Drivers - Bus Reviews & Opinions

[2900]

Rumour mill in full swing at west brom with drivers talking that the training office and management saying the ex 50 route enviros will be refurbed into the latest livery Crimson.
From my understanding from what i,ve read on this website that won't be case, the new livery is to high light the next generation of buses on key corridors.
The enviros that I,ve seen from yardley look battle hardened other than the MERCS which are going they must be the roughest looking buses at west brom now.
There's also talk of the gems not going after all, who knows time will tell to what transpires.

[2900]

ImO routes such as dudley road should only get refurbed buses, customers passengers call them what you will i,ll restrain myself from other descriptions, don't deserve new buses from the way they treated. I get regular complaints that something should be done about the trash.

[karl724223]

Sorry to hijack
Had ex Yw 4354 today it was there showbus for bus rally's new repaint engine and gearbox perfect passed mot yesterday fast bus good brakes hot cab heaters 10/10 for its age

[2900]

The rumours around west brom garage that the ex 50 route enviros will be refurbed in Crimson are true confirmed by da management, that does surprise me a Little baffled to be honest to the decision behind it. I assume then in time all the key corridors will be Crimson and secondary routes red and white.

[Tony]

The rumours around west brom garage that the ex 50 route enviros will be refurbed in Crimson are true confirmed by da management, that does surprise me a Little baffled to be honest to the decision behind it. I assume then in time all the key corridors will be Crimson and secondary routes red and white.

I wonder if it will fool that dumb councillor into thinking the 82 has new buses on it

[2900]

Good one Tony

[2900]

If a merc could be repainted into Crimson and driven up and down bearwood high St I,m sure he wouldn't know it's 15 years old other than number plate giving the game away, mind you he's probably to thick to even notice.

[2900]

4952 ADL ENVIRO 400 E40D, my face dropped when this turned up for me, it's been a long time since I last drove one of these quite fortunate I say. Slow to get away engine labouring away while the gearbox races through its collection of gears, gearbox on this does jolt the bus harshly at times, does have the ability to fly up hills though, front suspension hopeless, some rattling from cab platform area not overly so. Drivers seat makes your arse ache after a couple of hours. From what I,ve heard around the garage these seats don't suit everyone.

Engine nice smooth lump no issues
Gearbox  just crap big PHATT ZERO for being useless
Retarder rather effective at scrubbing off speed well
Brakes smooth most times just at the end before its you get the little jolt
Suspension just crap to be honest BIG PHATT ZERO
I,m not a fan of these E40D chassis buses 3/10 and I,m being generous I think

[2900]

One of yardley woods ex 4700s enviro mk1 parked near west broms traffic office thought I,d take a closer look, cab instrument pod is different and plenty of shiny blue glass reinforced plastic every where, now here's my point these 4700s enviros getting the Crimson treatment together with blue plastic trim interior and I assume grey moquette with red spots for the seats , hmm I wander how odd is going to look. From talking to various drivers that have had a chance to drive these vastly better to drive than the 4900s, are these mk1 enviro 400s euro 4 spec?

[Sh4318]

One of yardley woods ex 4700s enviro mk1 parked near west broms traffic office thought I,d take a closer look, cab instrument pod is different and plenty of shiny blue glass reinforced plastic every where, now here's my point these 4700s enviros getting the Crimson treatment together with blue plastic trim interior and I assume grey moquette with red spots for the seats , hmm I wander how odd is going to look. From talking to various drivers that have had a chance to drive these vastly better to drive than the 4900s, are these mk1 enviro 400s euro 4 spec?

Yeah, they're Euro 4

[Liberator9]

@2900

Yeah the ex YW E400s are pretty good buses - have them most mornings and still in good condition. Pretty good at pulling away, suspension is pretty good and don't rattle that much.

[John]

@2900 The older Enviro400s are a lot better to drive than the ADL versions. I don't know if there is any differences from your ex-Yardley Wood ones to our ex-Pensnett ones, but they accelerate far better and the cab heaters are really intense. They also don't seem to rattle as much over bumps. The dashboard is also better laid out with bigger buttons too

Plus if your 49**s are anything like our Sutton buses with the remapped gearboxes then you know how slow they are. Off the mark, they are not so bad, but they change up too early and you are struggling to accelerate fast enough whilst moving. I don't know if the Enviro400s on the 33 have also been done as I haven't been on there for months now

[BU07 LGO]

@2900 The older Enviro400s are a lot better to drive than the ADL versions. I don't know if there is any differences from your ex-Yardley Wood ones to our ex-Pensnett ones, but they accelerate far better and the cab heaters are really intense. They also don't seem to rattle as much over bumps. The dashboard is also better laid out with bigger buttons too

Plus if your 49**s are anything like our Sutton buses with the remapped gearboxes then you know how slow they are. Off the mark, they are not so bad, but they change up too early and you are struggling to accelerate fast enough whilst moving. I don't know if the Enviro400s on the 33 have also been done as I haven't been on there for months now

Ours are shocking, especially climbing up beacon road your waiting for it to drop a gear but it never comes!

[2900]

On a personal note, I would love to see a metrobus painted in Crimson it should look the business, like the metrobus that West Midlands Fire brigade had painted  in nxwm  red and white livery it's does look good imO.

[2900]

4743 ADL ENVIRO 400 TRIDENT2 chassis, thank you yardley wood and chief bus allocator these will do very nicely indeed, could have quite easily ended up with more E40D,s hard to believe these two bus chassis come from the same company.

Engine  smooth and powerful sounds good too.
Gearbox excellent spot on surprised that it's got kick down function love it.
Retarder excellent well balanced.
Steering good at speed does become a bit heavy at crawling speeds.
Brakes excellent too.
Suspension front axle lets the chassis down it's similar to the E40D, this is where B7TL wipes the floor.
Body not bad at all does,nt rattle any more than a decent ALX400 B7TL, for a 7 year I say the interior is in good condition, not keen on those seats at the rear of the lower saloon very cheap looking.
Cab nice and spacious, driver seat lot better than the E40D, dash is different mix of old and new switch gear no Rev counter either, radio speech pedal located to close the foot mounted door opener.
Cab heater very impressive on these I guess come the cold months that's all that matters.
I did take a look at the engine compartment I noticed the engine is mounted on the right hand side, it's on the left on the E40D same as B7TL, red in colour I assume it's a B series cummins lump, very tidy setup plenty of space.
It's worth 8/10 for the way it goes, I still think WRIGHTBUS B7TL is the better overall package, but I can understand now why ADL shifted so many mk1 ENVIRO 400s