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Post by SCH117X on Jan 1, 2019 22:48:57 GMT 1
Tweet today by Alex Hornby Alex Hornby alextransdev1 Jan is a time for looking forward at 2019 - in numbers. That includes 22 new buses, 2 more electric bus conversions, 2 new brands & a further 9 route relaunches, 1 new contactless tap on/tap off ticketing system, 6 colleague areas to be revamped, 1 new website, & lots more Thought a new web site generally was planned some time back, the "1 new website" is probably Rosso to move it away from the acquired one and equally the two new named Rosso routes from later this month are presumably the brands. The 2 electric bus conversions no doubt are for York sightseeing services.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 1, 2019 22:57:05 GMT 1
New buses will be needed on Keighley 60 and CityZap by the end of the year in order to meet the CAZ/LEZ requirements in Leeds and York. That will eat up a fair few of the 22. I know they have not been happy with the current website arrangements for some time, and the apparent difficulty of including the network maps that they have produced (although I really can't understand why it is too difficult), and it really would make more sense to incorporate them all into one site, so hopefully this new development will allow them to improve their online offering.
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Post by westyorkshirebus on Jan 1, 2019 23:32:08 GMT 1
A previous tweet suggests the buses are ‘built in the UK’ rather than ‘built in the north’ like they’ve said previously, suggesting they might not be another batch of Versas or Solos.
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Post by js12345678910 on Jan 2, 2019 1:07:23 GMT 1
New buses will be needed on Keighley 60 and CityZap by the end of the year in order to meet the CAZ/LEZ requirements in Leeds and York. That will eat up a fair few of the 22. I know they have not been happy with the current website arrangements for some time, and the apparent difficulty of including the network maps that they have produced (although I really can't understand why it is too difficult), and it really would make more sense to incorporate them all into one site, so hopefully this new development will allow them to improve their online offering. Presumably routes like the 22/23, 31X, 181 will all need new buses also in York. Do the Versa's not meet the requirements on the 60?
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 2, 2019 1:43:47 GMT 1
New buses will be needed on Keighley 60 and CityZap by the end of the year in order to meet the CAZ/LEZ requirements in Leeds and York. That will eat up a fair few of the 22. Presumably routes like the 22/23, 31X, 181 will all need new buses also in York. Do the Versa's not meet the requirements on the 60? On second thoughts, you're right ... the 31X will need new buses, but not the 22/23 or 181. According to the best information I can find (and CYC do make it offensively difficult to find out anything concrete), buses that make fewer than 5 visits per day to the centre of York will only be required to be Euro IV from January 2020, rising to Euro V from January 2022, then Euro VI from January 2024 ... and that covers all buses used on the 22/23 and 181, but not the two buses working the 31X, which make 6 or 7 visits to the city centre each. The Versas they have in Fulford must be Euro V and so would be OK for another 5 years, and I assume the Enviro MANs will be good for 3 years if not 5. Any Darts that are still soldiering on in twelve months time will be confined to the 20, as it doesn't ever go into the city centre. I don't know whether the E200MMCs will be returned to the leasing company in April when Arriva take over the 42 or whether they will be retained for other local services. Hmmm, here's a creative thought. The 22/23, 31X and 181 between them need 7 buses, by my reckoning, and collectively make about 26 visits to the city centre in a day. I wonder if there is scope for more interworking, so that buses might do a couple of runs on the 31X and then head off to Ripon and Harrogate for a bit, to keep them all to no more than 4 visits each. I would imagine that it would probably be a very inefficient way to run the routes, just for the sake of delaying buying new buses for a couple more years, but it's an option. Do Keighley have enough Versas for the 60 now? I thought they were still using a mix of Versas and B7TLs, because (a) they didn't have enough Versas, and (b) even if they did have enough Versas, that still wouldn't provide enough seats at busy times.
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Post by neukit on Jan 2, 2019 11:35:59 GMT 1
It’s important to remember that you don’t need to buy new buses to comply with the LEZ areas. Many buses can be modified (at a fraction of the cost of new buses) to ensure their emissions meet the required standard. I also believe that WYCA were successful in obtaining grant funding for operators to carry out such work to a number of vehicles operating into the Leeds area.
