First Manchester

[M60lad]

RE: First Manchester
Not saying your lieing or anything but was it actually in service on 524 with passengers on, you would actually be surprised how many services could get away with having a bendy allocated but thinking about the layout of Radcliffe Bus Stands this is the only part of the route that would actually struggle with a bendy

[VolvoB10M]

RE: First Manchester

(23/12/2014 07:29)M60lad Wrote:  Not saying your lieing or anything but was it actually in service on 524 with passengers on,

It did have passengers on it, I regret not getting on it because I would have had time to catch the last 273 back from Bolton.

(23/12/2014 07:29)M60lad Wrote:  you would actually be surprised how many services could get away with having a bendy

I thought bendys seemed more manoeuvrable than I originally expected when I first tried the NL202 bendy on OMSI. They could possibly do 472/4 if it wasn't for the corner at the top of Bridge st and Eliza st, in which case it would be possible to do the X35 with them.

[M60lad]

RE: First Manchester
You'll be surprised how manoverable a bendy actually is, I mean you only have to look how they get round the outbound route from Manchester-Cheetham Hill with the Metrolink works round Manchester and Victoria Station at the moment.

[37554BY]

RE: First Manchester
Spoke to a Bury Driver regarding bend on 524 in service, who said it would be highly unlikely as you need a days training before you can drive one, on any route, in other words if used on 524s there would be driver familiarisation as was the case with using them on 135s and 471s...

[VolvoB10M]

RE: First Manchester
I was very surprised to see it, I'm not sure why they used it. I would have presumed all drivers would be trained on them because their timetables interwork services, for example you could start on a morning school run then change to 471 for one trip, then 474, then 163, then 468 and then finish.

I 'm not sure how long these will be at Bury for but after my mate told me he'd (unusually) seen 32915 on the 471, I caught 32911 on the 472 this morning. (probably the first Dennis Trident to ever serve Ramsbottom).

Also, has anyone seen the driver dressed as Santa?

[M60lad]

RE: First Manchester
As far as I know 471 has only got one or two boards on it now that are booked bendy's with the rest booked B9 Geminis, as for the bendy on 524 without a full route assesment taking place I can't honestly see one being allocated to them

[wirralbus]

RE: First Manchester
With bendi buses its more case of training how to reverse one as it would be quite easy to jack-knife one .

[Bevan Price]

RE: First Manchester
In most bus companies, if there were disruptions or driver shortages, then any available bus & spare driver are liable to be used on almost any route - even if the driver is not a regular on that route.

[37554BY]

RE: First Manchester

(25/12/2014 21:33)Bevan Price Wrote:  In most bus companies, if there were disruptions or driver shortages, then any available bus & spare driver are liable to be used on almost any route - even if the driver is not a regular on that route.

Unless you are bendi trained driver shortage or not, a driver who isn't bendi trained for a full days training isn't going to drive one, as M60 says a full route assessment would have to take place, before using them on another route other than the 471s and 135s

[Bevan Price]

RE: First Manchester

(25/12/2014 22:19)37554BY Wrote:  Unless you are bendi trained driver shortage or not, a driver who isn't bendi trained for a full days training isn't going to drive one, as M60 says a full route assessment would have to take place, before using them on another route other than the 471s and 135s

Yes - but if the driver usually drove bendis on the 135 or 471, he/she could take a bendi on any other route for which they had been cleared.

(And we all know that some rules can get "quietly ignored" when there are "problems".)