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Post by sharksmith on Jun 19, 2010 9:49:27 GMT 1
Yesterday, First Bradford ALX400, 30915 on the 607, don't tell me the Temsa has broken down already!
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Post by sharksmith on Jun 9, 2010 21:29:41 GMT 1
As expected, Optare Solo M850 53101 is now in service in Bradford and was working on the 846 this afternoon. And so is 53103.
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Post by sharksmith on Jun 5, 2010 14:48:47 GMT 1
No sooner had I arrived back from my holidays I saw Olympian 30815 and a schools ALX400 on 612 departures from Shipley.
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Post by sharksmith on Jun 5, 2010 14:47:07 GMT 1
Stagecoach have already publicy stated that if Quality Contracts are imposed in Sheffield they will pull out of the area altogether.
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Post by sharksmith on May 27, 2010 10:27:38 GMT 1
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Post by sharksmith on May 26, 2010 20:39:09 GMT 1
As expected, Optare Solo M850 53101 is now in service in Bradford and was working on the 846 this afternoon.
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Post by sharksmith on May 26, 2010 20:36:57 GMT 1
Halifax Joint Committee had their Stagecoach liveried, step entrance Dart on the supposedly low floor 629 earlier today.
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Post by sharksmith on May 14, 2010 19:22:48 GMT 1
I did read somewhere that new legislation was coming in for all companies operating in Wales that will make it compulsory for both languages to be carried. Can't imagine that there is much call for the Welsh language in Calderdale though.
Wonder if First West Yorkshire are starting a Halifax to Rhyl service or if some Geminis may be on their way out to Swansea or Chester. Which stickers are they?
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Post by sharksmith on May 14, 2010 10:42:21 GMT 1
450 is out and about today in the new Transdev in Keighley colours, operating on the 760 this morning.
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Post by sharksmith on May 12, 2010 22:03:32 GMT 1
First Bradford Renown 60829 on the Red Line this teatime, have seen the odd Eclipse Urban on the 640/1 over the last year but a Volvo B10BLE is a real rarity from the best depot in West Yorkshire for keeping branded buses on the correct routes.
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Post by sharksmith on May 8, 2010 19:43:35 GMT 1
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Post by sharksmith on May 8, 2010 13:18:19 GMT 1
Been to Keighley this morning and noticed that Keighley & District have Wright Renown bodied Volvo B10BLE 205 operating route 664 in full Spot On livery. How long has this been in Keighley, just noticed that it has been mentioned in the Misallocations thread. www.flickr.com/photos/35759580@N03/4588400539/
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Post by sharksmith on May 6, 2010 10:31:18 GMT 1
There is a leyland lynx parked on king street in what looks like old prestonbus livery at around 10am. The reg is H24YBV That's one of the two ex Preston Lynx's that Godsons have, the other being H27YBV.
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Post by sharksmith on May 6, 2010 9:40:11 GMT 1
I notice that First have posters up at Shipley station advertising their 757 route and fares. If this does turn into a bus war it appears that First are winning the promotions side.
Other than an announcement on their Facebook pages I can't find any other promotional information from Centrebus, not even a website which surely should be a must for any service serving an airport. The main website only links to the Metro website which I wouldn't want to base the success of my business around. With First running slightly ahead on each trip, some sort of incentive or clever advertising ploy would appear to be needed, otherwise I can imagine people will just catch the bus which leaves first.
Having lost out on the railway platform advertising to generate additional trade, maybe joint/through ticketing arrangements with Transdev/Arriva has to be looked at.
The whole operation does have the look of a late decision to bid for these services. It has been mentioned before, but the livery in use is strangely low key. This along with lack of promotion and hopefully teething problems with rush hour timekeeping makes me fear for the commercial side. I hope I'm wrong, because as far as Bradford and Leeds are concerned, First West Yorkshire need to have competition for all our benefit.
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Post by sharksmith on Apr 30, 2010 8:05:54 GMT 1
I spent Monday and Tuesday morning this week in Yeadon town centre to photo some of the new buses and did notice that almost all of the 737/747 workings were running 15-30 minutes late. In fairness these would have been the buses travelling at the back end of the rush hour and would have been coping with the worst of the traffic.
So on the one hand it appears that the peak time buses struggle to keep time and the off peak buses have too much time. Appears that the only way to keep all buses running to the same frequency and on time would be to have additional vehicles on the roads around peak times to allow for these delays. This all depends on whether Centrebus in West Yorkshire have any spare capacity/buses to enable this to happen. Will make a mess of their tender pricings if they have to actually purchase additional vehicles to do this.
On a side note, I am no means an expert on the buses of Yeadon but did only see one late running 33A/97. I know there have been a number of posts regarding these routes but maybe First are now trying a bit harder in this area or maybe I just hit them on a couple of good days.
