain level for example. I know networks I've worked on have pretty much been a big brother operation in that respect.

Good to hear that the it's well under way to being sorted though. I have to say it's been a lot better lately for me.

Any idea which ones will go to Glasgow?

(18 Jul 2014, 5:20 pm)Dan wrote Interesting! I had hoped I'd see some interesting things up there, but I think I planned my trip a bit too soon - as I'm going up next Wednesday when it's only the Opening Ceremony.

I'm meant to be up there on Tuesday for a few meetings. I'm not hoping to see much then either. I was thinking about going up again on the Friday or the Friday after if I can get there for under £50.

(18 Jul 2014, 5:47 pm)Michael wrote Any idea which ones will go to Glasgow?

I'm going with B9TL's, 3 to 4 from each brand, I wouldn't recommend sending Vykings or B7TL's up to Glasgow would you.

(18 Jul 2014, 5:51 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote I'm going with B9TL's, 3 to 4 from each brand, I wouldn't recommend sending Vykings or B7TL's up to Glasgow would you.

Never know, they might haha

(18 Jul 2014, 5:51 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote I'm going with B9TL's, 3 to 4 from each brand, I wouldn't recommend sending Vykings or B7TL's up to Glasgow would you.

On the flip side of the coin, do you think it's wise for Go North East to dilute all of their branded routes that are allocated Volvo B9TLs by sending them up to Glasgow?

Aren't Stagecoach London sending up lots of dual-door ALX400s - a lot older than the Volvo B9TLs in GNE's fleet?

Whats wrong with the native Presidents?
And the unbranded B9's could go up, and possibly Versas?

(18 Jul 2014, 5:56 pm)Dan wrote On the flip side of the coin, do you think it's wise for Go North East to dilute all of their branded routes that are allocated Volvo B9TLs by sending them up to Glasgow?

Aren't Stagecoach London sending up lots of dual-door ALX400s - a lot older than the Volvo B9TLs in GNE's fleet?

I would go for the Northern deckers... if they send the Vykings... let's hope they will arrive in time

(18 Jul 2014, 6:01 pm)Michael wrote I would go for the Northern deckers... if they send the Vykings... let's hope they will arrive in time

Or that they actually get there at all.

(18 Jul 2014, 5:45 pm)aureolin wrote Do icomera provide GNE a fully managed service for the APs? Or are they just a supplier? If it's fully managed I'd have expected the provider to have alarms setup if they lose contact with the AP, or if DHCP processing time exceeds a certain level for example. I know networks I've worked on have pretty much been a big brother operation in that respect.

Good to hear that the it's well under way to being sorted though. I have to say it's been a lot better lately for me.

They are going to give us some software http://www.icomera.com/products/moovmanage/ so we can remotely monitor each vehicle. If we identify an issue, we will log a call for them to attend.

You need a degree of local knowledge, as if they find a bus not transmitting they could think there is an issue with it, when the bus is VOR, so it has to be managed locally within the business for fault recording.

(18 Jul 2014, 5:56 pm)Dan wrote On the flip side of the coin, do you think it's wise for Go North East to dilute all of their branded routes that are allocated Volvo B9TLs by sending them up to Glasgow?

Aren't Stagecoach London sending up lots of dual-door ALX400s - a lot older than the Volvo B9TLs in GNE's fleet?

And how many of them went up in Flames on the way up, 2 or 3 wasn't it. I would rather GNE sent New Vehicles, as it'll portray the Company in a Good Light, rather than send up the Ex London Castoffs.

(18 Jul 2014, 6:11 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote And how many of them went up in Flames on the way up, 2 or 3 wasn't it. I would rather GNE sent New Vehicles, as it'll portray the Company in a Good Light, rather than send up the Ex London Castoffs.

I wouldn't...
I think GNE will mainly want to portray the company in a good light to those who actually use their services - not people in Glasgow!

Are you suggesting that you'd like to see buses such as 8242-46 allocated to the TEN, because there are branded vehicles absent?

(18 Jul 2014, 6:11 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote And how many of them went up in Flames on the way up, 2 or 3 wasn't it. I would rather GNE sent New Vehicles, as it'll portray the Company in a Good Light, rather than send up the Ex London Castoffs.

