£76 Million on new buses!

[Cedric]

Where are the B10Ms based? Still south yorkshire?

Only 3 B10M buses left in service on the January Fleetlist I have from First, all at Scotland East
27 Merc 709D or Varios, all in the South West or Scotland
43 Step entrance darts, Mostly in the South West including in Bristol
11 Step entrance Lances at FMR, Northampton and the one in Essex
There are still 276 Olympians in service and that fact alone will tell you how far £76million of new vehicles will go to updating their fleet.

And this fleet list is from after all the Olympic buses had been distributed

7 of the lances  will be going from FMR when diamond take over KR &RH  , and think the remaining ones    @ WR  will not be long after  that before they leave

[winston]

I reckon that figure allows for a 17 year vehicle replacement cycle.  First still have over 300 Volvo Olympians to shift, as well as 50-odd STEP Dennis Darts and 25 Mercedes Varios.  First have this irritating habit of hanging on to some geriatric buses, 20-odd Leyland Olympians, along with handfuls of Volvo Citybuses, Dennis Arrows, Dennis Lances, Volvo B10Ms and Optare Excel 62949.  Not all are step entrance, but if First are to make the 2017 DDA deadlines there needs to be a priority made of shifting the oddments particularly.

There needs to be a huge injection of single deckers particularly in Bristol, Somerset and Avon areas.

sconehead85

That's what I worked it out too as well, as not sure what First Groups fleet size currently is since the UK bus disposals. I was working on around 8000.

NX current investment levels at 130 new buses per year for a fleet of 1650 implies a working life of 12.7 years. For First Group to mimic that, they would need to be buying 630 new buses per year. If you breakdown the 1500 new buses First group are claiming to have purchased over the last 3 years including the latest 464, just under a third of those have gone in to the London fleets, whilst the provinces are only now starting to receive any new vehicles is quantity since the 200 Olympic double deckers have been cascaded

[Bob]

I dont think the Potteries have received any new buses since 2006, and even the latest purchases are crappy 06/07 plate Solos and 2003 darts transferred in. Pretty poor isnt it

[winston]

I dont think the Potteries have received any new buses since 2006, and even the latest purchases are crappy 06/07 plate Solos and 2003 darts transferred in. Pretty poor isnt it

There are quite a few First subsidiaries in the same boat....... which is why the Group is in such a mess that coupled with high fares

[Tony]

I dont think the Potteries have received any new buses since 2006, and even the latest purchases are crappy 06/07 plate Solos and 2003 darts transferred in. Pretty poor isnt it

There are quite a few First subsidiaries in the same boat....... which is why the Group is in such a mess that coupled with high fares

Yes, very noticable was Stagecoach's plan to get Wigan sorted out was to put in a large batch of new vehicles and reduce fares! Seems Mr Souter's team reckon the same thing

[Bob]

Is the Potteries operation profitable? I've always wondered why Arriva havent ever competed on the Stafford to Hanley route, the First 101 service operates every 20mins and takes around 1 hr 15 mins, if Arriva were to do a limited stop service itd be sure to be a hit

[winston]

I dont think the Potteries have received any new buses since 2006, and even the latest purchases are crappy 06/07 plate Solos and 2003 darts transferred in. Pretty poor isnt it

There are quite a few First subsidiaries in the same boat....... which is why the Group is in such a mess that coupled with high fares

Yes, very noticable was Stagecoach's plan to get Wigan sorted out was to put in a large batch of new vehicles and reduce fares! Seems Mr Souter's team reckon the same thing

It appears to be First Group that are the only ones not to have cottoned on across the board yet, everyone else can see it.....

First have had increased passenger numbers in Sheffield with the introduction of newer cascaded double deckers from Leeds and by slashing fares.... haven't seen any reports following the Oldham fare reductions if it has had any positive effect on passenger numbers etc 

[CRP2012]

I dont think the Potteries have received any new buses since 2006, and even the latest purchases are crappy 06/07 plate Solos and 2003 darts transferred in. Pretty poor isnt it

There are quite a few First subsidiaries in the same boat....... which is why the Group is in such a mess that coupled with high fares

Yes, very noticable was Stagecoach's plan to get Wigan sorted out was to put in a large batch of new vehicles and reduce fares! Seems Mr Souter's team reckon the same thing

It appears to be First Group that are the only ones not to have cottoned on across the board yet, everyone else can see it.....

First have had increased passenger numbers in Sheffield with the introduction of newer cascaded double deckers from Leeds and by slashing fares.... haven't seen any reports following the Oldham fare reductions if it has had any positive effect on passenger numbers etc

to be fare,most places in oldham havent got a choice of bus operater so it probs wont effect passenger numbers that much

[Justin Tyme]

Is the Potteries operation profitable? I've always wondered why Arriva havent ever competed on the Stafford to Hanley route, the First 101 service operates every 20mins and takes around 1 hr 15 mins, if Arriva were to do a limited stop service itd be sure to be a hit

Bakerbus X1 operates hourly (Mon-Fri) between Hanley and Stafford, taking 1 hr 5 mins, sometimes using Wright Gemini Hybrids.   It started as a rail replacemernt service for Stone, Barlaston and Wedgwood Stations (connecting them with Stafford and Stoke), and the Staffs University section was added later I believe.

[sconehead85]

Tony - Ive no wish to query your First fleet list, as it has come from the operator themselves but its the double deck figures I have are at variance with yours.  Very few step double deckers have passed to  Rotala and Stagecoach but I have counted some 350 Volvo Olympians.  My figures are taken from various sources, and not up to date by any means.  Are there are a lot of double decks in reserve?  Also on this websites fleetlists four Volvo Citybuses are still active and there are five Dennis Arrows still in the fleet AFAIK.  The open-top Chester based Leyland Olympians have passed to Stagecoach but 2013 is their final season as London  Dennis Tridents are being partly de-roofed for use there.

The figures for single deckers are not much different to mine, but many Volvo B10Ms are also classed as reserve too.

Its still interesting and valuable information and thanks anyway for it. Looks like Ive got more crossing out to do in my GB-BG First Datafile!

sconehead85

[Tony]

Tony - Ive no wish to query your First fleet list, as it has come from the operator themselves but its the double deck figures I have are at variance with yours.  Very few step double deckers have passed to  Rotala and Stagecoach but I have counted some 350 Volvo Olympians.  My figures are taken from various sources, and not up to date by any means.  Are there are a lot of double decks in reserve?  Also on this websites fleetlists four Volvo Citybuses are still active and there are five Dennis Arrows still in the fleet AFAIK.  The open-top Chester based Leyland Olympians have passed to Stagecoach but 2013 is their final season as London  Dennis Tridents are being partly de-roofed for use there.

The figures for single deckers are not much different to mine, but many Volvo B10Ms are also classed as reserve too.

Its still interesting and valuable information and thanks anyway for it. Looks like Ive got more crossing out to do in my GB-BG First Datafile!

sconehead85

Yes the figures I quoted are those First Group list as 'in service' there are many more of those vehicle types in 'reserve' and as you say various other odd step entrance buses of other makes I didn't list. For instance if I select 'reserve' and 'unfit for service' on the fleetlists it produces an additional 107 Olympians

[sconehead85]

Thanks Tony- thats cleared it up!

sconehead85