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RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot - 33109 - 09/01/2018 21:47
(09/01/2018 19:14)childwallblues Wrote: Why are the Macclesfield deckers 4489/90/91 so unreliable?
From what I've been told by a few macc drivers it's bad maintenance that's caused some of the issues. Although why the hell are 7 year old buses having so many problems
4489 has got suspension issues as there's a loud knocking noise coming from the front right wheel plus I guess it's got either electrical or engine probs as it's been going into limp mode a lot lately. The most reliable deckers winsford have got are the ex southport volvo b7s & the couple of plaxton presidents they've got.
Until the issues with the geminis are sorted out permanently we'll get centros & pulsars covering on the 38. Pulsars have had to be borrowed off the 130 to cover the crewe duties so this week centro 2613 worked into manchester as has 2642. The strata minibuses really ain't liked by drivers & are struggling even on quiet routes to manage loadings.
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RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot - childwallblues - 09/01/2018 22:02
(09/01/2018 21:47)33109 Wrote: From what I've been told by a few macc drivers it's bad maintenance that's caused some of the issues. Although why the hell are 7 year old buses having so many problems
4489 has got suspension issues as there's a loud knocking noise coming from the front right wheel plus I guess it's got either electrical or engine probs as it's been going into limp mode a lot lately. The most reliable deckers winsford have got are the ex southport volvo b7s & the couple of plaxton presidents they've got.
Until the issues with the geminis are sorted out permanently we'll get centros & pulsars covering on the 38. Pulsars have had to be borrowed off the 130 to cover the crewe duties so this week centro 2613 worked into manchester as has 2642. The strata minibuses really ain't liked by drivers & are struggling even on quiet routes to manage loadings.
I guess that would be the answer. Perhaps they need to go to St Helens or Speke to get some proper maintenance.
RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot - motormayhem1 - 09/01/2018 22:15
Some of the st helens ones break down a lot and have the knocking on the offside front axle which could either be:
1.suspension bottoming out
2.shock absorber bushes worn
3.king pin worn
RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot - 33109 - 10/01/2018 07:53
MM - why the hell are they having issues though when their still relatively new at 7yr old? Personally myself when we got them they didn't even seem that good of a product then. I suspect the suspension problems could be all 3 of what you mentioned above, really isn't safe for 4489 to be on the road.
IMHO the enviro 400 deckers that stagecoach use are a much better bus all round. Also I'm curious if there's any drivers on here or anyone that knows a driver, which ticket machines are preferred????
I've got a mate who works for first manchester who'd argue that the almex machines they use are better. The wayfarer ones do seem to suffer a fair bit with paper jams etc, plus drivers have had issues signing on too with their smartcards. Personally I think having a removable module with a driver's details on is a lot simpler plus the almex machines generally seem quicker too.
RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot - 33109 - 10/01/2018 09:03
More trouble today! Pulsar 2930 is apparently down on power so the 07:40 off macc to manchester has had to be caped at handforth.
Driver said it's had a new fuel pump fitted but this hasn't cured the problem.
RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot - motormayhem1 - 10/01/2018 12:44
(10/01/2018 07:53)33109 Wrote: MM - why the hell are they having issues though when their still relatively new at 7yr old? Personally myself when we got them they didn't even seem that good of a product then. I suspect the suspension problems could be all 3 of what you mentioned above, really isn't safe for 4489 to be on the road.The problem is the 44** vdl gemini 's are normally great buses but just the odd few are unreliable.
IMHO the enviro 400 deckers that stagecoach use are a much better bus all round. Also I'm curious if there's any drivers on here or anyone that knows a driver, which ticket machines are preferred????
I've got a mate who works for first manchester who'd argue that the almex machines they use are better. The wayfarer ones do seem to suffer a fair bit with paper jams etc, plus drivers have had issues signing on too with their smartcards. Personally I think having a removable module with a driver's details on is a lot simpler plus the almex machines generally seem quicker too.
The wayfarers arriva use tend to freeze a lot and are really slow scanning passes where as the almex ones stagecoach use are much quicker.
RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot - 33109 - 10/01/2018 14:16
With ticket machines first use an almex optima BL which seems really fast at scanning passes & hardly jams at all. Plus you get a smaller (ish ticket)
Buy for me though from drivers I've spoken to they said you couldn't beat an old wayfarer 3 machine, simplicity & no fancy electronics like in the newer machines to screw up.
The 130 doesn't look to be improving anytime soon sadly. There's at least 2 lots of roadworks on route now.
RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot - LJ51DCX - 11/01/2018 18:54
(10/01/2018 09:03)33109 Wrote: More trouble today! Pulsar 2930 is apparently down on power so the 07:40 off macc to manchester has had to be caped at handforth.
Driver said it's had a new fuel pump fitted but this hasn't cured the problem.
I did 2930 last Friday from Macc to Wilmslow and it was storming on the out of town bit from Broken Cross to Alderley Edge.
Caught 2936 back to Macclesfield and it was smoking like hell! every time we pulled up it sent a plume of smoke out!! It seemed to struggle on the fast section too.
RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot - 33109 - 12/01/2018 06:59
2936 does seem to smoke a lot, can't be a good sign. They do struggle up the hill coming back from alderley edge to broken cross. Something to do with the engine management systems.
RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot - Metroline1511 - 13/01/2018 21:40
I currently have a Winsford & Wrexham trip planned a couple of weeks from now. I am bracing myself for several cancellations in the Winsford area at this rate.