Arriva Leicester

[Tony]

I thought 4001-10 had some sort of engine upgrade when they upgraded them to Sapphire

I very much doubt they had anything other than another 7 litre engine put in which would again be Euro 3. You can only improve that with an exhaust system.

[AlexS]

B7 won't be Euro 4, they will be Euro 3, Volvo changed from the B7 to the B9 to move up from 3 to 4

The B9TL will be Euro 4, Euro 5 didn't start until around 2010

In which case the question remains what is replacing the rest of the B9s. It simply won't be sustainable to reduce the number of buses at Wigston by 5 (although considering the reliability of the Streetlights and Versas if it was those 7 being replaced maybe 2 buses would be sufficient) unless they are planning on cutting services, especially considering they'll also have less flexibility to use vehicles on Hinckley local services to cover breakdowns on the X55 and X6 or for them to do a random week on the 86/87 every month or so (as many of those vehicles will no longer be able to go into Leicester).

[Tony]

In which case the question remains what is replacing the rest of the B9s. It simply won't be sustainable to reduce the number of buses at Wigston by 5 (although considering the reliability of the Streetlights and Versas if it was those 7 being replaced maybe 2 buses would be sufficient) unless they are planning on cutting services, especially considering they'll also have less flexibility to use vehicles on Hinckley local services to cover breakdowns on the X55 and X6 or for them to do a random week on the 86/87 every month or so (as many of those vehicles will no longer be able to go into Leicester).

Further info just received from Arriva

Yorkshire B9TL's for Wigston have been retrofitted and are now Euro 6and therefore complaint for Leicester clean air zone there are only these 16 and 5 mmc's for Wigston 2 Solos 2508 & 2538 are being replaced at Thurmaston by 2 Southern Counties E200mm...

[LazyGuy222]

4007 and 4008 are both now at Maidstone.

[leicesterbusadventurer]

3773 and 3777 have moved back to Thurmaston, replacing 2508 and 2538.

[JPC]

The X6 service to Coventry which doesn't have a Sunday service is unusually running today and with two E400MMC! but I garner it is loosely enacting as a rail replacement service on this Boxing Day.
Likewise the NXC service 20 is doing a similar role extending to Nuneaton.
I suppose it is commercial decisions and evaluations.

[Justin Tyme]

The X6 service to Coventry which doesn't have a Sunday service is unusually running today and with two E400MMC! but I garner it is loosely enacting as a rail replacement service on this Boxing Day.
Likewise the NXC service 20 is doing a similar role extending to Nuneaton.
I suppose it is commercial decisions and evaluations.

As usual Stagecoach did not operate in Warwickshire on Boxing Day, and won't be on New Year's Day either.  I wonder if this was a factor behind NXC's decision to operate the 20 to Nuneaton on these days.

[JoNi]

X6 running again today with same two Enviro 400MMCs 4534 and Sapphire 4546 as Boxing Day.

[AlexS]

And as expected we enter 2021 with Wigston continuing to use buses that seemingly do not meet the low emission standards. 4202,4203, and 4204 all out today (and that's with Saturday timetables and no school duplicates).

[Tony]

And as expected we enter 2021 with Wigston continuing to use buses that seemingly do not meet the low emission standards. 4202,4203, and 4204 all out today (and that's with Saturday timetables and no school duplicates).

Can I ask how you know these vehicles do not meet the standards?

[Vulcan]

4200– 7 new to Tamworth
They are Euro 4 spec never had any upgrades

[Tony]

4200– 7 new to Tamworth
They are Euro 4 spec never had any upgrades

How do you know they have never had an upgrade?

This is a quote from an email I have received from a director at Arriva

"A few of the Wigston B9 fleet was upgraded to euro 6"

[Tony]

4200– 7 new to Tamworth
They are Euro 4 spec never had any upgrades

Arriva have just confirmed the entire Wigston fleet is now Euro 6.

4202; 4203 & 4204 were retrofitted as long back as 2019

So you guessing that they have not had any upgrade is totally incorrect

[trixmax]

Yes correct on that

[xmj-signal]

4003 is still showing as working in Leicester on the Bustimes tracker so I decided to check whether that was the case.

On this evening's 1925 87 to Eyres Monsell (which showed as 4003 on the tracker), the actual vehicle was 3109, which hasn't tracked since 23rd December. So, a machine swap without changing the bus number.