Alexander Dennis Enviro400

[Tony]

does anyone else think its completely bonkers to be refurbishing such "newish" buses when there are so many buses out there that are in such a state and buses like 4128 with the silver dot to dot on one side and not on the other? would of thought that the vast amount of alx400 would have been for refurb before any enviro 400's?

however I have always thought that the likes of the alx400's at Walsall (ie 4132) haven't had any attention as they would with draw them? anyone else think that?

I personally would much rather the y reg tridents go before the presidents or the spectras!!

By doing these at the same time as the older ones stops a new backlog building while sorting out the original one.
The Walsall 41xx tridents were the first ones of the batch refurbished, they all had a major overhaul, repaint and retrim when they went onto the 51 route, it is the others of that batch still in original livery that need more attention.

[winston]

By doing these at the same time as the older ones stops a new backlog building while sorting out the original one.

Tony,

Whilst I see where you're coming from re: preventing a new backlog forming, surely treating the 07/57 plate Enviro's to a repaint & retrim should have been a higher priority than 09 plate buses less than 4 years old. Even some enthusiasts on here hadn't realised that they had also received a retrim whilst being repainted, so I doubt the Hagley Road passengers will have noticed.

It's the Y-reg Tridents & 51 reg Volvo B7TL's that are letting the fleet down in terms of internal/external appearance, WB's ALX400 fleet especially, if those buses are left too much longer without a refurb they could end up never being done due to being too close to the end of their lives to warrant the spending.

Incidentally, has there been a change of policy on repainting/re-trimmed the second series Merc's (i.e. 1628 onwards)? As that program seems to have ground to a halt at present

[Kevin_Brum12]

Whilst I see where you're coming from re: preventing a new backlog forming, surely treating the 07/57 plate Enviro's to a repaint & retrim should have been a higher priority than 09 plate buses less than 4 years old. Even some enthusiasts on here hadn't realised that they had also received a retrim whilst being repainted, so I doubt the Hagley Road passengers will have noticed.

The Yardley Wood 47XX ALX 400's do now look a bit tried and could do with a brush up and re-trim.   I would thought a sensible plan would have been to do these first one at a time before dispatching them to the Pensnett services.

The Y and 51 Tridents are in awful condition.  In WMPTE days the engineering department would have took one look at the bodywork and dispatched vehicles on a one way trip to Barnsley or Carlton (probably after some eejit had authorised the fitting of a new gearbox and a repaint  ;D).  Having said that they are in better condition than the vehicles used by a certain large group!   The calculators and spreadsheets need to come out and some tough decisions need to be made now about the Tridents, do you overhaul them for another three - four years service or do you bite the bullet, order a new batch of ALX 400's or Geminis as direct replacements, which would cost more but give you twelve years service or more with the potential for a capital return?

[Gareth]

Remember, in WMPTE days, the government paid for up to 50% of the cost of new buses. So the PTE could afford to withdraw buses prematurely. Apart from tatty paintwork and some threadbare seats, there doesn't seem to be much wrong with the early tridents, they seem to be mechanically sound. I find it rare to see broken down ones.

[winston]

Remember, in WMPTE days, the government paid for up to 50% of the cost of new buses. So the PTE could afford to withdraw buses prematurely. Apart from tatty paintwork and some threadbare seats, there doesn't seem to be much wrong with the early tridents, they seem to be mechanically sound. I find it rare to see broken down ones.

As you say, it's just the cosmetics of those buses that desperately need some TLC. If these were addressed first, it would have a far greater impact on the passenger's perception of the bus that they are travelling on, rather than the re-trimming 09 plate Enviro's in exactly the same moquette which generally goes un-noticed.

Personally, along with all the other issues NX are currently addressing, I think they should either consider expanding Walsall's paintshop capacity to work through the backlog quicker and ensure buses in the future get repainted on a max four year cycle, particularly given the that much of the livery is white based. Or they should consider sub-contracting out some of the repaints/retrims to help deal with the backlog quicker, remove the TWM livery once & for all & improve the quality of the existing fleet whilst still taking the current quantities of new vehicles   

[927KHA]

Does anyone know the reason why these buses are being swapped, please? (perhaps buried in another thread?) Thanks

[John]

Does anyone know the reason why these buses are being swapped, please? (perhaps buried in another thread?) Thanks

Something to do with warranties I think. The 48** Enviro400s are doing too many miles on the Hagley Road so are going onto the 50 to cut the mileage that these buses are doing, keeping them covered in the warranty.

[927KHA]

Thanks John.

Mike

[Kevin]

Actually this intrigues me, how are they doing too much mileage? Surely if they go to YW for the 50 and spend all day on there they'd end up doing a similar mileage, it may be shorter journeys but they'd end up doing more trips?

[s94]

When will this be happening? This issue keeps being raised but no one seems to have a clue whats going on in reality.

[winston]

When will this be happening? This issue keeps being raised but no one seems to have a clue whats going on in reality.

Not sure if is still happening or whether the swap has been put back, as it was supposed to be happening over the easter break which has been & gone

[Stuharris 6360]

When will this be happening? This issue keeps being raised but no one seems to have a clue whats going on in reality.

Not sure if is still happening or whether the swap has been put back, as it was supposed to be happening over the easter break which has been & gone

Didn't someone say that it would be after the Easter break when the Metro replacement service finishes, although what the Metro has to do with the PE Enviros i don't know.

[winston]

When will this be happening? This issue keeps being raised but no one seems to have a clue whats going on in reality.

Not sure if is still happening or whether the swap has been put back, as it was supposed to be happening over the easter break which has been & gone

Didn't someone say that it would be after the Easter break when the Metro replacement service finishes, although what the Metro has to do with the PE Enviros i don't know.

Not sure then?

[Kevin_Brum12]

Actually this intrigues me, how are they doing too much mileage? Surely if they go to YW for the 50 and spend all day on there they'd end up doing a similar mileage, it may be shorter journeys but they'd end up doing more trips?

The 50 route is more trips and the buses would probably end up doing a similar mileage, but the 9 is a more ardous route for he Envrio 400's, especially over the Birmingham boundary where the buses have Mucklow Hill to contend with and the other hills and banks around Halesowen, Cradley and Stourbridge, putting pressure on the gearboxes.   Also there is running at higher speeds for the PE buses, YW vehicles will be travelling more slowly owing to the "stop-start" traffic on the A435 and will be picking up passengers at practially every stop on a trip.

[Tony]

Does anyone know the reason why these buses are being swapped, please? (perhaps buried in another thread?) Thanks

If they do!