More Arriva London cascades?

[motormayhem1]

RE: More Arriva London cascades?

(16/03/2014 19:28)kuyoyo Wrote:  No, those 11 were always North East bound. 30 came out of London, 8 went to the Shires then 11 to both North East and North West, all done by Thornton's of Ashington.

All except one which was done in house at arriva st helens body/paint shop which is 4206 (VLW28) which looks to be done at a more higher standard than all the others.

[CX54 DKD (Moderator)]

RE: More Arriva London cascades?
One thing I do have to say I prefer from the external contractors over the work at St Helens, is the repainting of the poles to cream. Would've been good to see that as a standard feature of the P&P programme really but then, having said that, I don't know how time consuming/expensive of a job it is to do.

[MPTE1955]

RE: More Arriva London cascades?
From the ones I have seen the VLWs are refurbished to an amazing standard where I have heard some people think that they are new and not the age that they are. The are a huge step up from DLA's.

[Busser]

RE: More Arriva London cascades?

(16/03/2014 21:23)MPTE1955 Wrote:  From the ones I have seen the VLWs are refurbished to an amazing standard where I have heard some people think that they are new and not the age that they are. The are a huge step up from DLA's.

Which is why none of them should be allowed on to school services. Also if Arriva don't want double deckers on certain routes because of vandalism then why put quality double deckers on to schools.
Even if they are older vehicles they are probably some of the best double deckers in the north west fleet. DLA's should be permanent school buses as they have a nasty seating arrangement downstairs also an awkward staircase and are unreliable they should give them to the school kids not decent buses.

[CX54 DKD (Moderator)]

RE: More Arriva London cascades?
Just a point.. unless the pupils are destructive and causing damage to the vehicles, what entitles them to a 'nice' or 'decent' bus any less than passengers of another route? They're still fare paying customers. As long as the vehicles are utilised between school duties, where the higher capacity is obviously required as per contract agreements, then I don't see the issue.

As for DLAs being unreliable as means of justification for their allocation to school services, I hardly see that as right or fair; school pupils should be entitled to a reliable vehicle just as much as anyone else should.

[Busser]

RE: More Arriva London cascades?

(16/03/2014 22:26)CX54 DKD Wrote:  Just a point.. unless the pupils are destructive and causing damage to the vehicles, what entitles them to a 'nice' or 'decent' bus any less than passengers of another route? They're still fare paying customers. As long as the vehicles are utilised between school duties, where the higher capacity is obviously required as per contract agreements, then I don't see the issue.

As for DLAs being unreliable as means of justification for their allocation to school services, I hardly see that as right or fair; school pupils should be entitled to a reliable vehicle just as much as anyone else should.

OK so i might be a little too biased but in my opinion the commercial services where people pay a lot more and is used by all people not just school children should be the top priority when it comes to vehicles. Also a lot of passengers don't like seats that don't face forward so in my opinion they are better suited to school operation. And a lot of services get very busy at peak times however if the VLW's are assigned to school services then that means putting worse buses on those busy public routes, unless Arriva see sense of course and actually buy some new double deckers.

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: More Arriva London cascades?

(16/03/2014 22:39)Busser Wrote:  OK so i might be a little too biased but in my opinion the commercial services where people pay a lot more and is used by all people not just school children should be the top priority when it comes to vehicles. Also a lot of passengers don't like seats that don't face forward so in my opinion they are better suited to school operation. And a lot of services get very busy at peak times however if the VLW's are assigned to school services then that means putting worse buses on those busy public routes, unless Arriva see sense of course and actually buy some new double deckers.

You'd be surprised by how much a single run on a school service can make, Halton Transport are a great example of this and run many contracted and non-contracted services. Widnes isn't exactly the best example to use, but then again, the buses you are talking about are being used in similar towns of Southport, St Helens and Bolton. Halton genuinely pull buses off normal services including the 14B/17 and 62 to run college and school services, because quite simply, they're money makers!

Begger's can't be choosers, whether they like sideways and rear seats does not influence passenger useage of a bus service.

VLW's are used on school services where passenger useage is high, sticking a single decker bus for 70+ kids on a route that has 1 journey per day has a great impact than say a single decker on the 10A every 3 minutes.

[Busser]

RE: More Arriva London cascades?

(16/03/2014 23:09)Raawwwrrr! Wrote:  You'd be surprised by how much a single run on a school service can make, Halton Transport are a great example of this and run many contracted and non-contracted services. Widnes isn't exactly the best example to use, but then again, the buses you are talking about are being used in similar towns of Southport, St Helens and Bolton. Halton genuinely pull buses off normal services including the 14B/17 and 62 to run college and school services, because quite simply, they're money makers!

Begger's can't be choosers, whether they like sideways and rear seats does not influence passenger useage of a bus service.

VLW's are used on school services where passenger useage is high, sticking a single decker bus for 70+ kids on a route that has 1 journey per day has a great impact than say a single decker on the 10A every 3 minutes.

Well its annoying that they brought some of the VLW's to the north west to mostly use on school services rather than to help capacity on some of the busiest non school routes. Also i know that passenger usage won't simply go down as a lot of people have no alternative but you could at least make a better experience for them also there would be less complaints. Stagecoach seems to have the best record out of the big 3 when it comes down to satisfied customers. And i still think the DLA's should be school buses.

[CX54 DKD (Moderator)]

RE: More Arriva London cascades?
Raawwwrrr! sums the situation up well.

DLA's will soon, if they don't already, breach age restrictions on contracts for school services so that pretty much puts an end to it anyway; replacements needed to be found and the VLWs (or potentially the DLPs) fit the age bill well regardless of how good they are as a bus.

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: More Arriva London cascades?

(16/03/2014 23:18)Busser Wrote:  Well its annoying that they brought some of the VLW's to the north west to mostly use on school services rather than to help capacity on some of the busiest non school routes. Also i know that passenger usage won't simply go down as a lot of people have no alternative but you could at least make a better experience for them also there would be less complaints. Stagecoach seems to have the best record out of the big 3 when it comes down to satisfied customers. And i still think the DLA's should be school buses.

The reason they have been brought up here is to replace DLA's on school routes. Both TfGM and Merseytravel have a 15 year age limit their contracts including school services.

The other problem is that all buses are now becoming DDA compliant by 2017, and the DLA's have electric ramps from their london days, of which many quite simply don't work. Therefore If a wheelchair user wanted to get to say Carmel College on the 743, they wouldn't be able too. As much as I am a fan of DLA's and their err... "character", they aren't DDA compliant.

If you've read the Arriva facebook page, you'll see that people complain about literally anything such as a bus being 2 minutes late, to buses not stopping when they don't put their hand out, even if you did have a nice leather coach seated vehicle, someone would complain they slide off the seats or don't like the shade of leather.