Bus Timetable Changes 3 September 2023

[RollingJ]

2 minutes ago, Irene Swaine said:

I don't think the buses First run are old. They seem clean and well presented inside. They are all low floor which is the main piece of legislation that stops older buses from running. I think it was the Equality Act 2010 that mandated low floor only buses in most scenarios. They don't need to buy new buses whilst the current ones are fine. The only exception would be a severe MOT failure that would be expensive in engineering costs. 

 

First are a national company. They may only make a small profit in Sheffield but added to all of the cities they operate around the country, it all adds up. They also run train services. I don't think the CEO needs to put his holiday home on the market just yet.

The vast majority of Firsts vehicles in their FSY fleet are 'old' compared to some other areas - they range from 2006 vehicles up to those from 2018, In other words, we have had no new vehicles for 5 years, and many of those in the fleet are cast-offs (sorry, cascades) from other areas who have received newer stock.

[Irene Swaine]

3 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

The vast majority of Firsts vehicles in their FSY fleet are 'old' compared to some other areas - they range from 2006 vehicles up to those from 2018, In other words, we have had no new vehicles for 5 years, and many of those in the fleet are cast-offs (sorry, cascades) from other areas who have received newer stock.

When you consider how much a new bus costs £180,000 as a rough figure (depending on size, specifications), they are intended to last a long time. A bus company can't keep spending £180,000 per bus x 40 odd every ten years. Things have to last and they are built to last.

[RollingJ]

Just now, Irene Swaine said:

When you consider how much a new bus costs £180,000 as a rough figure (depending on size, specifications), they are intended to last a long time. A bus company can't keep spending £180,000 per bus x 40 odd every ten years. Things have to last and they are built to last.

Those are cheap buses. The 'anticipated' life of a vehicle for major stage carriage work is around 15 years, although the odd ones last longer, or some go to less intensive users - see Wellglades movements from e.g, Notts&Derby to TM Travel.

They don't spend £180,000 x 40 every 10 years - the replacement is ongoing.

[Irene Swaine]

4 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

Those are cheap buses. The 'anticipated' life of a vehicle for major stage carriage work is around 15 years, although the odd ones last longer, or some go to less intensive users - see Wellglades movements from e.g, Notts&Derby to TM Travel.

They don't spend £180,000 x 40 every 10 years - the replacement is ongoing.

Some of TM Travel's buses must be nearly 20 years old. It wasn't that long ago some of their buses out to Bakewell had steps. If it ain't broke and all that. 

 

 

[RollingJ]

They have a few that are >18 years old, but most are from 2006 up to the nine ex-Lothian vehicles from  2011, and a quartet of Optare Versas from 2013. Not a 'young' fleet, but not that old, either.

[Guest busdriver1]

14 hours ago, Resident said:

Despite being a traffic commissioner for London there are long accusations regarding TfL going unchecked. 

Sadly many of their powers have ben delegated to TfL themselves who are abusing that fact to get away with many things

[Jeffrey Shaw]

On 26/08/2023 at 11:50, RollingJ said:

The vast majority of Firsts vehicles in their FSY fleet are 'old' compared to some other areas - they range from 2006 vehicles up to those from 2018, In other words, we have had no new vehicles for 5 years, and many of those in the fleet are cast-offs (sorry, cascades) from other areas who have received newer stock.

Not quite so. All buses now have to be Euro-compliant, which rules out older vehicles.

[RollingJ]

2 minutes ago, Jeffrey Shaw said:

Not quite so. All buses now have to be Euro-compliant, which rules out older vehicles.

Don't quite understand what you are getting at - all First Group vehicles are Euro-compliant, but not all of them are Euro6. I know what age the vehicles are as I have the current fleet-list and I can assure you the age range I quoted is correct.

 

as I said, some - a large number in the FSY fleet - are 'old' compared to other areas, but that is because South Yorkshire is a low-cost opco, and for accounting purposes, the rolling-stock in the area is low book value, therefore 'old'.

[Resident]

53 minutes ago, Jeffrey Shaw said:

Not quite so. All buses now have to be Euro-compliant, which rules out older vehicles.

Actually a good number of First's fleet didn't meet the Euro6 standards however it was far cheaper to have the emissions systems converted  than buy new buses. 

That said the conversions haven't gone smoothly by what I'm told, with a number of buses consistently going into limp mode because of the new emissions systems. 

[RollingJ]

2 minutes ago, Resident said:

Actually a good number of First's fleet didn't meet the Euro6 standards however it was far cheaper to have the emissions systems converted  than buy new buses. 

That said the conversions haven't gone smoothly by what I'm told, with a number of buses consistently going into limp mode because of the new emissions systems. 

As I understand it, some still don't meet Euro6 which is why there have been a number of re-allocations between OG-DO. Rotherham and Doncaster do not have Sheffield's CAZ zones, so the older vehicles that were hard to convert have been moved to DO for Rotherham/Doncaster use.