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New vehicles to Kevs bus fleet
YX22OHJ
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YX61ELH
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All Enviro E200, top 5 are 8.9m and the remainder 10.2m. Hopefully full service by next Wednesday and full service on 39 from Tuesday

147 operated by a loan Mercedes from WCC but sad to say not the most reliable vehicle as the doors keep failing. However our driver Mark is doing his best to keep the service going when it would be easier just to park up. That is why we are so proud of our staff, they have been remarkable.

Seen so far today...

1754, 1763 and 1769 on the 19.
1755 and 1760 on 39 (1760 having done the 39S earlier).
120 on the 38.

At the moment all 39 running hourly as 39S as these big vehicles unable to navigate the Roundabout

Morning @igogeneral - firstly, may I congratulate you and the team for overcoming the horrendous events of the last week and for demonstrating huge resolve in scrambling resources to run services. Truly remarkable!

Secondly, which areas are you looking at and for how many/types of vehicles?

We need to store about 6 coaches at the moment on a fairly secure site but needs to be local to B610QB in order that drivers can easily access them during the day. The vehicles could stay our with the drivers during the day. Our new vehicles should arrive now on Monday and we hope for a full service out there by Wednesday at the latest. We have worked hard to achieve this but if not for people gathering around and supporting us in so many ways then nothing would have been possible. This is a truly wonderful industry to be part of

Due to the burnt out vehicles not yet being removed we are short of space. Anyone know of some spare secure space in the South Birmingham area we could have for a week ?

Three new E200 arriving Friday, hopefully. Thanks the magnificent support of Mistral
Perhaps we will rise from the ashes quicker than we thought

Four Green Bus vehicles out today on 19 and 39. Had to modify timetables and route due to the size of the vehicles but other than a couple of hic ups all gone well so far. 120 on the 38 service and has returned without any tree branches. Once again big big thanks to Ian and his staff and also Tony for getting all this done. All Worcester services out today using a coach, a mini bus and a solo, should have been a good day for spotters !!! Same service tomorrow but we are off to pick up 6 ex London E200 so if they come ready for service the end of the week will look much better. Finally keep a look out for perhaps three unexpected introductions into the fleet early next week ????

Two pics not on general release

Thank you to everyone for their concern and support during this pretty awful time. Our fleet of vehicles were 100% euro 6 and all in excellent condition but now all of our bus fleet has gone apart from one Solo, 21 vehicles in total have been lost. Of course it is not simply the vehicles but also Ticketer machines that were fitted to every one of them, CCTV equipment and simple things like operator discs. However we are already planning for next week and hope to have a full service of some sort up and running on Tuesday. Home to school services will operate as normal from Monday. There will be an assortment of different vehicles but we are already in discussion with our leasing Company to replace the fleet but this will take several months. Finally fire brigade investigators have identified the cause as an electric problem in the engine bay of a 33 seat coach.

I want also to pass on Managements thanks to all the members of our staff who came in today and helped get thing sorted despite the devastation around them. Also thanks to the Hereford and Worcester and West Midlands Fire brigade who through there professional expertise managed to save almost all of our coach fleet, premises and workshops which were untouched.

Your continued support is much appreciated and at this time, much needed.

To be honest I think the Primo vehicle has an unjustified bad reputation amongst those that never operated them. Having done so over several years they are much loved by passengers as being open and easy to move about in. As an operator they were cheap to operate and if treated correctly were a reliable workhorse especially on rural operations. The fact that local contractual conditions call for Euro 6 is the only reason we have chosen not to continue their operation

I would have thought that would be ideal but not for me thanks

Sad to say that 4 of our 5 Primo's have gone to scrap today. They are KX08HMC, KX07KNW, KX57FML, KX06LXP.

We have retained KX59GOA on a small Worcester service for the time being but, in a few months time this vehicle will be removed from the fleet. It may be an ideal project for someone who wished to preserve it as as there cannot be many left in the Country. We also have an amount of Primo parts that will go when the bus does. Anyone genuinely interested then let me know

Not many small operators left now then, interesting times ahead.

New venture for KEVSbus this coming Sunday as for the next four Sunday's at least we will be covering rail replacement on Cross City line as far as Redditch and Bromsgrove. Also looking forward to the new school term with the start of three new home to school services.

From all at Kev's to everyone on the forum and beyond, Happy New Year

It appears from press reports that many North Birmingham drivers did not have a DBS therefore where will HATS drivers come from?