The Optare Solos are now starting to arrive in Plymouth from Go Ahead North East.
Thanks to Jason Beverly for supplying a few photos of the first few to be collected this week:
For the record the 4 to arrive so far are
| GNE647 | NL63XZU |
| GNE649 | NL63XZW |
| GNE651 | NL63XZY |
| GNE722 | KY63VTA |
It is believed there are up to 15 due to join Citybus. As for fleet numbers to be allocated – its anyone's guess!
Laughable when Citybus got rid of theirs only a few years ago for "reliability" or whatever the excuse was.
ReplyDeleteWG had run them into the ground!
Deleteabout time citybus order new buses
ReplyDeleteinstead off a dumping ground for old buses
few operators are buying new at the moment, so relatively recent Solos are not too bad a purchase, esp at fairly short notice from within the group. At least they shouldnt need to much work like London 2 door Enviros.
DeleteCityBus has
ReplyDelete40 x 20 (2020) plate single buses,
30 x 70 (2020) plate single decker buses,
17 x 70 (2020) plate double deckers
A total of 87, new in the last 2 years
There also 11 Enviro City CityBus vehicles, which are 69 (2019) plate which largely operate in Plymouth
Granted the focus of the 20/70 plates was Cornwall for TFC route, but there is cross over.
There are also 16 Spark Bus (17 (2017) plates)
That is 115 buses 5 years old or newer, and all eco friendly buses - in a struggling sector and with less people apparaently on board compared to pre-covid, the fleet he health.
OK, so there are from older buses on Plymouths roads 04/54/55 Scanias - but aren't these completely refurbished and looked after (look how long the darts lasted with TLC)
Not sure it is "about time city bus order new buses" - and repainting a few solos is less cost than taking doors out of deckers
We have plenty of 63 (2013) and 65 (2015) buses out already - none of which are even ten years old yet so age on age the solos will fit in
Thanks for the very useful and comprehensive answer! As you say Citybus have done well over the last few years. The older Scani DDs are certainly not refurbished inside but are still fairly decent buses.
DeleteWhat route s are they going to be used on if 15 of them are joining Plymouth City bus
ReplyDeleteThere is a large number of Citybus vehicles with inconsistent versions of the new livery. Some have the lines lower and steeper, some have the wording in different places. What on earth is going on?? Do they not know how to stick a sticker on a bus??
ReplyDeleteTo be honest the "new" livery is done to make things quicker and easier. I get the impression everything is just a slap and "that will do" approach at Citybus. Richard Stevens has done a lot of good since 2012 but I think it's time he moved on to pastures new because like Western Greyhound and then Stagecoach, they've taken on way too much work, grown too quickly and cannot cope with all of it. The service is pretty poor, no attempt at having a quality brand anymore look back to 2012 we had lovely B7RLE's with high spec interiors. To me it feels it's only a matter of time before the bubble bursts and Go South West get into a lot of issues and have to cut back. The fact their new 'Go Devon' operation was chosen because it was cheaper than Stagecoach (who only handed it back originally because the wanted a new tender that was more affordable to the current situation) just make the entire operation questionable, how can they offer it so cheap to DCC, has their set up been taken into consideration etc.
DeleteHave to agree. Think something has to budge. Everything seems to be done on the cheap. The buses are in very poor condition. Even the newer ones.
DeleteTravelled on 6017 today on the 61, that's one of PCB's 2005 OmniDekkas, and for a bus that's 17 years old, it's certainly got an interior that's 17 years old. I don't know if the long pushchair/wheelchair space was part of the original spec, but I wouldn't think much else has been done inside that bus for at least, at a guess, 17years - apart from swapping some seats out for some mis-matching ones. It was all quite retro really, which is kind of cool, although the ambience of 9 litres of diesel throb was overwhelmed by the incessant vibration of the loose heater covers which was louder than the sound of the engine! But then, a lot of CityBus vehicles seem to be like that... they seem to spend money all the time painting the outside of their buses and slapping the vinyls here there and everywhere and don't bother doing anything with the interiors - their second hand ones I'm referring to, obviously their new(er) vehicles are a better standard inside.
ReplyDeleteAgreed a lot of us have mentioned this and even the newer spec ones apart from Spark Citys are all in bad or not great condition. Compared with Go North East which are rolling out the X-Lines moquette onto all of it's buses and Go North West which has spent millions repainting old First bus interiors.
DeleteStagecoach also handed back contracts as it was way too short of drivers prepared to work for it to cover all its commitments (hence the second recent Public Inquiry).
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know when these are coming into service. It’s been over a year now since they have arrived and every time I pass the city bus depot on a bus they are all just sat there with their hoods open. None of them have been painted or even had vinayl stickers added. And even if they were brought into service the only routes I could really see them used on is the 13 and 13s.It would be silly to put them on a passenger heavy route which barely manages with single deckers. Other routes require a more passenger capable bus such as an e200 or a double decker.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am aware most if not all are destined for Dartline. They dont seem in any hurry to get them on the road though!
DeleteAh that would make sense. Now that I think of it a good group of routes for them to be on for Citybus would be the routes up by tavistock, like the 55,56 and the 98. It would mean that they would be able to spare the occasional shorter Mmc that has to go up there.
Deletei like that idea - i mean i have no idea why citybus even operate the dartmoor routes but the Solo’s are what I’d expect to see operating a route like that? especially with those 2 silly merc minibuses
Deletewhilst on this topic - is there anything else down at Milehouse of interest?
DeleteParts of the 55 and 56 need very small buses, even the ex-Go North East Solo SRs are too big. The timetables had to be changed to allow one of the duties to be operated by a larger vehicle to cope with loadings on some route 98 journeys - this duty does not operate on the most restricted sections of the 55/56.
DeleteI swear most of the time only one is ever running out of the 2. I don’t see why they don’t just pass the routes onto Dartline, they own the company anyways. But no, the minibuses could be replaced with the solos. And they defiatently need some for smaller routes in Plymouth like the 13 and the 71 maybe.
DeleteThey don’t ‘need’ them for routes in Plymouth anymore, once up on a time perhaps, but since the transfer of the small 8.9m E200 MMCs from Cornwall to Milehouse, there is no ‘need’ now for vehicles such as the Solos, which I believe are 9.6m and therefore longer than the MMCs.
DeleteI’d love to see more variety in the fleet around the city, but I understand the cause with the Solos never entering service here is to do with them being a wheel forward format, unlike every other PCB bus, and the PCB drivers refusing to drive them.
On the note of the Solos though, I passed one at Home Park yesterday (26/10) in white with the new Dartline logo/colours. Looked neat, but like with PCB/GCB/GDB and the coaching livery, unsurprisingly, an extremely boring livery…
@ Anonymous 26 October 2023 at 19:36 - Read my reply above. One of the duties is operated by a larger vehicle as extra capacity is needed on some route 98 journeys.
Delete