First Manchester

[BY37393]

RE: First Manchester

(12/12/2012 11:40)Polo Mint Wrote:  Saw a Citaro on the 180 yesterday afternoon.

How many Citaro's do Oldham have now? 9? How come Bury was getting rid of some? As far as I'm aware the 93, 94, 98, 469, 472, 474 still use the Citaro. Did Bury have a lot spare?

Speaking of Bury I have seen quite a few Geminis on the 135 recently, theres usually an occasional one but now I see them often.

The official rule on the citaros that left Bury, told to me by a Bury driver, was that with Bury, only having a small operating budget, they are very expensive to repair, in addition Bury has a lot of Gemini B9s now due to the arrival of the enviros at Bolton and Oldham Depots, this summer. In addition oldham lost its darts, and they are supposed to be at Oldham first because it has a bigger operating budget, and of course to replace some darts. Bury have ended up with 30 odd geminis mostly from Bolton but 4 ex Oldham ones.


Geminis have been more frequently seen on the 135s due to the re starting of the bendi buses, they are acting as cover. However First Bury are reported to be swithching the 135s to B9s in February next year, and the 18 bendi's are going full time on 471S, as its said they are more efficent on the 471s than the 135S, again told to me by two drivers.


472/4 allocation is mixed consisting of B7s B9s and citaros. More B7s these days than ever same applies for 524,92,93,94 also