Wednesfield Garage

[andy]

Ive heard they aren't brilliant?  Why on earth are arriva using them to upthere's noe 1 to sapphire if theyre as awful as people say. ..ive heard they're a bit noisy

A bit??!! Diamond examples on Redditch uphill sound incredibly strained even compared to an sb200 and comparing streetlites to b7rles.... well there's no comparison! Not a massive streetlite fan they seem well built as wrightbus products are but they are ugly loud and cramped especially the narrow aisle which by the time people are overhanging the aisle or with shopping or standees etc it makes for a very cramped interior.

Dreadful machines, the worst. Cramped, firm seating which is too low, no legroom atall, terrible hard ride, hopelessly underpowered and terrible steering lock which causes dreadful problems on the wheel forward versions with continually clipping kerbs on the turn.

Clipping kerbs on turns is nothing to do with poor locks, more to do with drivers who are not used to vehicles with wheels at the front. You get it on Solos with drivers who don't normally drive them - bad driving basically!. The seating layout, style of seating will be different in the Cannock ones so we will have to see if that is good or bad. Not quite sure how seating is too low! They are standard height factory produced seats from manufacturers who produce seats for any vehicle an operator requests them in and they will be fixed to a low floor, the same height off the ground as any other low floor bus (maybe it is the winodws are too high?)

I can only speak as I found with the Silverline ones Tony. I know what you are saying about drivers not being used to wheel forward, but I can assure you the steering lock on these is far worse than a Solo, there are several junctions around Solihull that you cant turn right into from the centre lane of the road hence why they rarely get used in passenger service, the steering is also very heavy.

In terms of seat height I'm positive these weren't as high riding as a Dart or a Solo, they seem to be much further down and your knees point up when sat in one.

[Bob]

So the Sapphire brand is supposed to improve the route, and make the journey more pleasurable /comfortable right? How's that going to happen on a route thats going to be using horrifically underpowered, horrendously noisy hard riding piles of crap? And also iNCREDIBLY ugly....

Sb200s aren't the best buses are they but why not put some leather seated examples on the 1, similar to the X38 examples?  Wouldn't that make sense

[Trident 4609]

So the Sapphire brand is supposed to improve the route, and make the journey more pleasurable /comfortable right? How's that going to happen on a route thats going to be using horrifically underpowered, horrendously noisy hard riding piles of crap? And also iNCREDIBLY ugly....

Sb200s aren't the best buses are they but why not put some leather seated examples on the 1, similar to the X38 examples?  Wouldn't that make sense

Or like the Sapphire SB200' on the 7 in Darlington?:
http://focustransport2011.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/sapphire-comes-to-north-east.html

Back to Wednesfield Garage.....

How many ex Midland Vehicles are there left to paint into Current Arriva livery?

[Bob]

Jeeez I just looked at a YouTube video of a First South Yorkshire example.  They sound really REALLY bad.....

[Bob]

Anyone else think its a bit odd that the sapphire e400's have a different type of seat downstairs than they do upstairs?  The top deck ones look a lot comfier lol

[PM]

So the Sapphire brand is supposed to improve the route, and make the journey more pleasurable /comfortable right? How's that going to happen on a route thats going to be using horrifically underpowered, horrendously noisy hard riding piles of crap? And also iNCREDIBLY ugly....

Sb200s aren't the best buses are they but why not put some leather seated examples on the 1, similar to the X38 examples?  Wouldn't that make sense

Or like the Sapphire SB200' on the 7 in Darlington?:
http://focustransport2011.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/sapphire-comes-to-north-east.html

Back to Wednesfield Garage.....

How many ex Midland Vehicles are there left to paint into Current Arriva livery?

I go on the 7 fairly regularly. The sb200's on there are quite nice but already there is a fair bit of ingrained dirt that has clearly been there longer than 24 hours. Admittedly I'm very fussy but a Sapphire service designed to tempt people out of their cars needs to really be something special not just leather and new paint  I hope when Sapphire comes to Cannock the basics of bus operation eg cleaning and timekeeping are not ignored. Having said that in the North East we are getting a fair few more Sapphire routes and more investment than other regions in the rather stingy Arriva orders.Must say though I am a massive fan of arrivas refurbed MPDs.

[fleetline6477]

What was happening with Wednesfield depot buses yesterday - at around 11.30 - 12.30 there were no buses at all operating on the 9 / 334 and buses missing from 310, the bus station supervisor at St. Paul's said he'd rung up about missing buses on the 19 and 35. There was not 1615 9 or 1635 334 from Bradford Place either.

Different people were saying different things - some said some dirty or contaminated fuel had been put into buses that were seizing up others said electrical problems. I can see how fuel problems could effect multiple buses but not electrical problems?

Anybody any ideas?

[Bob]

Could it be anything to do with having a crap clapped out fleet?  Cannock had similar problems not that long ago where they had about 15 buses break down in one day

[Ashley]

In answer to Nathan's question, the last buses in red livery are 2105 2110 2113 2115 and 2412 if that counts so they've done well tarting up the fleet.

To anybody in the "Slag Off Arriva Club" give it a @@@@@@@ rest. Multiple breakdowns could be the answer to lack of vehicles but multiple occurances of congestion could be another plausable issue

[Bob]

Yea could have been multiple congestion but other operators routes would be similarly affected ie the 89 for bloxwichgo wolves section or 29 Iin blakenall, and loads of routes in the area the 310 runs, and whichever go near the334/9. Wouldnt think thered be a huge aamount of congestion....not on a sat

[fleetline6477]

In answer to Nathan's question, the last buses in red livery are 2105 2110 2113 2115 and 2412 if that counts so they've done well tarting up the fleet.

To anybody in the "Slag Off Arriva Club" give it a @@@@@@@ rest. Multiple breakdowns could be the answer to lack of vehicles but multiple occurances of congestion could be another plausable issue

I am not in the 'slag off Arriva Club.' I think they have done a good job to turn things around quickly from taking over Midland and the ex-Midland buses Y *** HKE Darts and others look very smart after both external and internal refurbishments and newer buses are coming in.

Yesterday's problems were nothing to do with traffic congestion but obviously to do with a fuel, electrical or other problem which effected a significant number of buses. Such problmes are unforeseen and can happen to anybody, I simply wondered if anybody had the correct version of the story.

[uniquicity]

I saw 2106 Y381HKE repainted on the 20 or 21 this afternoon on Bearwood High St. Has this been reinstated?

[Trident 4609]

I saw 2106 Y381HKE repainted on the 20 or 21 this afternoon on Bearwood High St. Has this been reinstated?

I wasn't aware it had been withdrawn?  It came back some time last week i think

[uniquicity]

Just going by what is on Tony's fleetlist

http://wmbusphotos.com/Arriva/2106.html

I actually know nothing about Arriva ;)

[Bob]

@fleetline4677, yes theyre unfortunate and yes they could happen to anybody but they seem to happen to arriva more than any other operator locally? Lol.

@ashley hows it slagging em off? The fleet is s#####ed? Apart from a handful of e200s look at the rest of it? Darts the newest of which must be 12yrs old the newest decker is 13 years old! Just cos theyve had a retrim n repaint doesnt mean theyre not heaps of junk. Id be scared to imagine what the average fleet age is at wednesfield