(24 Jan 2023, 3:01 pm)Theboyle92 Had 8335 the other day no emissions light warm cab and fast bus completely agree with standards slipping i would rather take one of the x20 citaros parked up at the back of the depot than a streetlight anyday, just seems to be a make do bodge job repairs at deptford at the minute and thats if they bother to fix buses.


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(24 Jan 2023, 11:19 am)Jonathan93102 Hello - I can remember years ago that Houghton Cut hill onto the A690 being a nightmare for some buses. There were I think ex-London Dennis Dart buses on the X35 that were horrific, it was relief when you were on the level again. 

The Scania’s used to be quite good when they were younger. 

I don’t like the Streetlites, the rattles are horrific. I think the Drifters are the better ones, not many rattles on them and they have good heaters but the Prince Bishops vehicles are very bad for rattles. This is my bug with buses, rattles. I can remember Optare buses with the florescent light tubes being the culprit and it wouldn’t stop until it pulled away. Dennis buses with the hand rails and it seems to be the handle of the emergency door on the Streetlite. Also some of them have an engine sound with a terrible high pitch squeal. The Versa buses seem to suffer less with the rattles. 

You can tell Volvo make good vehicles because you don’t get any of these rattles from what I’ve noticed. 

Also I noticed a post earlier about the public ripping the leather on the headrests. It’s nice to have a full headrest but maybe it should be done in moquette, then if some idiot rips it, it’s probably easier to repair than the leather.

Thanks.

(24 Jan 2023, 6:11 pm)nova347 As a passenger, I would take the Citaros over any GNE single decker especially over an streetlite.

(24 Jan 2023, 6:48 pm)streetdeckfan As a passenger, Citaros are probably at the bottom of the list for GNE's single deckers for me. If the seats had padding to them, they'd probably be near the top!

Preferred single decker for me would probably be the E200s, as long as it's not a short journey as the seats are too soft.
Second choice would be one of the upgraded Streetlites, Third would be a Versa (they've grown on me), Fourth would be the Yutongs (they feel too cheap, and they feel top heavy), then the B7s. Those seats are not far off the Citaros in uncomfortableness

(24 Jan 2023, 6:48 pm)streetdeckfan As a passenger, Citaros are probably at the bottom of the list for GNE's single deckers for me. If the seats had padding to them, they'd probably be near the top!

Preferred single decker for me would probably be the E200s, as long as it's not a short journey as the seats are too soft.
Second choice would be one of the upgraded Streetlites, Third would be a Versa (they've grown on me), Fourth would be the Yutongs (they feel too cheap, and they feel top heavy), then the B7s. Those seats are not far off the Citaros in uncomfortableness

(24 Jan 2023, 4:26 pm)itsadam The backs of some of their buses are literally pitch black. Any idea why they don't wash their buses on a daily basis or why they get so dirty?

(25 Jan 2023, 6:41 pm)Unber43 It seems every East Durham Explorer is missing a lot of side panels down the side. 

Do the drivers just hit things on the route often?

(25 Jan 2023, 9:47 pm)ALavery I wouldn’t be surprised, some of the streets they have to go down look like killers, I’m surprised more 60s don’t get into accidents.

(25 Jan 2023, 10:06 pm)nova347 But now the 65 is on the rota for the newer drivers, compared to the 60s which have more senior drivers. I've been on the 65 a lot and the route is tight in a lot of places, not to mention especially before the 65 went back to hourly the timing were always tight. 

One common incident I hear about with the 65s is at Durham where drivers miscalculate the road, whether that's knocking their mirror off or when pulling into the stand they crash into a bus already parked.
Below are just a few incidents that I photos of which my friend had sent me, with no doubt many more occurred. I will say the 65s do get a lot of bricks/rocks thrown through their windows, not as much so lately but in the past, it has happened really often.

(25 Jan 2023, 10:12 pm)nova347 What are the procedures after a driver crashes? Like, let's say they go around a corner and hit a car as that 65 did in the post before what happens? Like is there a certain number of strikes needed before a driver has crashed too much and gets sacked?

(25 Jan 2023, 10:16 pm)streetdeckfan If the driver's at fault, then IMO it should be a zero tolerance policy. One at fault accident and you're out.

(25 Jan 2023, 10:16 pm)streetdeckfan If the driver's at fault, then IMO it should be a zero tolerance policy. One at fault accident and you're out.

(25 Jan 2023, 10:11 pm)streetdeckfan Not being funny, but if they're still miscalculating the road by the time they're out driving passengers, they should have their licenses revoked!

(25 Jan 2023, 10:16 pm)streetdeckfan If the driver's at fault, then IMO it should be a zero tolerance policy. One at fault accident and you're out.

(25 Jan 2023, 10:20 pm)Unber43 Can GNE really afford that atm tho?

Also shouldn't it depend on the severity, for example there was a bus scrapped the side of the bus station on the island scrapped it and broke a panel, or would it be just careless fast driving which caused the issue, what about badly parked cars and the buses are attempting to turn and hits the side of a car?

Would all of these just be dismissal?

(25 Jan 2023, 10:20 pm)Unber43 Can GNE really afford that atm tho?

Also shouldn't it depend on the severity, for example there was a bus scrapped the side of the bus station on the island scrapped it and broke a panel, or would it be just careless fast driving which caused the issue, what about badly parked cars and the buses are attempting to turn and hits the side of a car?

Would all of these just be dismissal?

(25 Jan 2023, 10:41 pm)nova347 But aren't all crashes miscalculations, humans arent  perfect. They might just pull into a stop a tiny bit too early hitting another bus mirror, unless its like completely reckless driving where they deserve their licenses revoked.

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Ive seen loads of drivers who have crashed and I've seen the a few days/weeks later.

(25 Jan 2023, 11:05 pm)streetdeckfan Can GNE really afford to have bad drivers? I can't imagine their insurance is happy with all these accidents.
Don't forget most insurance policies require that they are notified of any accident even if there's no claim being made. Failure to do so can result in their policy being cancelled.

If a driver is incapable of driving into a bus station, a place designed to fit large vehicles, without hitting anything, then they shouldn't be driving a vehicle that large.

A driver should be able to judge whether they can get around a badly parked car, if they can't then they shouldn't be driving a vehicle that large.

(25 Jan 2023, 9:47 pm)ALavery I wouldn’t be surprised, some of the streets they have to go down look like killers, I’m surprised more 60s don’t get into accidents.

(25 Jan 2023, 11:05 pm)streetdeckfan Can GNE really afford to have bad drivers? I can't imagine their insurance is happy with all these accidents.
Don't forget most insurance policies require that they are notified of any accident even if there's no claim being made. Failure to do so can result in their policy being cancelled.

If a driver is incapable of driving into a bus station, a place designed to fit large vehicles, without hitting anything, then they shouldn't be driving a vehicle that large.

A driver should be able to judge whether they can get around a badly parked car, if they can't then they shouldn't be driving a vehicle that large.

(26 Jan 2023, 1:11 pm)Chris 1 Most big companies will be self insured up to a point - certainly for panel damage and wing mirrors I imagine.

Think some of the posts here are a bit harsh - drivers are human at the end of the day and mistakes/misjudgements can and do happen.  Increased traffic, street furniture, the size of modern mirror arms, pressure off passengers, pressure off the company, fatigue etc will all take their toll.