First Manchester

[37554BY]

RE: First Manchester

(28/04/2014 19:02)VolvoB10M Wrote:  64029 has a nice interior and doesn't rattle as much, a lot better than any of the others.

Still needs a refresh, recently commented on by a couple of Bury Drivers who said the same, 64029 is only 12 years old as opposed to the others pushing 14 years old. They are uncomfortable buggers and utter rattlers , my regular route the 510 gets me every day which is a pain, in more ways than one

[M60lad]

RE: First Manchester
While 510 regularly gets Citaroes I have actually seen the odd couple of B7s creeping onto the route as well recently and yes I do agree it would be nice if they had some sort of refresh but I doubt due to their age this will happen

Also I'm wondering whether once the new road from Trafford Centre to A57 Liverpool Road is finished whether any bus services will use this road, I can actually see 100s to Warrington being diverted this way cutting some time off the current journey times especially at rush hour

[YSV-205]

RE: First Manchester

(28/04/2014 18:10)37554BY Wrote:  [quote='SF07' pid='56128' dateline='1398706964']
B9 37442 from Oldham depot operating on the 41 between Manchester and West Didsbury

37442QS is a manchester depot bus and has been for more than 1 year. QS are doing 41s for the next 7 weeks

Does that mean the QS buses then go back to QS for the night rather than stay in Rusholme?
Is it just a few B9's for it or are there some B7's in the mix?
Why the next 7 weeks?

[37554BY]

RE: First Manchester

(29/04/2014 06:32)M60lad Wrote:  While 510 regularly gets Citaroes I have actually seen the odd couple of B7s creeping onto the route as well recently and yes I do agree it would be nice if they had some sort of refresh but I doubt due to their age this will happen

Also I'm wondering whether once the new road from Trafford Centre to A57 Liverpool Road is finished whether any bus services will use this road, I can actually see 100s to Warrington being diverted this way cutting some time off the current journey times especially at rush hour

Yeah on reflection I cannot see the citaros being refreshed at all, it is true B7s do creep on usually when citaros are not available. Which lately is quite a lot, they are forever hooked up to the back of a recovery truck. Today must have been the case as well, as 69566 was on the 510s, that's way to posh for the 510s, in comparison to the shed citaros

[37554BY]

RE: First Manchester

(29/04/2014 09:13)YSV-205 Wrote:  Does that mean the QS buses then go back to QS for the night rather than stay in Rusholme?
Is it just a few B9's for it or are there some B7's in the mix?
Why the next 7 weeks?

I expect so yes, as the 41s are QS drivers and Buses, could be any combination on the 41s at all. 7 weeks is what a driver from QS said.vi expect its only this length of time while the new 42s settle down, unless at some point the route is completely moved to Manchester Depot, we will have to see though

[SF07]

RE: First Manchester
I'm surprised that First didn't try splitting the 42 operations between Rusholme and Queen Road depots and then left the 41 to operate from Rusholme.

[Mayneway]

RE: First Manchester

(29/04/2014 18:30)SF07 Wrote:  I'm surprised that First didn't try splitting the 42 operations between Rusholme and Queen Road depots and then left the 41 to operate from Rusholme.

That's always an option long term although if you look at Stagecoach and even First to a degree, they seem to have moved away from depots sharing routes on a big scale.

[37554BY]

RE: First Manchester

(29/04/2014 18:39)Mayneway Wrote:  That's always an option long term although if you look at Stagecoach and even First to a degree, they seem to have moved away from depots sharing routes on a big scale.

A lot of the drivers it would have made far more sense to run the 42s out of Queens Road, the 41s are just for the first 7 weeks of operations due to transferring and bringing drivers into Rusholme to train them up.

[M60lad]

RE: First Manchester
Bury Depot's newer B7s were spread out over various routes yesterday instead of mostly on 472/474s, one was on a board that does 163s during the day and finishes off by doing a 162 Piccadilly-Norden in the eveninng peak, as 37554BY says there was also one on 510s which I was shocked to see.

Infact allocation at Bury yesterday was quite odd to say the least as there was at least 5 Gemini B9s parked up in the Depot when I went past yesterday afternoon about 13:10 so it looks like B9s could be favorable on Schools at the moment in place of the ALX400 B7s as a result of this there was a Citaro allocated to 471s and also a ALX400 allocated to one of the decker duties on 135

[YSV-205]

RE: First Manchester

(29/04/2014 19:01)37554BY Wrote:  A lot of the drivers it would have made far more sense to run the 42s out of Queens Road, the 41s are just for the first 7 weeks of operations due to transferring and bringing drivers into Rusholme to train them up.

I can see the sense in using QS now since the 42 has been extended. The 41's though for 7 weeks "due to transferring and bringing drivers into Rusholme to train them up".
Is it drivers wishing to transfer depots?
Or is it because the Rusholme depot is expected to greatly increase in size?
Or does it mean buses transferring to Rusholme needing additional drivers?