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Post by sharksmith on Jul 25, 2015 19:05:56 GMT 1
Alex Hornby has included a pic of the latest edition of the staff magazine on his Twitter feed which includes a paragraph which says that Transdev have signed up to spending over £3.2 million with Volvo for new buses for the 36 to be delivered in around six months time.
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Post by Burnside on Jul 25, 2015 23:03:26 GMT 1
New buses for Lancashire's flagship route a while back, new buses for Coastliner on a semi-regular basis, new buses for Harrogate's flagship route now and what for Keighley's flagship route?
Refurbished 10 year old B7RLE's. Poor relation or what?
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Post by www.buseireann.ie on Jul 26, 2015 8:44:42 GMT 1
I'd be much happier if all companies refurbished older stock rather than buy expensive new stock what bus passengers like me don't want to pay for through yearly increases on bus passes! To be fair on Transdev, they do look after their vehicles and so get a good life span out of them. Maybe if Worst adopted Transdev's approach, they wouldn't need to buy in so many new vehicles to replace tired stock! The only good thing First have done lately is do some work on a couple of Royal's over in Huddersfield, they want a further 18 months out of them, hope work done to them was cheap but very good!
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Post by timelesstable on Jul 26, 2015 9:38:57 GMT 1
New buses for Lancashire's flagship route a while back, new buses for Coastliner on a semi-regular basis, new buses for Harrogate's flagship route now and what for Keighley's flagship route? Refurbished 10 year old B7RLE's. Poor relation or what? Rather have a refurbished B7RLE than some (or should that be most) of the current single decks on offer |
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Post by stevieinselby on Jul 26, 2015 19:54:55 GMT 1
New buses for Lancashire's flagship route a while back, new buses for Coastliner on a semi-regular basis, new buses for Harrogate's flagship route now and what for Keighley's flagship route? Refurbished 10 year old B7RLE's. Poor relation or what? The 36 is currently using 12-year-old buses, and the X41 is using 10-year old buses, with no prospect of new vehicles coming any time soon that I am aware of. But let's just compare them. The 662 is under an hour from end to end, in predominantly urban territory, I'm guessing mostly 30mph limits with occasional splashes of 40. On the other hand, the 36, X41 and X43 are over 1½ hours from end to end and have significant sections of high-speed running, and Coastliner routes are up to 3–3½ hours, again with lots of high-speed running. So yes, it's pretty much inevitable that the 662 is going to be a lower priority for brand new buses than other high-profile routes the company runs. Do you have any actual criticism of the refurbished B7RLEs on the 662, or are you just narked on principle? |
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Post by westyorkshirebus on Jul 26, 2015 21:06:42 GMT 1
If they were buying new buses for the 662, it'd probably be streetlites, so I think a heavily rebuilt Eclipse is the better option. Plus of course the 36 has had its own rebuilt buses up to now.
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Matty
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Post by Matty on Jul 26, 2015 22:11:49 GMT 1
I think buying new buses for the 36 is a waste when they have just spend about a million pound refurbishing the current Gemini's
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Post by stevieinselby on Jul 27, 2015 7:53:23 GMT 1
I think buying new buses for the 36 is a waste when they have just spend about a million pound refurbishing the current Gemini's I think it's more the other way round - the refurbishment was a waste, when they should have bought new buses and cascaded the B7TLs. I get the impression that Transdev are not happy with the buses on the 36 - I don't know if that's because the refurbishment wasn't done well enough, or if they have now realised that it was just not enough to cover up the age of the buses. |
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Post by timelesstable on Jul 27, 2015 8:05:51 GMT 1
I think buying new buses for the 36 is a waste when they have just spend about a million pound refurbishing the current Gemini's I think it's more the other way round - the refurbishment was a waste, when they should have bought new buses and cascaded the B7TLs. I get the impression that Transdev are not happy with the buses on the 36 - I don't know if that's because the refurbishment wasn't done well enough, or if they have now realised that it was just not enough to cover up the age of the buses. Didn't First try something similar locally with some long single decks with three axles which bent in the middle only to find reliability still suffered from a host of electrical niggles. Those electrical gremlins get everywhere, they are unseen give little or no warning and when they say no its game over |
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Post by SCH117X on Jul 27, 2015 18:11:50 GMT 1
They cost £85,000 each to refurbish compared to around £180,000 for a new vehicle in 2011 and will have had 5 years out of them by the time the replacments arrive, if they had bought new would they have lasted 10+ years without any refurbishment taking place?
