First Bus - Potteries

[barry619]

Yes, but only because they had found another site when closure was mooted a while ago. Now it appears to have fallen victim to yet another round of cuts and will not be replaced.

[Bob]

First are maybe struggling up there a bit. The fleets mainly old and tired. They upgraded the crewe route with 11/12 year old single deckers ffs lol

[arrifirststage]

First are maybe struggling up there a bit. The fleets mainly old and tired. They upgraded the crewe route with 11/12 year old single deckers ffs lol

To be honest,Potteries cannot be much financially......even Arriva,in their Wardle disguise,could not wait to be rid ,and they basically ran the cheapest buses they could string together.
Problem is,if the Midlands division shrinks too much then it becomes too small to be viable,probably even putting Leicester and Worcester at risk.

[Bob]

There were quite a few complaints about Wardle buses breaking down

[Ashley 60171]

42353 and 42356 now in use at Potteries.

Edit

Have since found out a third ex Hereford Caetano is here but dumped in Adderley Greens scrap line until fixed.

One of the three was driven north, the other two were towed up.

Also, 60193 has had Wifi fitted and I am told it works.

[barry619]

To be honest,Potteries cannot be much financially......even Arriva,in their Wardle disguise,could not wait to be rid ,and they basically ran the cheapest buses they could string together.
Problem is,if the Midlands division shrinks too much then it becomes too small to be viable,probably even putting Leicester and Worcester at risk.

It seems that the Wardle operation was poorly managed with commercial routes introduced which hadn't been thought through properly, and so they never stood a chance of succeeding. That's evidenced by the amount of work which was abandoned when D&G took over Wardle, and it will continue soon with another route for the chop by D&G.

The Potteries is a very different place to what it was in the PMT heyday of the late 1980s, and as virtually all the employee-intensive industry has closed the demand for bus service has tumbled. That said the local council's policies have done nobody any favours as it has permitted the opening of various out-of-town retail parks and warehousing areas, which are simple to reach by car and have drawn jobs and shoppers away from the town centres.

Not sure Worcester is at risk... there is a suggestion somewhere else that four of the StreetDecks for Leicester are now going to Worcester instead. The first production StreetDecks for First can't be far off as they were in build two months ago.

[Bob]

An arriva garage badly managed with poorly performing comerciall routes? Wednesfield anyone?

[Ashley 60171]

42353 was noted on the 10 today.

Talk elsewhere on the interweb that towards the end of the year.Adderley Green may receive some E300's from Worcester. Other rumours about getting the non DDA stuff out are to transfer Solo's from Hereford to AG when the closures take place. Add to that Bradford's B7L's and Huddersfields 53 plate B7RLE's. Just putting it in a nutshell. However I reckon I'm wasting my time because nobody reads this unless they want to remind me I'm mad and/or have a crack at First.

[jc]

Personally can see Potteries gaining the 4 VX53 E300's from Worcester and also the Solos from Hereford and several from Worcester (displaced by Caetano Darts). Also can see the Short Streetlites moving to PMT ...

[Bob]

Investment in new buses at potteries is a joke

[arrifirststage]

42353 was noted on the 10 today.

Talk elsewhere on the interweb that towards the end of the year.Adderley Green may receive some E300's from Worcester. Other rumours about getting the non DDA stuff out are to transfer Solo's from Hereford to AG when the closures take place. Add to that Bradford's B7L's and Huddersfields 53 plate B7RLE's. Just putting it in a nutshell. However I reckon I'm wasting my time because nobody reads this unless they want to remind me I'm mad and/or have a crack at First.

I certainly read Firstgroup news avidly.despite,or perhaps because of,their fluctuations I find Firstgroup to be far more interesting than NXWM with their diet of unbroken ADC buses and never ending madcap branding.
At present.First,Arriva and Stagecoach carry far more to excite the real bus enthusiast than the mere bus spotters who throng round NX.

[barry619]

Personally can see Potteries gaining the 4 VX53 E300's from Worcester and also the Solos from Hereford and several from Worcester (displaced by Caetano Darts). Also can see the Short Streetlites moving to PMT ...

:-X :-X

Is that you, Mr Eggleton?

[Ashley 60171]

I certainly read Firstgroup news avidly.despite,or perhaps because of,their fluctuations I find Firstgroup to be far more interesting than NXWM with their diet of unbroken ADC buses and never ending madcap branding.
At present.First,Arriva and Stagecoach carry far more to excite the real bus enthusiast than the mere bus spotters who throng round NX.

First may be making cuts but they're not all bad and the fleet is still very much a mixed bag, soon to change. Stagecoach and Arriva are similarly as interesting. But I can't jump on the MMC hype yet.

[arrifirststage]

First may be making cuts but they're not all bad and the fleet is still very much a mixed bag, soon to change. Stagecoach and Arriva are similarly as interesting. But I can't jump on the MMC hype yet.

Sounds like you are a bus enthusiast .............not just a spotter like 90% of the posters on here.

[Tony]

Sounds like you are a bus enthusiast .............not just a spotter like 90% of the posters on here.

Stagecoach at the moment seem to be the only ones who are looking to actually grow in this country.