Arriva North West - Bootle Depot

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
There were at least three Enviro400s on the 52/52A today, of which 4417 and 4431 were two. 4417 was seen on Stanley Road with a full load during the early evening, so it's nice to see these being well used on a busy route.

Had a ride on 2264 on the 55 and was very impressed with it for a Dart. A nippy and surprisingly smooth ride even allowing for the rough roads. Some of the ALX200s are good to ride and I'll miss them when they go.

[MPTE1955]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
More pulsars on 61 than usual today, those deckers on 52/52A would explain it, I had 3016 on the way home, not the best riding pulsar you could ever have. Others included 2922, a 12 plater that I couldn't quite make out and another one that I missed.

[M113 YKC]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
7674 is playing on the 53 today!

[Barney]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
Although it's Bank Holiday and therefore a Sunday service it's nice to see double-deckers out on the 52 and 53A this morning. I've not seen any 55s on the road so far, but I suspect they too will also be deckers. No doubt the sunny spring weather will bring out the crowds in numbers and whoever is responsible for these allocations should be congratulated.

I know it's still a long way off, but I wonder if the management would consider operating the very limited Boxing Day and New Year's Day services out of Bootle instead of Green Lane at the end of this year. This would enable Bootle's deckers to be utilised on routes that operate to the north and east of the city. From what I have heard and seen there has been serious overcrowding on these two days in the past few years. Just a thought.

[mathias]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
I notice virtually all the Trident/Enviro400 deckers running yesterday on routes 52/52A/53A/55 were running late!
Although the high loadings could be to blame, I reckon it's due to the fact that Tridents are slower than Pulsars, particularly when you consider they're running the same 6.7 litre engine.
Common sense dictates that a 6.7 litre engine in a nine-tonne Pulsar will be a lot quicker than a 6.7 litre in an eleven-and-a-half-tonne decker.
Even so, it's nice to see deckers on north Liverpool routes, just a shame some other depots don't have access to them.

Managed to get a ride on ex-Wirral 4401 (CX58 FZN), still got its black E-Leather seats downstairs with 'crossriverexpress' branding on them.
Great view from the top deck with its one-piece curving windscreen, but some of these deckers are wailing loudly these days, along with looking battered and tired.
4431 (MX09 LXN) is a particularly noisy example and can be heard before it's seen!

[Barney]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot

(19/04/2014 11:41)mathias Wrote:  I notice virtually all the Trident/Enviro400 deckers running yesterday on routes 52/52A/53A/55 were running late!
Although the high loadings could be to blame, I reckon it's due to the fact that Tridents are slower than Pulsars, particularly when you consider they're running the same 6.7 litre engine.
Common sense dictates that a 6.7 litre engine in a nine-tonne Pulsar will be a lot quicker than a 6.7 litre in an eleven-and-a-half-tonne decker.
Even so, it's nice to see deckers on north Liverpool routes, just a shame some other depots don't have access to them.

Yes, I too witnessed incidents of bunching of 52/52A yesterday and given that they should be 15 minutes apart this not a good advert for Arriva. The reason for this late running may, as you say be because of the 6.7 litre engine, but when they are on their usual routes (60 and 61) they do seem to be able to keep to time then.

Do Speke's and Laird Street's deckers have more powerful engines than Bootle's?

[MPTE1955]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
I can't see the bunching being down to the buses, like Barney said they certainly don't bunch very often or have problems keeping to time on 60/61, there must have been another reason why the bunching occurred.

[CX54 DKD (Moderator)]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot

(19/04/2014 16:09)Barney Wrote:  Do Speke's and Laird Street's deckers have more powerful engines than Bootle's?

Speke's 61 plate Geminis also feature the 6.7 litre engine. Laird Street's Geminis are hybrid so feature a smaller (4.8 litre) diesel engine but then also have their electric motor. The ex-London Volvo based Geminis do feature a slightly beefier 7.3 litre engine though.

[CX06 EBK (Administrator)]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot
On high frequency routes bunching isn't too uncommon at certain times of the day, regardless of types used. You have to factor in things like traffic, the bus in front picking up at every stop which in turn allows the bus behind to catch up much easier and things like that.

[MX12CFE]

RE: Arriva North West - Bootle Depot

(14/04/2014 18:46)MPTE1955 Wrote:  Whereabouts was that as I seen an RNW truck passing Bootle Strand bus station at around 16.40. Probably dropped the bus off unless it was on its way to it.

Saw it at the junction with Liverpool 1 bus station looked like it had come along wapping from the albert dock direction.