Rotala Management - Questions & Answers

[BK63 YWP]

Simon

Are the vast majority of the newer buses leased not owned?

[Simon Dunn]

Simon,

2. If the 13 plate Volvo's are due to be retuned off lease, how does that affect the WMCA jointly operated 31/32 routes? As 30938/940-2 are in that livery & branded.

Then you have 30943 / 30949 at Diamond Bus WM, plus 30936/7/9 & 30948 at Bolton (575 branded) if the lot are included.

Surprised you're not considering buying the 13 plate Eclipse 2's off the leasing company. Are the 62 plates B7RLE/Eclipse also leased?

Winston

The replacements for the 13 plate Volvo's are part of the Wrights order and will come in the correct livery.

The 62 plate Volvo's are owned. 

If you consider every major city is moving to Euro 6 at some point during 2021 - then we either need to retrofit them or discard them within 2 years.  We are nervous about retrofit and hence why we have ordered newer vehicles, although not heavy weight they are to a higher specification, with substantially better fuel economy and LCEB entitlements.


Simon

[Trident 4609]

Winston

The replacements for the 13 plate Volvo's are part of the Wrights order and will come in the correct livery.

The 62 plate Volvo's are owned. 

If you consider every major city is moving to Euro 6 at some point during 2021 - then we either need to retrofit them or discard them within 2 years.  We are nervous about retrofit and hence why we have ordered newer vehicles, although not heavy weight they are to a higher specification, with substantially better fuel economy and LCEB entitlements.


Simon

Hi Simon

On that basis, Will the 16/W be accounted for with new buses considering the Birmingham ULEZ/AQPS is set to come into force next July? (was originally January).

[winston]

Winston

The replacements for the 13 plate Volvo's are part of the Wrights order and will come in the correct livery.

The 62 plate Volvo's are owned. 

If you consider every major city is moving to Euro 6 at some point during 2021 - then we either need to retrofit them or discard them within 2 years.  We are nervous about retrofit and hence why we have ordered newer vehicles, although not heavy weight they are to a higher specification, with substantially better fuel economy and LCEB entitlements.
Simon

Simon,

How will that work as regards the 31/32? As some of the branded buses are 62 plate, some are 13 plates, will those routes have a mix of new Streetlites & 62 plate Volvo's?

I understand re: Euro6, I was thinking more along the lines of the likes of Kidderminster for upgrading to Euro 5 Volvo's (Route 3) which has lost it's newer Scania's since Bolton was acquired, or the longer distance 42/43 @ KR or potentially even Redditch. Those areas aren't going to go Euro 6 anytime soon.

Then as Nathan points out above where does the 16/16w fit in?

[Jack6101]

The Mellors are for

57   2
66   1
80   1
224   1
41/41A   2

Streetlites

1.  40 service
2.  Replace 13 plate Volvo B7RLE's - which return off lease
3.  We have 2 x 9.6m on order for 50/69.  We need to assess with delivery delays how we deal with this



Simon

Hi Simon is this for the 40 service between West Brom and wednesbury?
And would you consider any E400mmc's or are the street decks a better value 

[Simon Dunn]

Hi Simon

On that basis, Will the 16/W be accounted for with new buses considering the Birmingham ULEZ/AQPS is set to come into force next July? (was originally January).

There is the capacity to do this

[Simon Dunn]

Simon,

How will that work as regards the 31/32? As some of the branded buses are 62 plate, some are 13 plates, will those routes have a mix of new Streetlites & 62 plate Volvo's?

I understand re: Euro6, I was thinking more along the lines of the likes of Kidderminster for upgrading to Euro 5 Volvo's (Route 3) which has lost it's newer Scania's since Bolton was acquired, or the longer distance 42/43 @ KR or potentially even Redditch. Those areas aren't going to go Euro 6 anytime soon.

Then as Nathan points out above where does the 16/16w fit in?

Winston,

We have enough vehicles - we have not yet considered how we organise them.