1 actually

(18 Jul 2014, 6:14 pm)Dan wrote I wouldn't...
I think GNE will mainly want to portray the company in a good light to those who actually use their services - not people in Glasgow!

Are you suggesting that you'd like to see buses such as 8242-46 allocated to the TEN, because there are branded vehicles absent?

I wouldn't go that Extreme Dan, 3941/42 and 3963/4 could cover on the TEN, Red Arrows could use the Ex London B7TL's they have Spare, as there are no Scholars Services, Plus B7TL's see Daily use Anyway on the X1.

No doubt there will be a Reshuffle of Vehicles anyway, i.e. at Stanley and Riverside as they don't have any Scholars Services in the coming weeks, which will allow for greater flexibility with Allocations, which in turn would allow the above to go ahead with the B9TL's for example. Northern/Red Spare Vehicles are to cover for Branded Vehicles, so I don't see how sending 2/3 Vehicles from each Brand will Dilute it, if sees regular usage of Spare Vehicles anyway.

(18 Jul 2014, 6:28 pm)NEBCD Malarkey wrote I wouldn't go that Extreme Dan, 3941/42 and 3963/4 could cover on the TEN, Red Arrows could use the Ex London B7TL's they have Spare, as there are no Scholars Services, Plus B7TL's see Daily use Anyway on the X1.

No doubt there will be a Reshuffle of Vehicles anyway, i.e. at Stanley and Riverside as they don't have any Scholars Services in the coming weeks, which will allow for greater flexibility with Allocations, which in turn would allow the above to go ahead with the B9TL's for example. Northern/Red Spare Vehicles are to cover for Branded Vehicles, so I don't see how sending 2/3 Vehicles from each Brand will Dilute it, if sees regular usage of Spare Vehicles anyway.

........because if those one or two Volvo B9TLs being VOR and replaced by red spares isn't diluting the brand enough - if you have three or four up Glasgow too, that's gonna be five or six red spares substituting B9TLs instead of one or two.

If I was still a annual ticket holder with GNE, I'd be rather pissed if my advertised brand new bus with power sockets and free WiFi didn't turn up, because its swanning about up Glasgow, but I can have a Solar instead...

It's fair enough taking contract work but it should never be at the detriment of existing customers. That's why I agree with the sentiments that brand new branded vehicles will not be sent.

(18 Jul 2014, 6:31 pm)Dan wrote ........because if those one or two Volvo B9TLs being VOR and replaced by red spares isn't diluting the brand enough - if you have three or four up Glasgow too, that's gonna be five or six red spares substituting B9TLs instead of one or two.

I agree with that Dan.

To me, sending up about 4 Fabs, 4 Red Arrows, 4 Angels, 4 Cobalts etc would be almost like advertising their facilities. Riverside must surely have a couple of dozen deckers sitting around in the depot due to the schools being off - but the fact that the Vykings would likely break down makes me think that perhaps they'll draw a certain number of deckers from each depot (providing the depot has deckers to spare).

Just a theory.

(18 Jul 2014, 6:50 pm)Marcus wrote I agree with that Dan.

To me, sending up about 4 Fabs, 4 Red Arrows, 4 Angels, 4 Cobalts etc would be almost like advertising their facilities. Riverside must surely have a couple of dozen deckers sitting around in the depot due to the schools being off - but the fact that the Vykings would likely break down makes me think that perhaps they'll draw a certain number of deckers from each depot (providing the depot has deckers to spare).

Just a theory.

Sounds logical to me!

Interesting - send your best buses or your old spares - who picks up the tab for repairs?

Last Friday I passed three red Stagecoach East London 04-reg deckers heading up A74M to Glasgow at 40mph.

LX04 FXA, LX04 FXC and LX04 FXT

Just been looking at the 50 timetable, and there is a short working to Boldon ASDA at 1840. Does this do anything afterwards?

(18 Jul 2014, 8:05 pm)Tom wrote Just been looking at the 50 timetable, and there is a short working to Boldon ASDA at 1840. Does this do anything afterwards?

Back to the Depot by the looks of it.

