Cannock Garage

[Bob]

Apparently the 74/5 arent gonna be going to cannock hospital anymore according to drivers but theres nothin online or on buses. This is cannock tho lol

[Trident 4609]

Apparently the 74/5 arent gonna be going to cannock hospital anymore according to drivers but theres nothin online or on buses. This is cannock tho lol

And again another 74/5 branded bus off route on the 68

[Bob]

My mate just told me 3705/6/7 & the new pulsars will be the buses that replace all of the volvos eventually.  This means cannock will have an entire fleet of lightweight buses made up of sb120/sb200 and darts. Great. Given the current  MASSIVE reliability issues and thefact that apart from pulsars which will make up around a third of fleet once the new ones are in use, the rest of the buses will be utterly clapped out rubbish and old darts will be used on interurban services, expect the problems to get worse.

[arrivaaston]

I think cannock are trying to become a DAF Garage same as Arriva Telford with darts,the volvos are expensive to run and if the depot is making a loss then the volvos simply have to go, all I know is 3 of them are joining the training fleet the remaining 8 will be allocated elsewhere also been told 3708 will be joining cannock to do the 1's while the former route 1 buses go for repaint/refurb

[Bob]

Lol yea but the Volvos are probably the most dependable buses theyve got in service atm. The darts have almost all had it they werent built to last for years running anything more than former minibus routes. The newest ones they got at cannock is 11 yrs old! Itll just decline further there...

[arrivadays]

I wish Telford had the Volvos. They'd be much more suitable because they could replace the step-entry Scanias.

I know what you mean about the former minibus routes - nowadays in Telford, the former minibus routes (e.g. 65/6, 23/4/5, 77) are run by the large-size B6s and SB120s, in addition to 2374, while the Darts are run on the larger routes (e.g. 11/22, 33/55). It's not all the time, it's the odd occasion.

[andyallen4014]

Ive heard that Cannock have been allocated 3705 3706 3707 from thurmaston.  3705 has already arrived and is in cannocks yard

3706 is still at Thurmaston.

[Bob]

I think cannock are trying to become a DAF Garage same as Arriva Telford with darts,the volvos are expensive to run and if the depot is making a loss then the volvos simply have to go, all I know is 3 of them are joining the training fleet the remaining 8 will be allocated elsewhere also been told 3708 will be joining cannock to do the 1's while the former route 1 buses go for repaint/refurb

I dunno about making a loss, i wouldn't imagine it makes much money but doubt it makes a loss cos theyd probably be axing routes like they did with the X31 and previously the 62 and tried to axe the 68. But then again they keep persevering with the 19 and that must be the biggest dead duck goin lol

[arrivaaston]

The volvos are beginin to break down quite a fair bit though now, there older than darts and have been thrashed about all over the place and are as tired and knackered as the darts..... A few drivers tell me 3609 is the best volvo, I just can't stand the blooming things and be glad to see them gone

[Bob]

They dont break down nowhere near as the darts and dont sound nowhere bear as knackered as them or the route 1 buses. Most of em havent got the threadbare interiors that come with most darts either bu51 kwj/l/m/n sn53 esg/esott51 jjf s351 yog all have disgusting seats. Some sound more clapped out than others. V204 kda recently withdrawn actually had half decent seats cos it had a re trim at some point. All of the route 1 dafs are clapped out, at least a re trim will improve them. Dont know why theyre refurbing tired old buses for whats supposed to be a prominent trunk route though.  Youd think they might invest in some better buses given that its one of cannocks busiest routes.  I'll miss the volvos theyre the last half decent workhorses theyve got

[Bob]

3730 broken down in stafford at the rail station with a arriva stafford van behind it blicking both bus stands and a lot of annoyed looking passengers lol. Usual reliability standard then :-p

[Bob]

Anyone know where 3717/3718 are???

[staffsdave]

3717/8 still operating out of Telford

[staffsdave]

M-F 17:10 74A Cannock-Stafford and all Saturday 74A runs HAVE STOPPED RUNNING. 

[Trident 4609]

The volvos are beginin to break down quite a fair bit though now, there older than darts and have been thrashed about all over the place and are as tired and knackered as the darts..... A few drivers tell me 3609 is the best volvo, I just can't stand the blooming things and be glad to see them gone

Yes 3609 IMO is much better that the other ALX300 bodied B10BLE's. Remember the other week i had a ride of it on the 68 home from Wolverhampton-Wednesfield and it is a fast bus