HTL Buses

[CX06 EBK (Administrator)]

RE: HTL Buses
Buses can develop faults, nothing new there. SN06BMU hasn't actually departed today but has been prepared for movement. Likely MX54KXW & SN05HDF will also join the departures soon.

[Mayneway]

RE: HTL Buses

(25/03/2021 16:31)CX06 EBK Wrote:  Buses can develop faults, nothing new there. SN06BMU hasn't actually departed today but has been prepared for movement. Likely MX54KXW & SN05HDF will also join the departures soon.

Buses do develop faults your absolutely right but it’s presumably spent the last week and a half being prepped for service and has failed on its first day out in service - doesn’t look good does it. Might turn out to be one of HTLs most reliable buses but given it’s been for sale for well over 6months on eBay makes me think its cheap for a reason.

[NathanR]

RE: HTL Buses

(25/03/2021 18:27)Mayneway Wrote:  Buses do develop faults your absolutely right but it’s presumably spent the last week and a half being prepped for service and has failed on its first day out in service - doesn’t look good does it. Might turn out to be one of HTLs most reliable buses but given it’s been for sale for well over 6months on eBay makes me think its cheap for a reason.

I know I'm going a bit off topic here but I do wonder why they chose to sell it on eBay and not a legitimate buses-for-sale type of company (feel free to correct me for the word I am trying to think of), but then again maybe there could be certain rules for selling it to a company who sell on buses or they were just too lazy and picked eBay instead.

[CX06 EBK (Administrator)]

RE: HTL Buses
It failed with a fault that just wouldn't have been picked up on inspection and is back out in service as we speak, having been repaired at the roadside. It may have been for sale for over 6 months on eBay but it was in use until the day HTL went to pick it up, so was hardly sat around doing nothing - just because you see it on eBay doesn't mean it is out of use.

NathanR, probably because at the age it is at there is a potential wider range of buyers on eBay for things like camper conversions and other npsv roles.

[NathanR]

RE: HTL Buses

(25/03/2021 18:57)CX06 EBK Wrote:  It failed with a fault that just wouldn't have been picked up on inspection and is back out in service as we speak, having been repaired at the roadside. It may have been for sale for over 6 months on eBay but it was in use until the day HTL went to pick it up, so was hardly sat around doing nothing - just because you see it on eBay doesn't mean it is out of use.

NathanR, probably because at the age it is at there is a potential wider range of buyers on eBay for things like camper conversions and other npsv roles.

Ah, I have seen images of campervan conversions from buses, anyway I'll move on now.

[Mayneway]

RE: HTL Buses

(25/03/2021 18:53)NathanR Wrote:  I know I'm going a bit off topic here but I do wonder why they chose to sell it on eBay and not a legitimate buses-for-sale type of company (feel free to correct me for the word I am trying to think of), but then again maybe there could be certain rules for selling it to a company who sell on buses or they were just too lazy and picked eBay instead.

There was a large batch of Solos owned by a company down in Devon, they lost all their work and sold all the Solos on eBay. The maintenance was questionable. This Solo went on to another local company down in Devon and has been on eBay for a good while. A friend of mine looked at it and very quickly walked away.

Ensign, Stafford bus Sales and various other dealers use eBay to sell on vehicles and they normally sell pretty quickly the fact this one has been listed for over 6 months suggests it’s over priced or has issues.

[CX06 EBK (Administrator)]

RE: HTL Buses
To be fair Mayneway, HTL have bought Solos from an actual bus dealer that spent a lot more time off the road than this one did before entering service - so all this about it having issues is just a matter of opinion. I have seen it up close myself, it is as I outlined previously a stopgap bus which for what they bought it for is good value for money. Comparing it to their own (owned from new) 06 plate Darts, its far better.

[Mayneway]

RE: HTL Buses

(25/03/2021 18:57)CX06 EBK Wrote:  It failed with a fault that just wouldn't have been picked up on inspection and is back out in service as we speak, having been repaired at the roadside. It may have been for sale for over 6 months on eBay but it was in use until the day HTL went to pick it up, so was hardly sat around doing nothing - just because you see it on eBay doesn't mean it is out of use.

I’m not knocking it, as I’ve said it might turn out to be a decent investment but it doesn’t look good when HTL would rather buy the cheapest suitable vehicle on eBay at £6500 than go through mistral, Dawson’s or even ensign. If it is a stop gap as you’ve said they could have rented something for peanuts and just returned it when they no longer needed it or it started having issues.

I’m guessing it’s in acquired livery with no sign of green paint ??

[CX06 EBK (Administrator)]

RE: HTL Buses
Well they are buying a bus that they will see 18 months out of, which they got for less than that figure (I know it was on eBay for that amount) - it is cheaper than hiring a bus for that time period. Like I say they bought 3 Solos 6 years newer than this one from a dealer down south and all of them required far more work to bring them up to scratch than this has. Hire buses come with their own problems too, I haven't seen a single hire bus arrive at HTL that didn't need some form of work doing on it before entering service and that includes the most recent arrival YX18KVS.

Yeah it probably won't get painted, simply put they don't have the buses to afford the downtime on getting something painted up at the moment. Even now they are still using the VW Transporters temporarily. YJ61MOA is due to return to service shortly after a lengthy period off and then they should have MOF in for RTC repairs beyond that. There is supposedly another full size bus coming for the schools too but as I say on the other side they have lost YJ12PLZ to an accident. Hardly ideal but they have things like DK08AZO and DK08AYV which for all the trouble they cause should just be replaced, the 06 plate Darts were meant to go this year but because of COVID and the way Merseytravel are managing contracts at the moment they have been given an extension on keeping them but they are very tired buses these days.

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: HTL Buses

(25/03/2021 21:45)CX06 EBK Wrote:  Well they are buying a bus that they will see 18 months out of, which they got for less than that figure (I know it was on eBay for that amount) - it is cheaper than hiring a bus for that time period. Like I say they bought 3 Solos 6 years newer than this one from a dealer down south and all of them required far more work to bring them up to scratch than this has. Hire buses come with their own problems too, I haven't seen a single hire bus arrive at HTL that didn't need some form of work doing on it before entering service and that includes the most recent arrival YX18KVS.

Yeah it probably won't get painted, simply put they don't have the buses to afford the downtime on getting something painted up at the moment. Even now they are still using the VW Transporters temporarily. YJ61MOA is due to return to service shortly after a lengthy period off and then they should have MOF in for RTC repairs beyond that. There is supposedly another full size bus coming for the schools too but as I say on the other side they have lost YJ12PLZ to an accident. Hardly ideal but they have things like DK08AZO and DK08AYV which for all the trouble they cause should just be replaced, the 06 plate Darts were meant to go this year but because of COVID and the way Merseytravel are managing contracts at the moment they have been given an extension on keeping them but they are very tired buses these days.

Is PLZ a write off?