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Go North East - Second-hand vehicle acquisitions

 
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Storx



4,621
10 Apr 2024, 9:34 pm #541
(10 Apr 2024, 9:30 pm)stagecoachbusdepot Seems sensible to opt for a leaner approach cutting out cosmetic steps that add time and cost to processes unneccessarily - arguably should never have been wasting time and money on that while cutting services etc ... but if only they were using the resource released as a result to address some of the more serious issues affecting the fleet, including vehicles looking in a shocking state (i.e. much worse than not just not having black window trims)

If they painted them in a fleet livery, then they would've never needed to be repainted in the first place.

Enviro's look terrible without the black imo, it's just cost cutting. The fact they're branding 13 year old junk, is embarrassing, especially considering these used to be London Bus red so they could've just done the blue and saved the messing about.

Even worse considering these are 5 years older than the buses on the same bus route 8 year ago.
Edited 10 Apr 2024, 9:37 pm by Storx.
Storx
10 Apr 2024, 9:34 pm #541

(10 Apr 2024, 9:30 pm)stagecoachbusdepot Seems sensible to opt for a leaner approach cutting out cosmetic steps that add time and cost to processes unneccessarily - arguably should never have been wasting time and money on that while cutting services etc ... but if only they were using the resource released as a result to address some of the more serious issues affecting the fleet, including vehicles looking in a shocking state (i.e. much worse than not just not having black window trims)

If they painted them in a fleet livery, then they would've never needed to be repainted in the first place.

Enviro's look terrible without the black imo, it's just cost cutting. The fact they're branding 13 year old junk, is embarrassing, especially considering these used to be London Bus red so they could've just done the blue and saved the messing about.

Even worse considering these are 5 years older than the buses on the same bus route 8 year ago.

Ambassador



1,862
10 Apr 2024, 9:40 pm #542
Is the Wright build so bad that 6 year old buses are dropping like flies?

The Hybrids were equally troublesome so why go back to Wright? It’s poor management. They’ve either followed the cheaper deal, ignored the engineer or the engineer and procurement team are incompetent
Ambassador
10 Apr 2024, 9:40 pm #542

Is the Wright build so bad that 6 year old buses are dropping like flies?

The Hybrids were equally troublesome so why go back to Wright? It’s poor management. They’ve either followed the cheaper deal, ignored the engineer or the engineer and procurement team are incompetent

Storx



4,621
10 Apr 2024, 10:05 pm #543
(10 Apr 2024, 9:40 pm)Ambassador Is the Wright build so bad that 6 year old buses are dropping like flies?

The Hybrids were equally troublesome so why go back to Wright? It’s poor management. They’ve either followed the cheaper deal, ignored the engineer or the engineer and procurement team are incompetent

Considering there's only 2 off the road at Washington, I want to place the bets that it's not a vehicle issue. Riverside is just a shambles in more than one way.
Edited 10 Apr 2024, 10:25 pm by Storx.
Storx
10 Apr 2024, 10:05 pm #543

(10 Apr 2024, 9:40 pm)Ambassador Is the Wright build so bad that 6 year old buses are dropping like flies?

The Hybrids were equally troublesome so why go back to Wright? It’s poor management. They’ve either followed the cheaper deal, ignored the engineer or the engineer and procurement team are incompetent

Considering there's only 2 off the road at Washington, I want to place the bets that it's not a vehicle issue. Riverside is just a shambles in more than one way.

ne14ne1



1,519
11 Apr 2024, 5:11 am #544
(10 Apr 2024, 9:30 pm)stagecoachbusdepot Seems sensible to opt for a leaner approach cutting out cosmetic steps that add time and cost to processes unneccessarily 

Yeah but they didn’t go Corporate, they’ve route branded them.  
Wink
ne14ne1
11 Apr 2024, 5:11 am #544

(10 Apr 2024, 9:30 pm)stagecoachbusdepot Seems sensible to opt for a leaner approach cutting out cosmetic steps that add time and cost to processes unneccessarily 

Yeah but they didn’t go Corporate, they’ve route branded them.  
Wink

Dan

Site Administrator

18,126
11 Apr 2024, 5:25 am #545
(10 Apr 2024, 9:40 pm)Ambassador Is the Wright build so bad that 6 year old buses are dropping like flies?

