Drivers - Bus Reviews & Opinions

[MW]

I wouldn't be surprised if AG got the remaining WA geminis in due course

Personally I've got a theory that they'll be refurbished and repainted for a certain route, either them or the Cov ones. Only a theory and partly based on rumours but yeah.

4533/4534 were a pair I always liked back in the day, catching them on the 31! Hopefully they'll soon arrive, although in starting to want a new vehicle type at AG in terms of decker. The Gem/Plaxton combo is getting quite boring!

I'd like to drive a Trident, ideally a 43** and a 4425+.

One day maybe!

[Liberator9]

Would be great to have a Trident or two at AG  ;D The 43XXs at YW on the whole are pretty good and the WN Voith versions.

[BK63 YWP]

Personally I've got a theory that they'll be refurbished and repainted for a certain route, either them or the Cov ones. Only a theory and partly based on rumours but yeah.

4533/4534 were a pair I always liked back in the day, catching them on the 31! Hopefully they'll soon arrive, although in starting to want a new vehicle type at AG in terms of decker. The Gem/Plaxton combo is getting quite boring!

I'd like to drive a Trident, ideally a 43** and a 4425+.

One day maybe!

I have had a couple ride on 44** tridents that came to Pensnett and they are pretty fast at accerlerating, have that little whine that most of the later trdients have, they seem to pull off faster too. But i think its the way its driven. Some drivers are gentle with them but some know how to make them shift

[Trident 4194]

The zf tridents are the best I would say.

[2206]

Personally I've got a theory that they'll be refurbished and repainted for a certain route, either them or the Cov ones. Only a theory and partly based on rumours but yeah.

4533/4534 were a pair I always liked back in the day, catching them on the 31! Hopefully they'll soon arrive, although in starting to want a new vehicle type at AG in terms of decker. The Gem/Plaxton combo is getting quite boring!

I'd like to drive a Trident, ideally a 43** and a 4425+.

One day maybe!

They will need a new type of double decker for May 2017 when the new emission rules come in for Birmingham City Centre.

[BU07 LGO]

Personally I've got a theory that they'll be refurbished and repainted for a certain route, either them or the Cov ones. Only a theory and partly based on rumours but yeah.

4533/4534 were a pair I always liked back in the day, catching them on the 31! Hopefully they'll soon arrive, although in starting to want a new vehicle type at AG in terms of decker. The Gem/Plaxton combo is getting quite boring!

I'd like to drive a Trident, ideally a 43** and a 4425+.

One day maybe!

As sad as it sounds variety was part of the reason I chose walsall! But will only have mmc's from the 10th on my routes :(

Yeah tridents are amazing but the brakes take a bit of getting used to, the retarder is tooo sharp and then when the retarder stops working around last 10mph you lose your breaking power so have to really squeeze the pedal!

[MW]

As sad as it sounds variety was part of the reason I chose walsall! But will only have mmc's from the 10th on my routes :(

Yeah tridents are amazing but the brakes take a bit of getting used to, the retarder is tooo sharp and then when the retarder stops working around last 10mph you lose your breaking power so have to really squeeze the pedal!

Ahh yeah, WA & PB have got a decent mix. My list was AG, YW & BC. All of which have 4 vehicle types so...

I could probably take one of the YW ones for literally a couple of minutes to Fox Hollies and back, when they are in AG here and there, but I don't want to go out of my way lol

[Tony]

They will need a new type of double decker for May 2017 when the new emission rules come in for Birmingham City Centre.

Not necessarily. A Gemini with a particulate trap on the exhaust would meet the new standards

[BU07 LGO]

Not necessarily. A Gemini with a particulate trap on the exhaust would meet the new standards

And we know how unreliable these are! The mk2 enviros always have the light on as does my car which is why I'm having the dpf removed next week!

They need consistently high revs during the regen or clog up, which buses struggle with due to the stop/startinh

[2900]

Removing the dpf will now fail the mot, any vehicle that had dpf from new must have it on when presenting a vehicle for mot, emission regs. Or remove it after the mot but you,ll need refit for next mot.

[BU07 LGO]

Removing the dpf will now fail the mot, any vehicle that had dpf from new must have it on when presenting a vehicle for mot, emission regs. Or remove it after the mot but you,ll need refit for next mot.

I'm having it gutted and rewelded :)

[979]

Removing the dpf will now fail the mot, any vehicle that had dpf from new must have it on when presenting a vehicle for mot, emission regs. Or remove it after the mot but you,ll need refit for next mot.

Had mine removed 3-4 years ago, Was drilled out with a long drill bit and re-mapped so it passes the emissions regs.( no need for welding as this will be a sign its been removed )

[MW]

I've had 4522 recently on the 11C. I couldn't help but notice how smooth it is! The suspension felt smoother than some cars I've driven! Also how the power delivery is so consistent, felt effortless and again smooth! Few niggles I noticed were the nearside mirror seems to be one of those mirrors that's zoomed in a bit, which I didn't like as the offside mirror is normal! Also the large centre mirror was a bit annoying. The drivers seat adjustment was pretty bad in terms off I couldn't lower the seat to my usual height aswell as push it back, so it was slightly uncomfortable. The tracking was also quite bad, this is something that I find so annoying on certain vehicles!

Something I've noticed on the 4500 batch is that they have an extra indicator repeater on the outside above the rear wheels, the 4600s and I think the 4700s don't have this.

2116, my second Eclipse2 I've had in service. This was actually a request I made to have. Evening board on the 5 a couple of weeks ago, was given a choice on what bus to take out of garage (Gemini/Scania/Eclipse2). I wanted to get a better feel for the Eclipse2 as I'm probably unlikely to drive one again! They feel so modern to the Geminis for example. I don't like how they've got those rev limiters so they change gears before you can hear a proper engine note, and then when you rev in neutral it just goes to around 1500rpm. Sometimes, on hills or just after a hill, I got it to 2000rpm, which reminds me off the exAG 1700 batch. They sound exactly like them, but just have their soul ripped out at the moment! To drive they are very nice. The suspension on both I've had has been quite terrible. They rattle so much over potholes, at the end of Bradford Street when coming into City, they rattle so much! The doors operate a lot quicker than the Scanias which is good. You've got to manually increase the kneeling suspension before moving off, it's not automatic unfortunately. All in all though, I think I prefer these to the new MMCs, and I'm gutted I never got to experience them a little more. I may sound like I'm contradicting myself now, but out of the single deckers, I think the Scanias are better than the other two. The Volvos are no doubt the slowest of the trio, but at least they feel more consistent, whereas in the Scanias, what time you gain in speed pickup etc, you lose in the doors! I really do want to drive some modern deckers to feel what they're like to drive.

[2900]

? While passing a enviro 400mmc 6732 on lower bull street yesterday afternoon I noticed a microphone attached to the front windscreen post like they would do when fitted to coaches is this a new mounting point on platinum vehicles , few minutes later  I passed one of the farms mmc it didn't have a mic mounted on the post.

[2900]

Lot of gems have been coming my way lately , I will say from a drivers point of view 4700, 4701,4703,4709 are decent drives  in most aspects , they don't have the power of the mk 1  enviros
Shame really, 4749 excellent all rounder nearly as fast as 4745.