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OK there is an election coming and one party is proposing big changes for English railways.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68889345

Be interesting to see what happens to the value of shares in the existing train operator businesses

I doubt it will do anything. All they are proposing is letting the current franchise run out, and the current operator risks losing it then anyway even without change

Have you had the chance of driving another electric bus asides from the BYD ones and the electroliner? If so, what is your favourite electric bus so far?

I've driven the Merc & Yutong singles as well.

The Electroliner is my favourite so far, but all four are really nice for the driver so very little in it.

Thanks - 170 in total then - it will be interesting to see what future orders will comprise - electric single deckers will presumably be needed for CV in 2025? Also to see which body builders might be providing  single and double deck bodies on BYD chassis in the future.

The next order, which is likely to start delivery later this year, that I cannot give details of yet, but it will not be BYD

Thanks Tony. From your "Up to..." post I think we can assume what the answer to my question is.

I put it that way because the current order is split into 4 different orders, so as Winston put the current batch is 30, but the total order of the final build goes up to E333, 170 vehicles E164-E333

4964 has now gone to Walsall for repaint

Isn't the E500 the three-axle variant?

Yes, not my photo but they look like this

When you say current NX build, how many are in the order which will be ADL BYDs?

Up to fleet number E333

Sorry if this has been asked previously but regarding any future new vehicle orders are NXWM likely to go for ADL's 2nd generation electric buses or will they stick with the ADL/BYD model?

The current NX and London General build are the last DD BYDs Alexander Dennis are going to body

4913 will be out this afternoon with a new advert applied offside & rear. The nearside will be changed tomorrow

id of thought that a 67 plate would be euro 6 as most manufacturers were building vehicles to euro 6 from 2015/16. it definitely wouldnt be euro 4, possibly euro 5

Just because it's a 67 plate doesn't mean it was built in 2017

It would be interesting to know the figures specifically for the 49 and 76, as these are the routes the OP mentioned. Yesterday morning according to the tracking there were 3 buses missing on the 76. I know myself from waiting that the 11:26 journey from Q.E. failed to operate. I am also informed that 4609 was broken down at West Heath island earlier tonight.

Not all 'missing journies' are breakdowns. YW had two vandalism broken windows yesterday 

The buses with Euro 6 exhaust upgrades, once upgraded will the bus always be classed then as Euro 6 or  will the system need continued upgrading through its life due to normal degradation of the system for it to stay as Euro 6?

They need the filters cleaning regularly to stay compliant, but if you don't do that it soon ruins the engine 

According to the VRM lookup software we use at work, 467 comes up as Euro4, so will have been retrofitted.

(There must be a separate flag/indicator in the DVLA data that shows if a vehicle has been upgraded to better standards. Our software only shows the Euro standard the vehicle was originally registered with it seems)

You cannot view this attachment.

It comes up on the 'Brum Breathes' website as 'no charge' which is usually a good sign a bus has had a euro 6 exhaust fitted.

It was not possible to fit a Euro 6 engine in the engine bay of a standard E200 or E400, so any that are Euro 6 will retain their original engine with a new exhaust system fitted.

Seems to go unnoticed on here the currently unacceptable reliability of the 49 and 76 services caused by the constant breaking down of 20 year old Tridents.

I know the 'Electric buses are delayed' excuse will be wheeled out - but the question is How much longer will this daily farce go on at the expense of providing a reliable service for the public?

Yardley Wood generally lose around 0.5% of mileage due to engineering (breakdowns or No bus available) below the industry average. DVSA expect a minimum of 99% to run

So they're at Coventry now? The site list hasn't been updated to show this.

They're parked at Coventry, but not part of the fleet