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Post by js12345678910 on Jan 2, 2019 12:09:46 GMT 1
Presumably routes like the 22/23, 31X, 181 will all need new buses also in York. Do the Versa's not meet the requirements on the 60? On second thoughts, you're right ... the 31X will need new buses, but not the 22/23 or 181. According to the best information I can find (and CYC do make it offensively difficult to find out anything concrete), buses that make fewer than 5 visits per day to the centre of York will only be required to be Euro IV from January 2020, rising to Euro V from January 2022, then Euro VI from January 2024 ... and that covers all buses used on the 22/23 and 181, but not the two buses working the 31X, which make 6 or 7 visits to the city centre each. The Versas they have in Fulford must be Euro V and so would be OK for another 5 years, and I assume the Enviro MANs will be good for 3 years if not 5. Any Darts that are still soldiering on in twelve months time will be confined to the 20, as it doesn't ever go into the city centre. I don't know whether the E200MMCs will be returned to the leasing company in April when Arriva take over the 42 or whether they will be retained for other local services. Hmmm, here's a creative thought. The 22/23, 31X and 181 between them need 7 buses, by my reckoning, and collectively make about 26 visits to the city centre in a day. I wonder if there is scope for more interworking, so that buses might do a couple of runs on the 31X and then head off to Ripon and Harrogate for a bit, to keep them all to no more than 4 visits each. I would imagine that it would probably be a very inefficient way to run the routes, just for the sake of delaying buying new buses for a couple more years, but it's an option. Do Keighley have enough Versas for the 60 now? I thought they were still using a mix of Versas and B7TLs, because (a) they didn't have enough Versas, and (b) even if they did have enough Versas, that still wouldn't provide enough seats at busy times. Also worth noting the buses that were used on the 42 won’t be used from April as it’s going to Arriva, use them on the 31X? A serious review of the 60 is required if you ask me, Versas cover the main part of the day entirely however they have the exact right number to do so, so if just one is broken, then you will often find a B7 on, like today 402 decker is on a Versa board. In addition to that Versa sruggle to meet capacity anyway, on services throughout the day it is not rare for every seat to be taken and at least a couple of people standing.. However there are also two peak boards on Monday-Fridays, one comes off a school (either a Gemini or a president) and the other does a return in the morning and again in the afternoon from Keighley, usually a 2004 Gemini.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 2, 2019 19:50:15 GMT 1
It’s important to remember that you don’t need to buy new buses to comply with the LEZ areas. Many buses can be modified (at a fraction of the cost of new buses) to ensure their emissions meet the required standard. I also believe that WYCA were successful in obtaining grant funding for operators to carry out such work to a number of vehicles operating into the Leeds area. That's true – a few months ago when Transdev were running aged B10s around York, it looked more likely that new buses would be the sensible way to go, but now that they've got the ex-Harrogate Versas then it probably would be a better bet to retrofit them to be Euro VI compliant.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 2, 2019 19:52:29 GMT 1
Also worth noting the buses that were used on the 42 won’t be used from April as it’s going to Arriva, use them on the 31X? The buses used on the 42 are leased rather than owned, so they may well be returned rather than redeployed. I don't think they would be suitable for the 31X, they are just too small. Even on the 181, they would struggle during the summer. It's only really the 22/23 or the 20 where I think they would be suitable, but neither of those routes need Euro VI buses.
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Post by deerfold on Jan 2, 2019 21:47:40 GMT 1
A serious review of the 60 is required if you ask me, Versas cover the main part of the day entirely however they have the exact right number to do so, so if just one is broken, then you will often find a B7 on, like today 402 decker is on a Versa board. In addition to that Versa sruggle to meet capacity anyway, on services throughout the day it is not rare for every seat to be taken and at least a couple of people standing.. However there are also two peak boards on Monday-Fridays, one comes off a school (either a Gemini or a president) and the other does a return in the morning and again in the afternoon from Keighley, usually a 2004 Gemini. I caught the 60 a few times in the fortnight before Christmas. I didn't catch or see a Versa on them at all - every journey was a double decker. I don't know if the Versas have returned now everyone's done their Christmas shopping as I've been out of the country.
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Post by js12345678910 on Jan 2, 2019 22:02:36 GMT 1
A serious review of the 60 is required if you ask me, Versas cover the main part of the day entirely however they have the exact right number to do so, so if just one is broken, then you will often find a B7 on, like today 402 decker is on a Versa board. In addition to that Versa sruggle to meet capacity anyway, on services throughout the day it is not rare for every seat to be taken and at least a couple of people standing.. However there are also two peak boards on Monday-Fridays, one comes off a school (either a Gemini or a president) and the other does a return in the morning and again in the afternoon from Keighley, usually a 2004 Gemini. I caught the 60 a few times in the fortnight before Christmas. I didn't catch or see a Versa on them at all - every journey was a double decker. I don't know if the Versas have returned now everyone's done their Christmas shopping as I've been out of the country. That is very odd, I presume it was a rail strike day.
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Post by deerfold on Jan 3, 2019 10:03:04 GMT 1
I caught the 60 a few times in the fortnight before Christmas. I didn't catch or see a Versa on them at all - every journey was a double decker. I don't know if the Versas have returned now everyone's done their Christmas shopping as I've been out of the country. That is very odd, I presume it was a rail strike day. No, as I said, it was over the course of the fortnight before Christmas. This did include 1 rail strike day (the other Saturday was a bus strike day with very few 60s from Keighley).
