Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

[anw2015]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
2496 was the cadet all day on the 38. I should know that 2490 got taken off after the first working from Rainford as I was on the thing! Driver took it out of service from Windle but was kind enough to let me stay on!

[CX54 DKD (Moderator)]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
Fair enough Chris! I thought having read your initial post, that you were unsure whether it'd lasted out there or not!

[SLTRegular]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
Bet Arriva feel like right idiots withdrawing the NC/ELC Scania's and buying small buses there losing custom from all accounts. and from the person that asked about the 312 a small bus is adequate for this route so a small solo is fine for this.

[M113 YKC]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot

(05/03/2013 23:29)SLTRegular Wrote:  Bet Arriva feel like right idiots withdrawing the NC/ELC Scania's and buying small buses there losing custom from all accounts.

Nope... I'm pretty sure that Arriva don't feel like idiots in that situation. Unlike the ELC Scanias, the Solo SRs are low-floor and probably offer a better ride than the Scanias. There may be fewer seats, however, as suggested by other members, capacity issues must be down to the timetable changes when the smaller buses were entering service.

[St Helens Rider]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
3026 on daytime 37/38 duty and 2269 on 34/34A duty which works onto the evening service.

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
i think the scanias (paladins) ride better as a batch than these solo SR rubbish, i think its daft that arriva cut back on service frequency and added into the mix smaller buses, if they had done one of the 2 then i dont think there would be a problem but thats just my way of thinking since i get the 33 and 35 almost daily now

[CX54 DKD (Moderator)]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
BBB, you're the only person I've ever heard say that!!! The Paladins crashed about horribly and I'm yet to find an SR that doesn't ride smoothly and quietly... The interior is much brighter, and is significantly airier, than the dark, drab interiors found on the Paladins. Legroom is improved as is general seat comfort. From all of those aspects, the SRs are miles ahead. As both myself and St Helens Rider have said, it's just a shame they cut the PVR and running time at the same time as the capacity because, otherwise, you'd probably find the SRs much less cramped.

[K853 MTJ]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
Have to agree to an extent CX54, Paladins did throw you about somewhat, the Solos are in a different league for ride. However, the spotter in me says that the Paladins were far superior buses! They may have shaked rattled and rolled their way along, but with that hellfire Scania/ZF combination, it made any journey an enjoyable one with a fast driver, and you'd get to wherever you needed to go a few minutes early, allowing for time to nip into the nearest pharmacy to drug yourself up in order to settle your headache and motion sickness! The Solos are a massive leap forward, nobody could argue about that even if they are a little on the small side, the Scania's usable life had come to an end when it comes to passenger carrying service. Says something about the engine and gearbox though when you consider they were chopped out of pretty much every single Scania that was sold as a complete unit (Barring 1051 and 5309 obviously) to be exported for further use!

[sth77]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
I had 2254 on the 32 this afternoon and not sure if it was down to the driver going slightly slower than normal but I found that it was not to bad, very few rattles, in fact the only real noticeable one was from the bar across the rear window that holds the handle for the emergency exit.

Also had 2491 on my way home, don't know what has happened with SH cadets but really was not a good ride home, very bouncy and a squeak coming from somewhere near the back, it was also quite rattly.

[anw2015]

RE: Arriva North West - St Helens Depot
2490 was back out today too, noted on the 34 this evening. No cadets on the 329 this evening, 2690/ 2214 and 2322 making up the allocation. 3 pulsars in 3 days for the 329.