Go North West

[Mayneway]

RE: Go North West - FLEETNEWS ONLY - NO STRIKE TALK!

(21/05/2021 19:08)darylyates17 Wrote:  Ah at least that clears that one up then btw how many B7s are being reinstated alongside 69197?

I’m not too sure. 2 were visible with painted front ends last week at Queens Road. I suspect it’s just some 06 reg ones that have been temporarily retained for school dupes etc.

[Mrboo]

RE: Go North West - FLEETNEWS ONLY - NO STRIKE TALK!

(21/05/2021 21:48)Mayneway Wrote:  I’m not too sure. 2 were visible with painted front ends last week at Queens Road. I suspect it’s just some 06 reg ones that have been temporarily retained for school dupes etc.

School Dupes now should be cut as buses are now back to close to full use apart from standing and backward facing seats. As it a waste of money that could pay for tenders.

[Mayneway]

RE: Go North West - FLEETNEWS ONLY - NO STRIKE TALK!

(22/05/2021 08:17)Mrboo Wrote:  School Dupes now should be cut as buses are now back to close to full use apart from standing and backward facing seats. As it a waste of money that could pay for tenders.

Sure they are still running.

[Y458 KNF]

RE: Go North West - FLEETNEWS ONLY - NO STRIKE TALK!

(21/05/2021 21:48)Mayneway Wrote:  I’m not too sure. 2 were visible with painted front ends last week at Queens Road. I suspect it’s just some 06 reg ones that have been temporarily retained for school dupes etc.

I’m personally thinking it’s because not enough Citaros are ready so some B7s are still required but I’m probably wrong.

[iMarkeh]

RE: Go North West - FLEETNEWS ONLY - NO STRIKE TALK!

(22/05/2021 08:17)Mrboo Wrote:  School Dupes now should be cut as buses are now back to close to full use apart from standing and backward facing seats. As it a waste of money that could pay for tenders.

I think the plan is to evaluate how well the 'all forward facing seats' thing works out as some areas have upto 80% of passengers back and capacity is around 80% so that is still a full bus. In some areas though, some dupes may not be needed but it's best seeing how things go with passengers returning before forcing all the school kids onto normal buses and then having to scramble to get the buses back if 1, the advice gets reverted or 2, if buses get overcrowded then with school kids.

Give it a few weeks while they work out actual on bus capacities and maybe then schools will come down slowly. Not GNW related but some which stand out are those on the ultra high frequency services, still with dupes and they will almost certainly have space but they have kept the dupes in case. Just think, if there are delays or breakdowns, before, it was ok to have 1 bus rammed full for a short distance to get kids to school. Now that's not acceptable. A number of school buses pre Covid were standing room anyway and now standing isn't allowed and so while they may be able to reduce the amount of school dupes, to outright scrap them I think it may be a bit too soon just yet.

[M60lad]

RE: Go North West - FLEETNEWS ONLY - NO STRIKE TALK!
Come to think of it and going slightly off thread (Sorry) one of the reasons why these School Extra dupes were actually needed was due to the fact that at the start of this School Year or was it the last one (Can't Remember) TfGM cut the amount of School Services that operated to/from Schools forcing some kids to actually catch the already busy service buses to their appropriate schools.

Yes Schools still have dedicated School Services serving them but its nowhere near the levels that they were years ago from what I can remember, the only really dedicated School Services that operate now are the ones that don't actually follow a service route and follow their own route. Most School Services that duplicated a service route are the ones that got withdrawn for example the extra 409s from St Cuthberts in Rochdale don't seem to run anymore and neither do the extra 17s to/from Cardinal Langley in Middleton and I don't mean S extra services that operate now.

[Mayneway]

RE: Go North West - FLEETNEWS ONLY - NO STRIKE TALK!

(23/05/2021 05:58)M60lad Wrote:  Come to think of it and going slightly off thread (Sorry) one of the reasons why these School Extra dupes were actually needed was due to the fact that at the start of this School Year or was it the last one (Can't Remember) TfGM cut the amount of School Services that operated to/from Schools forcing some kids to actually catch the already busy service buses to their appropriate schools.

Yes Schools still have dedicated School Services serving them but its nowhere near the levels that they were years ago from what I can remember, the only really dedicated School Services that operate now are the ones that don't actually follow a service route and follow their own route. Most School Services that duplicated a service route are the ones that got withdrawn for example the extra 409s from St Cuthberts in Rochdale don't seem to run anymore and neither do the extra 17s to/from Cardinal Langley in Middleton and I don't mean S extra services that operate now.

They were commercial school services though not TFGM contracts. I don’t think TFGM have cut any school services, you will always get a flow of school kids that tend to use regular services even though school services are available.
The S dupes were brought in to keep normal services running with little effect and all the kids can pile onto the dupe and everyone’s happy.

[Solo40336]

RE: Go North West - FLEETNEWS ONLY - NO STRIKE TALK!
Just seen some photos on Facebook of the B7s with the fronts painted, the dark and light purple has been painted blue upto the top of the headlights.
In my opinion they look worse than they did before. Granted the B7s bodywork and paintjobs haven't been in the best condition for a while, and with them being disposed of in the near future there wasn't much point in bothering with them. But at least when the entire paint jobs is a mess it's less noticeable than a 90% poor paint job with a 10% tidy up in a completely different colour.
Personally I would have carried the blue around the vehicle, replacing all the dark/light purple with the navy blue. Not much work involved and at least the blue would look like its supposed to be there....

[Mayneway]

RE: Go North West - FLEETNEWS ONLY - NO STRIKE TALK!

(26/05/2021 21:39)Solo40336 Wrote:  Just seen some photos on Facebook of the B7s with the fronts painted, the dark and light purple has been painted blue upto the top of the headlights.
In my opinion they look worse than they did before. Granted the B7s bodywork and paintjobs haven't been in the best condition for a while, and with them being disposed of in the near future there wasn't much point in bothering with them. But at least when the entire paint jobs is a mess it's less noticeable than a 90% poor paint job with a 10% tidy up in a completely different colour.
Personally I would have carried the blue around the vehicle, replacing all the dark/light purple with the navy blue. Not much work involved and at least the blue would look like its supposed to be there....

Think they are a stop gap until all the Citarios are out and working. They are past their best and need replacing.
Also worth mentioning that 5001 and 5002 were off the road for yesterday and Enviro200 4004 ended up out on the 129/415.

[Mayneway]

RE: Go North West - FLEETNEWS ONLY - NO STRIKE TALK!
10 of the older 55/06 reg B7’s currently sporting the blue bumpers are now to be retained and kept in service it seems. The first of the 10 has been painted white and is waiting for vinyls to be applied - possibly England flags similar to what Go North East have done. 69177 has been done with the rest rapidly following. I’m presuming these paint jobs are being done in-house rather than externally.