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Post by Burnside on Jan 4, 2019 1:08:09 GMT 1
The issue as stated above, seems to be the bare minimum of Versa's purchased with which to run the service.
Even with seemingly all Aireline Versa's in use, it's not unusual to see one of the green liveried Versa's in use.
Plus the issue which a lot of us realised would happen, of putting single deckers on peak time runs, created a lot of negative feedback, particularly on social media where Transdev seem to take most notice.
Be interesting to see what comes, if it is deckers would the trial of the Streetdeck have been sufficient to gain knowledge of reliability and other things they'd be looking at (particularly with talk elsewhere on here of the many problems these buses have had in other fleets), or would it be Gemini bodied B5TL's (thus rendering the trial pointless?).
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Post by SCH117X on Jan 4, 2019 19:40:41 GMT 1
The Streetdeck is still being trialled by them, just now on the Leeds-York Cityzap.
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Post by deerfold on Jan 5, 2019 21:30:13 GMT 1
The Versas seem be roaming a bit. Saw one on the 662 on Wednesday and one on the 62 today.
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Post by js12345678910 on Jan 5, 2019 22:28:28 GMT 1
The Versas seem be roaming a bit. Saw one on the 662 on Wednesday and one on the 62 today. I presume that’s the one that’s simply branded for ‘The Keighley Bus Company’
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Post by deerfold on Jan 6, 2019 14:54:00 GMT 1
The Versas seem be roaming a bit. Saw one on the 662 on Wednesday and one on the 62 today. I presume that’s the one that’s simply branded for ‘The Keighley Bus Company’ I think so - both were seen at a distance. It could get a little cosy on the 662 on that.
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Post by stevieinselby on Mar 20, 2019 19:34:07 GMT 1
Interesting tweet here – could be: (1) new buses, maybe redeploying the E200MMCs when they are not required for the 42, (b) reintroducing a summer Sunday service, or (iii) some other timetable improvement.
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Post by johnboy1948 on Mar 22, 2019 11:46:32 GMT 1
new buses will not be needed for 31x has this is changing hansds at the end of april
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Post by SCH117X on Mar 23, 2019 13:11:43 GMT 1
Interesting tweet here – could be: (1) new buses, maybe redeploying the E200MMCs when they are not required for the 42, (b) reintroducing a summer Sunday service, or (iii) some other timetable improvement. Doubt its the E200MMCs as you have previously noted they would be too small and they are more likely to go off lease. Alex has today tweeted about improvements to the app which will include vehicle tracking so presumably all Transdev Blazefield services will show on the bus tracker web page bustimes.org/vehicles
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Post by westyorkshirebus on Mar 23, 2019 15:39:06 GMT 1
Not necessarily, Arriva buses app track each vehicle but they don’t appear on there
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Post by sharksmith on Mar 25, 2019 12:00:20 GMT 1
The app update is available now, shows where the bus is and the fleet number. You have to turn on each individual route you want to track buses on, be careful though, if you turn them all on it becomes very laggy. I've added all West and North Yorkshire routes except school services and it's a little slow but useable. For most people who just use a handful of routes it will be a very useful tool, and was one of the things I requested in my Aireline end of year report.
There is a bug where if you are trying to look at Harrogate routes 3, 6 or 7 it does not show live positions unless you also have the Burnley or Blackburn equivalent route enabled at the same time. Also if true 36 bus 3621 is just passing through Seacroft, Wetherby bound on the 7. If true that's a pretty rare working?
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Post by SCH117X on Mar 25, 2019 13:28:42 GMT 1
How exactly do you turn an individual route on?
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Post by sharksmith on Mar 25, 2019 13:39:14 GMT 1
From the main menu select Explore to get to the Map and if you have the latest version there is a button at the bottom left corner which says Live Buses. Next to this is a cog icon like for settings which brings up a list of routes. Tap the star next to each route you want to track. the star will go black, and then click done.
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Post by Arriva Wakefield on Mar 25, 2019 15:06:55 GMT 1
The app update is available now, shows where the bus is and the fleet number. You have to turn on each individual route you want to track buses on, be careful though, if you turn them all on it becomes very laggy. I've added all West and North Yorkshire routes except school services and it's a little slow but useable. For most people who just use a handful of routes it will be a very useful tool, and was one of the things I requested in my Aireline end of year report. There is a bug where if you are trying to look at Harrogate routes 3, 6 or 7 it does not show live positions unless you also have the Burnley or Blackburn equivalent route enabled at the same time. Also if true 36 bus 3621 is just passing through Seacroft, Wetherby bound on the 7. If true that's a pretty rare working? Probably had a machine change, and the vehicle number has not been updated on it.
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