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At the moment they use anything. Come the 16th May that will have to change to euro 6 buses on there and it'll be a 2 bus working with 1 bus on late night and they cant justify the evoras on there. Only suitable is either E200 MMC's or euro 6 E200's or if 62 is fixed by that point then 62 & 64 could be used on there

Wonder if the 5 will run off the back off the 70 to enable the drivers to get there breaks / swaps in cannock  like the 828/74 cycles

I thought the Evora's were for the 828 as the 74 was going to run separately? With the Centrebus group  investing massively in new/newish buses lately I'm sure chaserider will benefit with newer reliable buses soon

they cannot seem to keep the 2 new ones on the 74/828 circuit as it is,  both missing again today  

But they can't maintain the PVR for the network theyve got......

bet the new inbound evoras will be for this then 

Sometimes yes. I know the 70 is busy but there main priority is making sure big buses are on the school boards plus the 74 & 828 apart from the last board that comes out for the 74 which is allocated randomly as its the last bus that leaves the depot so whatever is left. Only thing non of us can understand why 169 is constantly on the 62 when the 62 doesn't need that size of a bus and with it being euro 6. We know why its not used for Walsall which we get but dont understand why its not used for the 74 & 828

74/828 seems to get the most share of all the oldest unrelaible / unsuitable stuff most of the time. Mind its doing well this week both new evoras seem to of done 4 days in a  row , will they both make it a full week for once though, deffo a  tool for the job them evoras are, a nice bit of kit. Being a heavyweight too i would think they will be good reliable workhorses for the interurban scene. How come 169 cant be used on Walsall, its only a dinky toy size,  and prob more suited to the lanes rather then the full size heavyweights.

Least it means 826 gets new buses for a short period lol

haha  not many seats in it,  it looks tiny lol. Am surprised they keep buying optare products tbh  optare seems poor on reliability but as its new presume it should have a good warrenty :-)

Funny you say that 😉 passed it on the way home on the 828 😂

haha  these are the 'new' upgrades from the old volvos then 

Funny how you're calling the Sr junk but you have the name solonightrider 😂

good innit and yes most optare offerings are just unrelaible junk, and yes ive driven many optare products in my time too 

These do help a bit tbf as they're the full sized SR's not the arriva sized ones. Yes I know not full sized singles like the b7's or b8's but its better than 128 size bus. Dont think we reckon the b7's will get withdrawn tho and they will stay just wont be used for the 74's as the 74 plate evoras are the b7's replacement

74 Plate evoras always missing off the 74/828 most days this week again. ones been on 60 again. Presume all the unrelaible scrap isnt allowed near the 60,  Even sundays new evoras are rare on the 828 when there is low pvr. A 16 year old dirty rattle box e200 was last Sundays offering . Guess the 74 will part company with the 828 cycle soon as the new evoras arrive then. Full size SR is still only 30 ish seats minibus territory, totally unsuitable for busy interurban work.

Its a bit of an odd transfer tbf, Cannocks a bit light on full sized singles at the minute

more small old optare junk    wonder what interurban work these be dumped on to.....  74/828 seems to struggle to keep the 2 new evoras on allocation, a right array of old junk and solos again Saturday, and most the week again   

Its not as rare as you think. Mainly now 630 does the 74 & 828 when its out as its knackered. 631 & 632 tend to be the mains on the 36/36A as they are reliable (to a degree)

makes sense then as the 74/828/826 circuit does seem the dumping ground for all the old unreliable knackers. Went on that manky old 2 door e200 bone shaking thing the other Saturday to Stafford, jeez wot a crock that is to put on a  long interurban route! Was a nice [route 60 ]evora on way back tho which was a nice bit of kit :-)

Theyre having a bad day today, loads of breakdowns. 144s been in walsall bus stn since lunchtime, just driving back from work and 192 broke down on 62 right on the junction in hednesford blocking the lane, been there 2 and a half hrs, just came out of aldi and its finally getting put on a tow truck. They must be really struggling for buses atm. At least 3 had to be took of pye greens today to cover other routes

Noticed today on one of the FB groups d&g and centrbus have taken delivery of some new e200MMC's so perhaps once they hit their allocted depots that might release some more old solos and e200s for cannock perhaps. Passing through Lichfiled earlier i seen one of the usuall route 36 orange & blue mcv eveloution Volvos on the 828 which seems pretty rare allocation too.

Yes it is, it's been in the body shop the past week or so being painted, not sure if it's moving or staying tho by the looks of it it's staying and going red/blue like 198 think they are slowly working thru the fleet, I know the older Volvos are getting replaced with new evoras and I think most of the old optares are going to be replaced eventually

sounds good, 799 will look nice in the new livery :-)   them old optare solo crates need dumping first out of everything haha  wishfull thinking. Guess the new evoras will go on 36 or the 5 if they win the daytimes tender may be.

Fleet News:
1 - needing new engine
2 - blown head gasket
62 - is back and will be out once the electrical fault is fixed
128 - withdrawn (12/03/25)
704 - parts been used for 748 and now donated to bus link to keep there scanias on the road

whats happened to 799 not seen that for ages always seemed quite a nice bus to travel on , they seem to have some problomatic/unreliable vehicles on fleet, shame really as some not are not even that old either, aint there nowt else coming in to replace the broke and withdrawn stuff besides the other couple of Evoras due thats been mentioned prevoiusly.  Thought that 62 was long gone 

New 827 is an extended version of the Baswich circular. After going around Baswich it heads off to Milford then up through Brocton, down the A34 to the Wildwood Estate, an anti clockwise run around Wildwood and back into Stafford.  Four journeys a day.

cool  is the 826 going to just stick to the main road to Stafford then after Milford when that starts, presume it would poss link with the 826 vehicle workings some how too. Good to see parts of the former network slowly coming back in bits 

Some news:

The 827 will be returning from May 4th 2025

is that the old Baswich circular one