Arriva Tamworth

[PM]

Do you know what Bob, don't know if you have travelled on an Arriva Citaro, but with those horrible seats they have fitted they are not nice for a long ride at all, give me one of the StreetLites any time for anything more than 15 minutes

Citaros are good, see McGills roadtest in route one, but the layout still isn't ideal, Go North East's have horrible cloth seat backs which get dirty really easily and layout at the back is cluttered at best and hard for passengers to use, seats on split levels next to one another etc.

I genuinely enjoy travelling on the Arriva Sapphire StreetLites, if set up well they can rival some of the best heavyweight buses on ride quality. Set up as on any vehicle, cars included, is important...

[Bob]

Yes I have Tony and agreed the seats aren't amazing but on the whole as a bus they're ten times better to be on. For example I couldn't listen to the screaming racket a Streetlite makes for long, or the juddery gearbox etc

[Tony]

Yes I have Tony and agreed the seats aren't amazing but on the whole as a bus they're ten times better to be on. For example I couldn't listen to the screaming racket a Streetlite makes for long, or the juddery gearbox etc

Same Engine & Gearbox as the E200 while I know they are not perfect for a long ride, nobody complaining about the engine & gearbox

[Bob]

Yea but you could say a metro had same engine as a fleetline  or certain olympians  shared same engine and gearboxas metro, they were  massively different.  E 200 are far from perfect too, would nx use them for a premium route like platinum? ? In the same way as arriva have for sapphire?

[Trident 4194]

Yea but you could say a metro had same engine as a fleetline  or certain olympians  shared same engine and gearboxas metro, they were  massively different.  E 200 are far from perfect too, would nx use them for a premium route like platinum? ? In the same way as arriva have for sapphire?

I'm yet to sample one so cannot express my views however would love a ride on them

[Tony]

Yea but you could say a metro had same engine as a fleetline  or certain olympians  shared same engine and gearboxas metro, they were  massively different.  E 200 are far from perfect too, would nx use them for a premium route like platinum? ? In the same way as arriva have for sapphire?

Metrobuses didn't have the same gearboxes as either Fleetlines or Olympians, but it is the gearboxes and engines you are moaning about on the Streetlite, one minute complaining about them screaming which would indicate they are set to change gear quite late, the next moaning about lack of powere because the change too early

[Bob]

Old Leyland Olympians had Voith and Gardner didn't they? Streetlites scream when they even try to go round a corner at times, and they do still do that thing where they scream and jerky occasionally.  I just don't rate them. At all. Even pulsars were marginally better. Come on though for interurban premium services they're p## poor. Like I say can you imagine nx doing platinum e200s? Anyway maybe passengers weren't too keen,  hence the resultant cuts to the service. I wonder how many other Sapphire routes nationwide have had their frequencies cut after being upgraded?  Maybe BN could tell us? I suspect it's none or very few...

[Tony]

Old Leyland Olympians had Voith and Gardner didn't they? Streetlites scream when they even try to go round a corner at times, and they do still do that thing where they scream and jerky occasionally.  I just don't rate them. At all. Even pulsars were marginally better. Come on though for interurban premium services they're p## poor. Like I say can you imagine nx doing platinum e200s? Anyway maybe passengers weren't too keen,  hence the resultant cuts to the service. I wonder how many other Sapphire routes nationwide have had their frequencies cut after being upgraded?  Maybe BN could tell us? I suspect it's none or very few...

Yes NX would use an E200 if it needed a Platinum Single deck route, You don't moan about them on the 54 / 154. No Olympians has the three speed Voith the Metrobus had

[Alex]

Do you know what Bob, don't know if you have travelled on an Arriva Citaro, but with those horrible seats they have fitted they are not nice for a long ride at all, give me one of the StreetLites any time for anything more than 15 minutes

Agreed! I had 3003 on the X60 to Lichfield from Cannock a few weeks ago, and I would have taken anything that turned up on the X12 after that!

Funny that none of the Streetlites I've been on seem to rattle as much as @Bob makes out, and seem to have enough power for the 1/2/2E, even on the fast stretches on the 1, I've never encountered massive rattling, nothing worse than say, a Pulsar would on those roads.

[Bob]

Agree200s on the ! I had 3003 on the X60 to Lichfield from Cannock a few weeks ago, and I would have taken anything that turned up on I the X12 after that!

Funny that none of the Streetlites I've been on seem to rattle as much as @Bob makes out, and seem to have enough power for the 1/2/2E, even on the fast stretches on the 1, I've never encountered massive rattling, nothing worse than say, a Pulsar would on those roads.

I didn't say all of them rattled?  I said 3306 rattled quite badly. The NX e200s on the 154 aren't brilliant  but despite the same engine and gearboxas seem slightly more sprightly than the Streetlites.  I personally find the mercs fast smooth powerful and far superior to a Streetlite.  Plus the fact that Streetlites are possibly one of the ugliest monstrosities to ever appear on the road. Personal tastes I suppose

[Steveminor]

I know when you talk to some arriva drivers personally they hate them & would rather drive  a cadet than a streetlite.  They tend to complain about the same thing bob goes on about, they scream as if they're at the top of the Rev band & should be changing gear when they're actually not. But then when they change gear they seem to be too low on revs & have no power as if they've changed gear to early. Obviously it's a different story when any management are around then the same driver will say they're the best thing since sliced bread.
I would suspect that the gear ratios may need tweaking.
I think they look good but I'd rather an e200 or even an old solo anyday

[Reece]

The new 110 timetable from Sunday 20th September
https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/midlands/updates/sapphire-110s-sparkle-gets-even-brighter/

[winston]

Is the Arriva Sapphire 110 frequency increase anything to do with NXWM increasing the frequency of their Suttonlines recently?

[Kevin]

Currently on board 3302 doing a 18:35 departure from brum.
Fair play the screens and announcements are correct, shame it's still got 1/2/2A branding all over it.

Side note: Timetable doesn't have a 18:35 service at the moment but the new one does, have they started it early?

[Dylanbusboy45]

Are the Streetlites only going to be used in the morning/evening?