(18 Jul 2014, 5:50 pm)aureolin wrote I'm meant to be up there on Tuesday for a few meetings. I'm not hoping to see much then either. I was thinking about going up again on the Friday or the Friday after if I can get there for under £50.

We were going to head up on the 27th for the day - but work calls in various places in the total opposite direction instead.
Tickets on the train were cheap enough when I looked a few weeks back

(19 Jul 2014, 8:40 am)Dan wrote Correct.


I don't know how old nk55's two children are, but assuming they're over 11, they would also need to have what would presumably be a Visitor's Oyster Card.
That's four Visitor Oyster Cards, costing £12 plus the £40 pre-loaded credit they'd have in total - a whopping £52.

If nk55 is only making this trip once per year, it's hardly value for money either way... By comparison, to get us back on-topic, you could argue that Go North East's single/return fares are designed to push people onto Key Cards and day tickets - but isn't it free to order a Key Card, and get the discounts which come with it?

Yeah it's good that it's free, but it does get complicated depending where you come from/are going to. If you have a GNE key card, try registering for a Brighton and Hove one. It doesn't let you as you already have one... bit baffling to say the least...

Wonder if go north east use nexus buses on 38C from next weekend. Makes sense to me

(19 Jul 2014, 9:10 am)Acky81 wrote Wonder if go north east use nexus buses on 38C from next weekend. Makes sense to me

They are required on the 135/136 to, so i would think they would use a versa, not sure what euro engine the 38C requires to be.

(19 Jul 2014, 9:08 am)aureolin wrote Yeah it's good that it's free, but it does get complicated depending where you come from/are going to. If you have a GNE key card, try registering for a Brighton and Hove one. It doesn't let you as you already have one... bit baffling to say the least...

I remember you saying in the past, and I believe it's something that Group are working on.

I can't quite remember if you e-mailed them or not? I'd imagine that if you e-mailed them to set it up, they'd manage to perform a workaround quite easily. Not ideal, but as a temporary solution, it's okay.

(19 Jul 2014, 9:12 am)Michael wrote They are required on the 135/136 to, so i would think they would use a versa, not sure what euro engine the 38C requires to be.

The 38C requires a Euro 4 vehicle, but the main 'issue' is the capacity required for the contract, which, if memory serves, is 49ish? The "Nexus" Solo SRs were one short, which is why GNE couldn't put in a fully conforming bid.

As we've recently discussed, most of the vehicles in the fleet are Euro 4 upwards, given that they've had Eminox modifications - I'd imagine that the vehicle used in the daytime will be used on the night time variation too.

(19 Jul 2014, 9:17 am)Dan wrote I remember you saying in the past, and I believe it's something that Group are working on.

I can't quite remember if you e-mailed them or not? I'd imagine that if you e-mailed them to set it up, they'd manage to perform a workaround quite easily. Not ideal, but as a temporary solution, it's okay.

You'd think, but no such luck. I had started an email chain between 'thekey' mailboxes at both companies, and neither could suggest a workaround. I even suggested that they just register the unique identifier of my GNE card so that I could top up with B&H products. Just kept getting apathetic apologies for the inconvenience, with no solutions put forward.

I created my own workaround in the end. Registered my B&H KeyCard at a different address.

Glad they're working on it though. Hopefully in a way that regional cards can be used on all companies.

(18 Jul 2014, 6:07 pm)citaro5284 wrote They are going to give us some software http://www.icomera.com/products/moovmanage/ so we can remotely monitor each vehicle. If we identify an issue, we will log a call for them to attend.

You need a degree of local knowledge, as if they find a bus not transmitting they could think there is an issue with it, when the bus is VOR, so it has to be managed locally within the business for fault recording.

Yeah that makes perfect sense. I've had a bit of a read up on Moovmanage and it pretty much does exactly what I was thinking should be monitored. The remote configuration will come in handy too if that's not already available.

Not bothered about emissions, I want a vehicle that can keep to time and be mostly reliable (a la Olympian)!

(12 Jul 2014, 10:33 am)aureolin wrote The rear destination screens still don't display right when Solars work the 4. Top and bottom lines look cropped.

Scania destinations updated this morning. They looked alright when I left.