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Post by timelesstable on Jul 27, 2015 18:37:30 GMT 1
They cost £85,000 each to refurbish compared to around £180,000 for a new vehicle in 2011 and will have had 5 years out of them by the time the replacments arrive, if they had bought new would they have lasted 10+ years without any refurbishment taking place? One a straight line basis this might look to be OK refurbishment at £85K over five years is some £17K a year. Buying new £180K over 10-12 years equates to some £15-18K per year. Financing the two deals is somewhat different new buses can be leased using quite favourable rates and spread over 7-10 for the primary deal with usually even more favourable rates for any secondary period if they aren't bought outright. So quarterly payments over each year of the deal. Unless the rules and rates have changed recently then the refurbished deal would require the total cost be funded upfront and borrowed at commercial rates. A personal view I can't see this being good business unless their are some really significant saving in on-going maintenance cost for the refurbished buses. |
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Post by sharksmith on Jul 27, 2015 20:25:08 GMT 1
But surely these buses will get much more than the five years they've had on the 36, I would imagine at the very least they will be used to replace 15 year old Presidents around the other Transdev fleets and work another 3-5 years before potentially moving onto schools work for another five. Alternatively they could be sold on next year with the improved specifications gained through the refurbishment surely increasing their resale value, certainly ex Transdev buses seem to have good resale potential judging by how quickly recent B7RLE and Versa disposals found new homes.
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Post by www.buseireann.ie on Jul 27, 2015 20:38:07 GMT 1
But surely these buses will get much more than the five years they've had on the 36, I would imagine at the very least they will be used to replace 15 year old Presidents around the other Transdev fleets and work another 3-5 years before potentially moving onto schools work for another five. Alternatively they could be sold on next year with the improved specifications gained through the refurbishment surely increasing their resale value, certainly ex Transdev buses seem to have good resale potential judging by how quickly recent B7RLE and Versa disposals found new homes. It's be the poshest schools what would see those buses lol, most likely they'd be sold on as I can't see them being used on normal Keighley service work unless they replace the upper deck seats. |
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Post by westyorkshirebus on Jul 27, 2015 20:57:01 GMT 1
Also bear in mind the company is a different beast now compared to 5 years ago. Back then it was the cost cutting Veolia Transdev era where former Blazefield standards had started slipping.
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kendall17
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Post by kendall17 on Jul 27, 2015 23:20:15 GMT 1
Won't the refurbishment costs have been covered by the leasing company?
Meaning that, rather than the leasing Co disposing of the vehicles, spend a little and tie in a further 5 year lease? Transfer getting a cheaper rate than leasing from new?
They have to be leased,ex witchway/36s/coastliner gems have never seen further service in the group (other than the 2 with H'gate), just passed back to Ventura/Santander?
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Post by timelesstable on Jul 28, 2015 6:46:36 GMT 1
But surely these buses will get much more than the five years they've had on the 36, I would imagine at the very least they will be used to replace 15 year old Presidents around the other Transdev fleets and work another 3-5 years before potentially moving onto schools work for another five. Alternatively they could be sold on next year with the improved specifications gained through the refurbishment surely increasing their resale value, certainly ex Transdev buses seem to have good resale potential judging by how quickly recent B7RLE and Versa disposals found new homes. Wouldn't most of this happened to the ex36 Geminis irrespective of the refurbishment |
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Post by timelesstable on Jul 28, 2015 7:00:32 GMT 1
Won't the refurbishment costs have been covered by the leasing company? Meaning that, rather than the leasing Co disposing of the vehicles, spend a little and tie in a further 5 year lease? Transfer getting a cheaper rate than leasing from new? They have to be leased,ex witchway/36s/coastliner gems have never seen further service in the group (other than the 2 with H'gate), just passed back to Ventura/Santander? Spend a little yes to maintain to the expected standard for the leasing company would have a problem with that. Undertake a major refurbishment in the very short term there is still the potential for the leasing company maybe to recover their investment in case of any default. However, in the longer term what residual value would leasing company be expecting from a 15-20 year refurbished old bus, could result in some hefty penalty payments with an early withdrawal. |
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Post by Arriva Wakefield on Jul 28, 2015 8:03:13 GMT 1
Won't the refurbishment costs have been covered by the leasing company? Meaning that, rather than the leasing Co disposing of the vehicles, spend a little and tie in a further 5 year lease? Transfer getting a cheaper rate than leasing from new? They have to be leased,ex witchway/36s/coastliner gems have never seen further service in the group (other than the 2 with H'gate), just passed back to Ventura/Santander? All the ex Witchway buses (so far) have gone onto further service within the group. The 2750-2765 batch are generally now Blackburn, with the exception of 1 (or possibly 2) still at Burnley, and the 3 at Harrogate (2765 now being 3614) |
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Post by sharksmith on Jul 28, 2015 14:02:34 GMT 1
I was certainly working on the assumption that the current 36 buses are owned otherwise the refurbishment doesn't make sense, don't forget Coastliner 401-404 are still with Lancashire United as well as the Witch Way Gemini.
