Diamond Bus North West

[winston]

I see, Thanks for sharing that picture. It makes sense sending the Scania's to Preston as they have other various scania vehicles. I guess we will also be seeing lots of swaps in preparation for the Bolton take-over!

Not that many moves, only approx. 25 buses going in to Bolton from within Rotala / acquired. The First Manchester fleet on hire will be replaced by new Euro 6 buses over a two year period.
ex Tividale Volvo's 30851/2/5 & 60 are already in DBNW two tone livery & up North.
Redditch Volvo 30857 (ex Monopoly livery) is in two tone livery and vinyled up for DBNW as well, this had gone back to Redditch initially.

[willr7]

Not that many moves, only approx. 25 buses going in to Bolton from within Rotala / acquired. The First Manchester fleet on hire will be replaced by new Euro 6 buses over a two year period.
ex Tividale Volvo's 30851/2/5 & 60 are already in DBNW two tone livery & up North.
Redditch Volvo 30857 (ex Monopoly livery) is in two tone livery and vinyled up for DBNW as well, this had gone back to Redditch initially.

Thank you Winston.
So we know so far that of the approx. 25 buses, there will be 14 B7RLE's from Tividale/Redditch + 6 Streetlite's from Preston. Maybe Redditch's Signature Streetlite's (32307-10) will join Preston's StreetLites in the move to Bolton - this will make 24 in total.

First Bolton has an allocation of approx. 203 buses. However 28 are used on the Vantage network which is to be kept under First operation (presumably operation of this will be kept at Bolton - just ran by First)

From my calculations, this means DBNW will require 175 vehicles for operations at Bolton. With the 25 brought in from around the group - this means that they will have about 150 vehicles on hire from First.

[winston]

Thank you Winston.
So we know so far that of the approx. 25 buses, there will be 14 B7RLE's from Tividale/Redditch + 6 Streetlite's from Preston. Maybe Redditch's Signature Streetlite's (32307-10) will join Preston's StreetLites in the move to Bolton - this will make 24 in total.

First Bolton has an allocation of approx. 203 buses. However 28 are used on the Vantage network which is to be kept under First operation (presumably operation of this will be kept at Bolton - just ran by First)

From my calculations, this means DBNW will require 175 vehicles for operations at Bolton. With the 25 brought in from around the group - this means that they will have about 150 vehicles on hire from First.

Your numbers are a bit on the high side. The Bolton allocation on takeover day will be circa 160 buses. Bolton will loose both the Vantage allocation & the school bus allocation (contract expired)

125 buses are being hired from First Manchester (for up to two years)

Approx. 25 buses sourced from within Rotala which includes B9TL/Gemini 40625.

There's a possibility that 10 further used buses could be sourced externally, but not confirmed. So the 25 is still fluid at present. 

[willr7]

Your numbers are a bit on the high side. The Bolton allocation on takeover day will be circa 160 buses. Bolton will loose both the Vantage allocation & the school bus allocation (contract expired)

125 buses are being hired from First Manchester (for up to two years)

Approx. 25 buses sourced from within Rotala which includes B9TL/Gemini 40625.

There's a possibility that 10 further used buses could be sourced externally, but not confirmed. So the 25 is still fluid at present.

Thank you for the correction on the numbers - I was going off an allocation from before First Bus sold Queens Road to GNW so the allocation has most probably changed since then or there were excess vehicles at Bolton which were then transferred to Queens Road/Go-Ahead NW.

I can imagine 40625 being the odd one out as I'm sure that Rotala will probably go for low emission StreetDecks to replace the First double decks considering they tend to go for StreetLite's which would match the trend.

[winston]

Thank you for the correction on the numbers - I was going off an old allocation so it has obviously changed or here were excess vehicles allocated there until they were transferred to Queens Road/Go-Ahead NW.

I can imagine 40625 being the odd one out as I'm sure that Rotala will probably go for low emission StreetDecks to replace the First double decks considering they tend to go for StreetLite's which would match the trend.

The numbers quoted *shouldn't* change too much, but are not cast in stone. 40625 will be a bit of an odd ball, with 40626 remaining at Hallmark Connections.

