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Heating on buses - Barney - 13/12/2015 12:10
Now that winter is upon us, I thought that I would return to the perennial problem of heating on buses. Over the past week or so, I have travelled on several Bootle-based buses, many of which have not had working saloon heaters. This morning, with the air temperature hovering just above freezing, I travelled on 4426 (the one advertising Zoe's Place) and, as on the previous occasion, the bus was cold, damp and smelly. I know this vehicle is due for a major overhaul soon, but even with the latest batch of 15 plate Enviro400s, it's a 50-50 bet as to whether or not the bus will have working heaters.
Free Wi-Fi is all well and good, but if Arriva is serious in trying to attract new customers, surely it must recognise that it has to ensure that its vehicles are warm and clean.
RE: Heating on buses - Barney - 13/12/2015 12:25
(13/12/2015 12:16)Dentonian Wrote: I would tend to agree with your sentiments, but shouldn't this be either under the ANW Bootle thread (if a particular gripe about their allocation) or Buses and their bits, as its an Manufacturer/Engineering topic?
Heating, or the lack of it, is I suspect something not particular to Arriva or Bootle-based vehicles. I started a new thread to ascertain how wide and big an issue this is. Personally, I would like to read comments on how Stagecoach, First and smaller independents rate on this matter.
RE: Heating on buses - MPTE1955 - 13/12/2015 12:35
I do agree the Bootle Enviro 400's heating is poor certainly on the 58/09 plates.
RE: Heating on buses - wirralbus - 13/12/2015 14:09
Is this becoming a bigger problem as more and more buses sit in the open at night and just cool off to the point that in the morning it will take ages on a cold day to get the bus warm with the doors opening and closing all the time .
Think of it this way , do car drivers open and close there doors as frequently as a bus ?
In recent years trains have started to come with a pre set close mechanism for closing doors once the doors have been open for any length of time this was as a way of keeping the heat into a vehicle at terminal end stations.
RE: Heating on buses - RedPanda - 13/12/2015 14:27
This morning there was a pulsar on the 320 I think it was one of the 59reg interurban buses and the heating wasn't great. On the Arriva 64 reg Enviro 400s theres a sensor that turns the heating on and off automatically. With many older buses such as the 58/09/59/10 reg pulsars, 58 reg Enviro 400's, most cadets, most commanders and darts its manually operated. Sometimes it might not be the heater to blame but the driver whos covered in fleece. As for the Geminis, Gemini 2 I'm not sure how they operate.
Stagecoach, First and smaller operators I don't know what they're like but I suppose the newer the bus, the more reliable it is in terms of working and getting turned on.
RE: Heating on buses - MPTE1955 - 13/12/2015 14:55
I'm sure I have seen somewhere that the driver does not influence the heating on Enviro 400's and that is taken care of by the bus itself.
RE: Heating on buses - Mayneway - 13/12/2015 15:00
(13/12/2015 12:16)Dentonian Wrote: I would tend to agree with your sentiments, but shouldn't this be either under the ANW Bootle thread (if a particular gripe about their allocation) or Buses and their bits, as its an Manufacturer/Engineering topic?
How can you say that when all you gripe on about is the lack of cushioning on bus seats (and I do agree with your gripe btw), and it's very much the same argument as the heating being on full whack in the summer!
RE: Heating on buses - Mayneway - 13/12/2015 16:44
(13/12/2015 15:39)Dentonian Wrote: Because it was a whole new topic. My comments are part of overall comments in the context of whatever is being discussed at the time. FTR, my "gripe" is because I have bone disease, and I believe plastic seats should be outlawed under DDA legislation.
Don't get me wrong I did state in my original post that it's a gripe I share with you, just like as a 6ft tall make myself, I struggle to sit on most of the seats to any degree of confort. Infact I've heard you refer to passengers who sit on the outside seat while the window seat remains empty - well I'm one of them who does that simply because I cannot sit comfortabley the way the seats are positioned.
It boils down to comfort. Given the fares the major companies are charging they obviously are aware of it because their rolling out wifi and usb plugs but I think most regular passengers would be happy with a cumfy seat and a warm bus in winter and a cool bus in summer.
The old argument about drivers having no control is an interesting one. I was on a stagecoach Manchester Enviro200 one winters night last year. It was absolutely freezing on the bus and halfway through the journey the driver pulled over, turned the engine off and told us all he was going to attempt to get blowers going to give us some heat and demist the windows. After about 5 miniutes messing in the engine compartment he started the engine and the blowers kicked into action. So it is possible.
RE: Heating on buses - RedPanda - 13/12/2015 16:59
(13/12/2015 16:44)Mayneway Wrote: Don't get me wrong I did state in my original post that it's a gripe I share with you, just like as a 6ft tall make myself, I struggle to sit on most of the seats to any degree of confort. Infact I've heard you refer to passengers who sit on the outside seat while the window seat remains empty - well I'm one of them who does that simply because I cannot sit comfortabley the way the seats are positioned.
It boils down to comfort. Given the fares the major companies are charging they obviously are aware of it because their rolling out wifi and usb plugs but I think most regular passengers would be happy with a cumfy seat and a warm bus in winter and a cool bus in summer.
The old argument about drivers having no control is an interesting one. I was on a stagecoach Manchester Enviro200 one winters night last year. It was absolutely freezing on the bus and halfway through the journey the driver pulled over, turned the engine off and told us all he was going to attempt to get blowers going to give us some heat and demist the windows. After about 5 miniutes messing in the engine compartment he started the engine and the blowers kicked into action. So it is possible.
I'd say the problem with this is drivers knowing that theres a unit that controls the heater in the engine compartment, knowing how to turn it on and finally the heater actually working
To be honest I thought the just worked like a car's heater by turning a switch whenever you want and bobs your uncle, well the driver's uncle
RE: Heating on buses - Mayneway - 13/12/2015 18:20
(13/12/2015 16:59)RedPanda Wrote: I'd say the problem with this is drivers knowing that theres a unit that controls the heater in the engine compartment, knowing how to turn it on and finally the heater actually working
To be honest I thought the just worked like a car's heater by turning a switch whenever you want and bobs your uncle, well the driver's uncle
As I understand it it depends on the bus and manufacturer.
I remember being told by a stagecoach driver once that in some cases the drivers cab has urs own blowers controlled from in the cab so while it's warm in the cab the rest of the bus is cold but drivers often don't list the fact the bus has no heating on the defect card so it gets overlooked.
I know the very early batch of Hybrid Enviro400's at stagecoach Manchester had major issues with the saloon heating and they ended up bringing in outside engineers to try and fix the issue.