Simon

[Solo1]

Any buses in paint or recently been painted for  tividale/Kidderminster/Redditch  thanks

[IMarkeh]

We have 7 x Mellor vehicles turning up this week/next few weeks for the West Midlands.  Although the Wrights order does include StreetDecks for Bolton, there are also Streetlites for the West Midlands/ Heathrow for Hoppa.

The original order was due to start delivery from 1st November.  I have been advised that delays the effect of the recent problems means we wont see anything until April.  I am not sure how that works, and we are waiting on a properly delivery plan and we are now looking at how that affects the commitments we have

More on order than I thought... Shame about the Wright Bus situation as I thoroughly enjoyed my journeys on the Streetdecks in Bolton.

Can I ask when Bolton Depot will be starting to allocate the right buses to routes. Today you can see a Solo on the 471 but an Enviro 400 on the 695. I know allocating so many buses is a hard task but some of the allocations are laughable.
Secondly, are Rotala working with Go North West regarding the 162/163 & X63 ticketing issue. A lot of people who use the X63 have complained that if they get a Diamond ticket, they lose access to the X63 but if they get a GNW ticket, they can't get home midday and if the X63 doesn't turn up, they end up on a Diamond bus. The solution of a System One pass has got a lot of people upset. The Rochdale Road Corridor will also be with 3 operators fighting for the revenue which means that the specific operator tickets will get more confusing and consequently help Mayor Burnhams case for franchising.
A solution for the 162/163/X63 and Rochdale Road issues need sorting asap or both you and GNW will lose passengers because of the confusion which is going to be caused (though no fault of your own, it's just how First sold the depots).

Many thanks,
Mark

[Simon Dunn]

Hi Simon is this for the 40 service between West Brom and wednesbury?
And would you consider any E400mmc's or are the street decks a better value

Yes - 40 is the West Brom to Wednesbury service.  E400MMC - I am not a fan. 


Simon

[Simon Dunn]

Any buses in paint or recently been painted for  tividale/Kidderminster/Redditch  thanks

The West Midlands has been short of capacity in the last few weeks, so we have been supporting the North West with repaints.

[Simon Dunn]

More on order than I thought... Shame about the Wright Bus situation as I thoroughly enjoyed my journeys on the Streetdecks in Bolton.

Can I ask when Bolton Depot will be starting to allocate the right buses to routes. Today you can see a Solo on the 471 but an Enviro 400 on the 695. I know allocating so many buses is a hard task but some of the allocations are laughable.
Secondly, are Rotala working with Go North West regarding the 162/163 & X63 ticketing issue. A lot of people who use the X63 have complained that if they get a Diamond ticket, they lose access to the X63 but if they get a GNW ticket, they can't get home midday and if the X63 doesn't turn up, they end up on a Diamond bus. The solution of a System One pass has got a lot of people upset. The Rochdale Road Corridor will also be with 3 operators fighting for the revenue which means that the specific operator tickets will get more confusing and consequently help Mayor Burnhams case for franchising.
A solution for the 162/163/X63 and Rochdale Road issues need sorting asap or both you and GNW will lose passengers because of the confusion which is going to be caused (though no fault of your own, it's just how First sold the depots).

Many thanks,
Mark

We have a lot of reliability problems with the fleet.  We are trying to work through these, but as a result we have put in a lot more vehicles to support service delivery.  I am sorry about the allocations and it is something we are looking to improve.

The Manchester North Ticket in its current form doesn't work at all.  Passengers haven't switched their purchasing options, so something needed to happen to realign this.  I am sure you can appreciate that we sign up to confidentiality agreements - what I will say though is that we weren't against a reduced scheme to deal with what you have set out.



Simon

[2206]

20982 doesn't have any fleetnames @Simon Dunn. I saw it earlier today on the 28A.
I don't think 20982 has had any fleetnames for some time.

[Trident 4194]

Do you plan on repainting the ex central vehicles, as they cause great confusion as people interpret them as nx buses.

[Simon Dunn]

Do you plan on repainting the ex central vehicles, as they cause great confusion as people interpret them as nx buses.

Now that the PVR has dropped - we are focused on repainting the West Midlands vehicles


Simon