Also, bare in mind DBNW Atherton depot is now been closed from the end of the August, with it's routes & allocation being split between Bolton & Eccles.

I understand a new bus order for Rotala Group may not now be too far off from being finalised / announced. As a side note, Preston Bus had a Wrightbus Streetdeck Micro hybrid demonstrator for a good few weeks which was used in service during March/April, so may well be correct.

[winston]

The 10 x single deckers mentioned 'potentially' being acquired externally for DBNW, Bolton in the Kidderminster thread (posts since moved here) can now be confirmed as 10 x 64 plate ex Yourbus Citaro's. The first two, BD64NBX & NCC are already in DBNW two tone blue base colours, they are being repainted by Yourbus, at their Heanor depot (pictures below) - should look really smart once fully vinyled up.

Fleet numbers to be confirmed.

Photos courtesy of Rotala.

[Dylanbusboy45]

The 10 x single deckers mentioned 'potentially' being acquired externally for DBNW, Bolton in the Kidderminster thread (posts since moved here) can now be confirmed as 10 x 64 plate ex Yourbus Citaro's. The first two, BD64NBX & NCC are already in DBNW two tone blue base colours, they are being repainted by Yourbus, at their Heanor depot (pictures below) - should look really smart once fully vinyled up.

Fleet numbers to be confirmed

Glad to see they've found a new home after being on the market for a while! A real upgrade for the Bolton fleet too to kick off Rotalas acquisition

[winston]

Glad to see they've found a new home after being on the market for a while! A real upgrade for the Bolton fleet too to kick off Rotalas acquisition

There's a few more Citaro's from elsewhere that have been for sale for sometime in the trade press. Not much demand for heavy weight full size singles. Even the 2013 WF & DF Streetlites Rotala returned off lease have remained unsold, same with the ex Yourbus ones at Plaxton Coach Sales.

[Tony]

There's a few more Citaro's from elsewhere that have been for sale for sometime in the trade press. Not much demand for heavy weight full size singles. Even the 2013 WF & DF Streetlites Rotala returned off lease have remained unsold, same with the ex Yourbus ones at Plaxton Coach Sales.

Most city operators want either Euro6 or cheap. Expensive Euro 5 will be difficult to move at the moment. Vehicle type will also make a difference depending on whether the trap fitting companies have developed kit for that vehicle type yet. If you ask for conversions on a type they haven't you will get walloped with a big development cost as well

[winston]

Most city operators want either Euro6 or cheap. Expensive Euro 5 will be difficult to move at the moment. Vehicle type will also make a difference depending on whether the trap fitting companies have developed kit for that vehicle type yet. If you ask for conversions on a type they haven't you will get walloped with a big development cost as well

The shift to everything Euro 6 is going to kill demand in the used market for the foreseeable, even B7RLE / Eclipse 2's don't seem to be selling for quick, Xelabus have had two 60 plates for sale for a while.

I thought Euro 5 to Euro 6 upgrades were more straightforward / cheaper than Euro 3 to 6 etc?

[pb2012]

There's a few more Citaro's from elsewhere that have been for sale for sometime in the trade press. Not much demand for heavy weight full size singles. Even the 2013 WF & DF Streetlites Rotala returned off lease have remained unsold, same with the ex Yourbus ones at Plaxton Coach Sales.

Aren't yourbus & diamond in someway connected through family brothers I think?????????

[winston]

Aren't yourbus & diamond in someway connected through family brothers I think?????????

Only connected as far as surnames & being brothers, not business connections with Rotala.

Scott Dunn still owns Yourbus, but he's lived in Australia for a good while & now has more Australian interests including building buses through Custom Coaches.

[winston]

40625 in double deck version of DBNW livery seen at Preston depot (sides logo's look much better!)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mjrprestonbus/48322890512

[BK63 YWP]

40625 in double deck version of DBNW livery seen at Preston depot (sides logo's look much better!)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mjrprestonbus/48322890512

This diamond livery suits double deckers

[winston]

This diamond livery suits double deckers

The new livery is leaps ahead of the previous all-over blue, it seems to suit most vehicles. Still fairly simple to apply, but effective.