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Not 12 months, but many buses have sat around for months before entering service. All the 19xx Scanias for YW & AG sat at Walsall for months. There used to be a huge yard at MCW full of fully built buses waiting for the operators to take them as they were required for service

In the most recent Buses Magazine, there was a photo of an electric bus which was delivered last March and is still not in service at its intended garage owing to delays with charging equipment/electricity upgrades. Apparently there is a large number of buses stored around London for the same reason. Sound familiar?!!

Talking of MCW, back in the day MCW used the NCL yard (next to the Freightliner terminal) in Lawley St j(entrance was just south of the railway bridges) to park newly completed vehicles awaiting delivery - used to be a regular evening spotting trip on the way out to the pub - v interesting to see brand new vehicles for such a range of operators - I recall SYPTE, GMPTE and others parked there but the largest amounts were for LT and WMPTE - this was around the time the 21xx GOG xxxW batch was being built!

Metrobus now have their on-site liquid hydrogen station live at last (https://www.metrobus.co.uk/hydrogen), which has allowed them to roll out the second batch of 34 vehicles (23 10.9m GB Kites and 11 'decker Hydroliners). Most of these are now in service, but not all yet.

A further 43 (again, mix of 'deckers and single-decks) will follow from ZEBRA2 funding for West Sussex services.

That's interesting - there was an item on BBC South East Today a while back concerning the issue with getting approvals for the fuelling station (which was already built but could not be operated). The limited number of hydrogen buses then in operation were stated to be fuelled from tankers from Birmingham...... if the Crawley operation is in full swing does that mean the Tyseley facility can provide fuel for more of the Walsall Hydroliners now? 

Hartshornes are being pressed to get them all repaired as soon as possible

Thank you. 

5518 has just come back to BC after 3 months at Hartshornes for engine replacement.

MoT has expired while it was there, so won't be in service for a couple of weeks

Are the other two absentees likely to be back soon? I think you said at least one was awaiting parts, but that was awhile ago. 

Yes, building is due to start very soon

That's great news. Look forward to seeing them operating later in the year. 

Neither NX or any other bus company would invest on scale in new EV's when Franchising is being planned.

The Mayor / TfWM should have left the AQPS arrangement in place.

It would make commercial sense if the leasing for the vehicles (most if not all the NXWM EVs are leased from Zenobe) and charging equipment, combined with the running costs are less than the equivalent for diesel buses though - along with relative reliability of vehicles also. @Tony has mentioned previously the improvement they experienced with the Coventry fleet. Presumably the leases might be capable to be taken on by TfWM if franchising starts.

My guess is that once the funding is agreed through TfWM/WMCA to support commercial services referred to in earlier posts, NXWM will continue with its fleet replacement. Presumably once the chargers at YW are turned on, NXWM starts paying for the electricity (fuel!) - looks like an accounting thing, to start at the beginning of a financial quarter?

As for the franchising report, I recall it was stated NXWM was expected to have around 600 zero emission vehicles in service by 2027 - it also gave a date well into the 2030s for full EV operation - so it would appear it's the franchising arrangement suggested by TfWM that allows for an extended period for full zero emission operation. In fact the other operators have virtually none in the region currently operating!!

AG are doing the first inspections on them so they go straight into service in 3 weeks when the chargers are all switched on

Ah ok thanks 👍

Surprising to see E271 is at AG? 

Hope the YMCA are not involved 🤣🤣🤣

Sorry - one of the hazards of not checking before sending - the auto corrections made by US centric software are crazy - it added a spurious 'by' into the post as well!! 

More likely the WMCA will want to acquire the current Aston Lane site.

Will be interesting to see how much they're prepared to pay for it, considering the £15.5m cost to build it, according to this old BBC News article:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-50976194

Not to mention the costs to electrify it fully - no doubt the YMCA will, downstream, claim the credit for so doing. Interesting to see how they deal by with Yardley Wood seeing as S Birmingham/Solihull is the last tranche of proposed franchising!!

All because vegs were arguing over the livery names on the discord and then site edits, so instead of strict moderation they just removed the livery names 🤦�♂️

Why vegetarians @B7RLE 😀😂 could be anyone?!!

Reading the article in the February 2025 issue of Buses Magazine, something that jumped out at me was YMCA is stating 2039 for full zero emission operation - am I missing something here - I thought NXWM had given an undertaking to be 100% zero emission by 2030 - so why the extra 9 years?

Also, the article mentions the routes operated in the Coventry scheme, by Stagecoach, are exempt from franchising till 2035 - however the NXWM operation In Coventry appears not to be. This seems strange??!! 

Tony stated here (in another thread perhaps) that the next 10 electrics delivered to YW would allow the remaining 10 non-Euro6 vehicles elsewhere in the fleet to be withdrawn.

I must've missed that one - although makes sense - however as 4679 has been re MOTd (Tony comment in West Bromwich garage thread) I presume plans have changed. 

It did have a number plate, it was in the front windscreen, no idea which one you saw, but one of two going to YW for first inspection, surely if you were close enough to see where the registration should be you could see the fleet number?

He should've gone to Specsavers 😀🤣 I would have said Barnard Castle but as well as being an elderly political joke, the A66 was closed owing to snow last time I looked 😲

Can we get back on topic please.

Yes - if you read the post I made I said exactly that - getting back on topic - did you miss that part?