There are plenty of Olympians still knocking around each company which will have to replaced soon so surely the natural progression is for the Presidents to replace them with Gemini's to replace these, I can quite easily see these on the 760 although seating capacity could be an issue with the current configuration as I rode on a President the other week which was completely full out of Leeds during rush hour. It would seem strange to dispose of these having spent this money only to have to buy in a new set of low floor deckers to replace the Olympians.
Incidentally I caught 438 the other day and noticed it carried internal route branding for the 760, do any of Keighley's other Presidents have this or is it unique to this one, can't say I've noticed it before unless this is new.
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Post by SCH117X on Jul 28, 2015 17:17:08 GMT 1
The 36 Geminis are owned by Transdev Blazefied, the original 3613 YJ06 TLU was leased hence why it was disposed without being refurbished although registered X13VTD, in favour of the new B9 BF62 UXZ. Seems that it was at the period of Blazefield thinking of selling that vehicles were leased.
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Steve Macz403
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Waits at the bus stop for his bus, 2 days later bus turns up :D
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Post by Steve Macz403 on Jul 28, 2015 21:54:17 GMT 1
The 36 Geminis are owned by Transdev Blazefied, the original 3613 YJ06 TLU was leased hence why it was disposed without being refurbished although registered X13VTD, in favour of the new B9 BF62 UXZ. Seems that it was at the period of Blazefield thinking of selling that vehicles were leased. I've only been on YJ06 TLU once Harrogate to Leeds. I did notice the bus was missing the usual 36 front screens. Apparently with a private coach company called M line travel. www.flickr.com/photos/westernsmt/14667535332 |
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Post by westyorkshirebus on Jul 28, 2015 23:45:38 GMT 1
I was certainly working on the assumption that the current 36 buses are owned otherwise the refurbishment doesn't make sense, don't forget Coastliner 401-404 are still with Lancashire United as well as the Witch Way Gemini. There are plenty of Olympians still knocking around each company which will have to replaced soon so surely the natural progression is for the Presidents to replace them with Gemini's to replace these, I can quite easily see these on the 760 although seating capacity could be an issue with the current configuration as I rode on a President the other week which was completely full out of Leeds during rush hour. It would seem strange to dispose of these having spent this money only to have to buy in a new set of low floor deckers to replace the Olympians. I'm not sure it would be strange. Selling the high spec Gemini's and buying in some old low floors for schools, possibly from London, financially possibly works out better than keeping buses that are over specified for the work they are doing. Having said that I could see the 36 Gemini's on either the 760 or 770. |
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Post by Arriva Wakefield on Jul 29, 2015 7:06:56 GMT 1
There are also apparently 15 Scania / East Lancs deckers coming from Nottingham to throw into the cascade mix.
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Post by SCH117X on Sept 28, 2015 18:38:01 GMT 1
First glimpse of a new 36..........seat!
/photo/1
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Post by stevieinselby on Sept 28, 2015 22:41:06 GMT 1
First glimpse of a new 36..........seat! /photo/1 How disappointing, I thought it was going to be a bus made by the Spanish arm of VAG... |
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