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Post by sharksmith on Apr 28, 2010 10:08:54 GMT 1
They use the last four digits of the chassis number.
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Post by sharksmith on Apr 27, 2010 23:02:04 GMT 1
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Post by sharksmith on Apr 23, 2010 20:31:52 GMT 1
Well it has come from Leicster after all Sorry, you'll have to excuse my ignorance, it's about twenty five years since I last visited Leicester, I didn't realise that every bus in Leicestershire now has rear end advertising for The Cheesecake Shop, must have cost them a fortune.
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Post by sharksmith on Apr 23, 2010 10:51:53 GMT 1
Here's a snap of 704, YN08OAJ, in Shipley Market Place this morning. Incidentally I don't think that it's been mentioned that this bus carries rear end advertising for The Cheesecake Shop in Loughborough & Colwick. www.flickr.com/photos/35759580@N03/4545525448/
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Post by sharksmith on Apr 23, 2010 7:53:21 GMT 1
Green and blue are Transdevs corporate colours as per inflicted on the Trandevised fleetnames, which always look(ed) very odd on B&P and H&D vehicles. The chance of the whole fleet getting treated is I would think exceptionally slim given the likely merger with Veolia, the latter are to be the operational side so the odds must be on all the buses having Veolia inflicted on them and bland all over red. There may be some hope for our individual Transdev local liveries judging by the new branding by Veolia Cymru on one of their Cardiff routes. This picture in this weeks Route 1 magazine showing a Centro with the new branding for these routes and it passes more than a passing resemblence to the Blackburn Spot On livery. www.route-one.net/e-books/currentIssue/index.html#/10/Interestingly the spokesman for Veolia states that this livery is based on Veolia corporate colours and there is no red in sight. Maybe we're not in for red all round after all.
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Post by sharksmith on Apr 22, 2010 10:07:47 GMT 1
YJ59NNZ just passed me on Valley Road in Shipley so they are obviously route training in preparation for Sunday
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Post by sharksmith on Apr 9, 2010 8:53:50 GMT 1
I noticed yesterday that the second bus stop has now been added to Broadway so this only leaves the new bus canopy on Hall Ings to be completed. All of the roadworks on the leaflet below appear to be completed or nearing completion. www.bradford.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/84131BDC-2A85-4F95-9988-F196472D2258/0/cityParksept2009.pdfChanning Way will be closed off in June 2010 so it appears it may not be too much longer before the changes in Bradford bus routes will be upon us. Latest WYITA reports confirm that the allocation of bus routes to city centre stops will be made after the April 2010 timetable changes to avoid timetable clashes.
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Post by sharksmith on Apr 9, 2010 8:25:54 GMT 1
You do have to wonder sometimes if anybody, except us, ever talks to each other about transport matters.
With the introduction of two new routes into Bradford Forster Square, the 747 & 947, have there been any changes to this area to make things easier for buses around the often congested St Blaise Way?
Yes, there has, the bus stop, and only suitable layby not used by taxi's has been almost completely paved over! It's to be hoped that TLC's 947 arrives late in Bradford on each journey because I can't see where they can park up a bus, even a Solo, for the five minutes between arrival and departure.
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Post by sharksmith on Apr 1, 2010 13:43:42 GMT 1
what's with the 947 bearing in mind it only serves a rail station a good distance from the centre of Bradford where most people would want to be. Didn't metro also say the 30 min frequency on the 747 wasn't justified and because of that they were reducing it to hourly, the 947 is a contradiction as well as a waste of time and money! It appears from the WYITA notes posted on the 'Centrebus in Leeds' thread that the link to Bradford Forster Square has been restored at the request of local residents. I presume this means in Westfield, Rawdon and Greengates. In fact Forster Square is the more central of Bradford's railway stations for shoppers. The Forster Square retail park is only a minute away from the station and the Kirkgate/Oastler centres are only about five minutes away, as long as the railway station lift is working. With the demolition of most of the shops on Broadway a number of years ago, Bradford Interchange is a little isolated where shoppers are concerned. It is a good five minutes from the Interchange to the remaining shops of Broadway and a good ten minutes, half of this uphill, to the main city centre shopping streets. The only downside I can see to any service into Forster Square is the lack of links to others buses or Interchange trains. I think this argument is intended to be lessened by the availability of the free city centre bus. Of course this is only if you don't mind walking from Channing Way or travelling around the university to get to the Interchange.
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Post by sharksmith on Mar 29, 2010 21:48:00 GMT 1
66710 with hazards on but still full of passengers at Low Well in Shipley on the 610. Did not pass me in the twenty minutes it took me to walk ahead of it although a Gemini passed by on the 610 so appeared to have been replaced.
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