Bus specification, interior and on-board features
Bus specification, interior and on-board features
(02 Feb 2016, 1:07 pm)Jimmi I'm guessing in the North East we went with quantity rather than quality in our Enviro 400's, especially as the ones for the 7 where they were purchased for additional capacity, so it probably wouldn't be best getting Enviro 400's that probably would be licensed to carry around the same number of passengers as the Pulsars they replaced, although the E400's would obviously have a higher seating capacity and lower standing capacity. Not sampled Stagecoach Gold yet but the seats seem the same as the Enviro 400 MMC demonstrator GNE trialled last year, which is what I think Arriva should have gone with for their MAX and Sapphire buses.
(02 Feb 2016, 2:54 pm)James101 I wonder if the extra weight is offset by there being less seats overall on the vehicle? I've not done a count but there was clearly less seats on the Gold spec e300s compared to standard Stagecoach.
The corridor these buses run on is served by 10 buses per hour and appeared to run as a 'walk-on' service Chester whereby as one bus departed the next pulled up out of layover to load. Although running less departures with higher capacity buses would be more economical, it could be argued that the combination of high spec interior plus ultra frequent Departures is more appealing to motorists opting to be first time bus users. Maybe this is the thinking behind this 'quality over quantity' and it may pay off in the long term
(02 Feb 2016, 1:07 pm)Jimmi I'm guessing in the North East we went with quantity rather than quality in our Enviro 400's, especially as the ones for the 7 where they were purchased for additional capacity, so it probably wouldn't be best getting Enviro 400's that probably would be licensed to carry around the same number of passengers as the Pulsars they replaced, although the E400's would obviously have a higher seating capacity and lower standing capacity. Not sampled Stagecoach Gold yet but the seats seem the same as the Enviro 400 MMC demonstrator GNE trialled last year, which is what I think Arriva should have gone with for their MAX and Sapphire buses.
(02 Feb 2016, 2:54 pm)James101 I wonder if the extra weight is offset by there being less seats overall on the vehicle? I've not done a count but there was clearly less seats on the Gold spec e300s compared to standard Stagecoach.
The corridor these buses run on is served by 10 buses per hour and appeared to run as a 'walk-on' service Chester whereby as one bus departed the next pulled up out of layover to load. Although running less departures with higher capacity buses would be more economical, it could be argued that the combination of high spec interior plus ultra frequent Departures is more appealing to motorists opting to be first time bus users. Maybe this is the thinking behind this 'quality over quantity' and it may pay off in the long term
