Diamond Bus North West

[M60lad]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
Regarding the 5 leased First Buses going back to first recently I'm wondering whether Diamond had originally had a particular date sorted with First when they were going to send them back as I'm sure the original plan before Coronovirus reared its ugly head was that Diamond would have recieved their next batch of Streetdecks by now.

The problem now is that all bodybuilders are now on lockdown and are until they like everyone else allowed to go back to work so Diamond cant recieve their new buses until later this year or maybe sometime next year so until lockdown is lifted depending what kind of service is offered it could/will leave Diamond short of vehicles, now whether that will mean hiring in enough vehicles from somewhere to replace the buses that have gone back to First remains to be seen.

[Mrboo]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(30/04/2020 06:07)M60lad Wrote:  Regarding the 5 leased First Buses going back to first recently I'm wondering whether Diamond had originally had a particular date sorted with First when they were going to send them back as I'm sure the original plan before Coronovirus reared its ugly head was that Diamond would have recieved their next batch of Streetdecks by now.

The problem now is that all bodybuilders are now on lockdown and are until they like everyone else allowed to go back to work so Diamond cant recieve their new buses until later this year or maybe sometime next year so until lockdown is lifted depending what kind of service is offered it could/will leave Diamond short of vehicles, now whether that will mean hiring in enough vehicles from somewhere to replace the buses that have gone back to First remains to be seen.

Maybe First has wanted them back and not wanted to let Diamond keep them any longer than planned as we don't know the agreement and how much they are paying for them. Diamond will have to hire from others at market rates as I would think Frist offered a deal.

[M60lad]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
Just been told by a friend of mine at Oldham Depot that the next batch of Enviro400s are allegedly due to leave Diamond this weekend for First South Yorkshire.

[motormayhem1]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
To be fair once lockdown is over I can't see bus services just going back to full pvr straight away as personally I think the pvr will go up in stages to eventually get back to normal service again.
So if that did happen it would give diamond a few weeks or months to source vehicles o a temporary basis.

[Winston]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(29/04/2020 17:37)iMarkeh Wrote:  I think Diamonds mentality is that the quicker they send the First buses back, the less lease payments they have to pay. Right now, there is lower PVR so why pay lease payments on buses you aren't using. It's quite short sighted.

It's not being short sighted at all, it's being prudent. It's all about conserving cash in the current climate for operators of all sizes, through curbing unnecessary expenditure. Why pay to lease buses when you can utilize your own fleet due to reduced Pvr requirements & have brand new on order.....

12 x Streetdecks should have been received by DBNW for Bolton during April
4 x Streetdecks should have been received by Preston during April

The revised delivery schedule from Wrightbus now states for the above. It's highly unlikely services are going to increase in frequency before then.

[iMarkeh]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(01/05/2020 14:14)Winston Wrote:  It's not being short sighted at all, it's being prudent. It's all about conserving cash in the current climate for operators of all sizes, through curbing unnecessary expenditure. Why pay to lease buses when you can utilize your own fleet due to reduced Pvr requirements & have brand new on order.....

12 x Streetdecks should have been received by DBNW for Bolton during April
4 x Streetdecks should have been received by Preston during April

The revised delivery schedule from Wrightbus now states for the above. It's highly unlikely services are going to increase in frequency before then.

Wrightbus have stopped production though again so they will probably not be seen until what. Very early June. Deckers are the things which are most needed to help social distancing and IF the country returns to normal quicker than what some may think, it's better that you prepare for that.

If Diamond sent the buses back early:
I think it is a bit short sighted doing these things while not knowing what will happen. It's the way Diamond has done it since the start of leasing the buses off First.

If First asked for the buses early:
A bit surprising but fair enough.

[Winston]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(01/05/2020 17:36)iMarkeh Wrote:  Wrightbus have stopped production though again so they will probably not be seen until what. Very early June. Deckers are the things which are most needed to help social distancing and IF the country returns to normal quicker than what some may think, it's better that you prepare for that.

If Diamond sent the buses back early:
I think it is a bit short sighted doing these things while not knowing what will happen. It's the way Diamond has done it since the start of leasing the buses off First.

If First asked for the buses early:
A bit surprising but fair enough.

The revised dates quoted are from a Wrightbus production schedule.

There's no 'IF', it won't return to normal quicker than people think, passenger numbers are dire across the UK with lots of routes carrying fresh air & June is only just over 4 weeks away. Buses sat around doing nothing cost money for potential if, but's & maybe's, especially leased ones.

Diamond are more than happy to return the Enviro400's early, they're not overly taken with them.

Update:

All remaining First leased double deckers are now VOR by end of April & are being prepared to return to First by mid May inc the 4 B9TL / Gemini (27 more deckers withdrawn in total), that will just leave the leased First B7RLE/Wright fleet.

2 x TfGM Hybrid Optare Solo's (20901/2) have also been returned to TfGM 24th April.

Irish Lockdown extended to 18th May, phased release spanning 18th May through to 10th August:
https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/news/...eland.html

[WWH44L]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(01/05/2020 19:35)Winston Wrote:  The revised dates quoted are from a Wrightbus production schedule.

There's no 'IF', it won't return to normal quicker than people think, passenger numbers are dire across the UK with lots of routes carrying fresh air & June is only just over 4 weeks away. Buses sat around doing nothing cost money for potential if, but's & maybe's, especially leased ones.

Diamond are more than happy to return the Enviro400's early, they're not overly taken with them.

Update:

All remaining First leased double deckers are now VOR by end of April & are being prepared to return to First by mid May inc the 4 B9TL / Gemini (27 more deckers withdrawn in total), that will just leave the leased First B7RLE/Wright fleet.

2 x TfGM Hybrid Optare Solo's (20901/2) have also been returned to TfGM 24th April.

Thanks for the update Winston, glad you’ve put the facts on point (and was hoping you would). Always too much speculation and ifs and buts going around on the many forums. ????

[dounowhoiam]

RE: Diamond Bus North West
My question (apologies if may be a not a wise one) is what about the number of TfGM hybrid buses.

As Diamond has a number of tenders from the closure of MCT, couldn't Diamond (in the short term) utilise these buses for the tender routes on less populated routes in a deal with TfGM? If there was an agreement for bus age for tender routes, but with the current climate and the fact they are hybrid could exceptions be made?

This wouldn't be helpful for the more popular routes (like the 8) but surely Diamond could utilise them for the likes of the 217 etc

[Winston]

RE: Diamond Bus North West

(01/05/2020 20:24)WWH44L Wrote:  Thanks for the update Winston, glad you’ve put the facts on point (and was hoping you would). Always too much speculation and ifs and buts going around on the many forums. ????

You only have to look on Bus Times just how many buses DBNW are actually using.
https://bustimes.org/operators/diamond-b...t/vehicles

(at present, there's 6 x First Enviro400's currently in service, I assume these will be taken off very soon to match the latest fleetlist to end of April)

When NXWM have 1000 buses currently SORN from a fleet of circa 1520, it illustrates perfectly what bus operators are currently facing.