The Hybrids were equally troublesome so why go back to Wright? It’s poor management. They’ve either followed the cheaper deal, ignored the engineer or the engineer and procurement team are incompetent


Most of the issues with StreetDecks tended to be on the engine (Mercedes) side rather than the Wrightbus side.

I’ve mentioned before but there aren’t vast swathes of people behind the scenes, so your version of “engineering and procurement teams” is literally just one Engineering Director that has a personal preference, though this is changing in favour of a more centralised Go-Ahead model.

The previous Engineering Director favoured Wrightbus - not really due to cost but largely because of the availability of parts at the time (never recovered since they went into liquidation) - which is why GNE standardised upon a fleet of them.

The current Engineering Director (ex-Stagecoach) prefers ADL - but, to be honest and appreciating this isn’t a popular answer for the ADL fanboys on this forum, they are equally as poor for reliability (based on a % of those operated).

The most reliable buses I have experienced by far appear to be those built by Yutong, but a change in leadership at Go-Ahead means they will now be few and far between.


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Dan
11 Apr 2024, 5:25 am #545

(10 Apr 2024, 9:40 pm)Ambassador Is the Wright build so bad that 6 year old buses are dropping like flies?

The Hybrids were equally troublesome so why go back to Wright? It’s poor management. They’ve either followed the cheaper deal, ignored the engineer or the engineer and procurement team are incompetent


Most of the issues with StreetDecks tended to be on the engine (Mercedes) side rather than the Wrightbus side.

I’ve mentioned before but there aren’t vast swathes of people behind the scenes, so your version of “engineering and procurement teams” is literally just one Engineering Director that has a personal preference, though this is changing in favour of a more centralised Go-Ahead model.

The previous Engineering Director favoured Wrightbus - not really due to cost but largely because of the availability of parts at the time (never recovered since they went into liquidation) - which is why GNE standardised upon a fleet of them.

The current Engineering Director (ex-Stagecoach) prefers ADL - but, to be honest and appreciating this isn’t a popular answer for the ADL fanboys on this forum, they are equally as poor for reliability (based on a % of those operated).

The most reliable buses I have experienced by far appear to be those built by Yutong, but a change in leadership at Go-Ahead means they will now be few and far between.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

11 Apr 2024, 7:41 am #546
(11 Apr 2024, 5:25 am)Dan Most of the issues with StreetDecks tended to be on the engine (Mercedes) side rather than the Wrightbus side.

I’ve mentioned before but there aren’t vast swathes of people behind the scenes, so your version of “engineering and procurement teams” is literally just one Engineering Director that has a personal preference, though this is changing in favour of a more centralised Go-Ahead model.

The previous Engineering Director favoured Wrightbus - not really due to cost but largely because of the availability of parts at the time (never recovered since they went into liquidation) - which is why GNE standardised upon a fleet of them.

The current Engineering Director (ex-Stagecoach) prefers ADL - but, to be honest and appreciating this isn’t a popular answer for the ADL fanboys on this forum, they are equally as poor for reliability (based on a % of those operated).

The most reliable buses I have experienced by far appear to be those built by Yutong, but a change in leadership at Go-Ahead means they will now be few and far between.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is that not more to do with the inherent reliability advantages of an electric drivetrain rather than down to the particular manufacturer?
streetdeckfan
11 Apr 2024, 7:41 am #546

(11 Apr 2024, 5:25 am)Dan Most of the issues with StreetDecks tended to be on the engine (Mercedes) side rather than the Wrightbus side.

I’ve mentioned before but there aren’t vast swathes of people behind the scenes, so your version of “engineering and procurement teams” is literally just one Engineering Director that has a personal preference, though this is changing in favour of a more centralised Go-Ahead model.

The previous Engineering Director favoured Wrightbus - not really due to cost but largely because of the availability of parts at the time (never recovered since they went into liquidation) - which is why GNE standardised upon a fleet of them.

The current Engineering Director (ex-Stagecoach) prefers ADL - but, to be honest and appreciating this isn’t a popular answer for the ADL fanboys on this forum, they are equally as poor for reliability (based on a % of those operated).

The most reliable buses I have experienced by far appear to be those built by Yutong, but a change in leadership at Go-Ahead means they will now be few and far between.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is that not more to do with the inherent reliability advantages of an electric drivetrain rather than down to the particular manufacturer?

F114TML



909
11 Apr 2024, 8:25 am #547
(11 Apr 2024, 5:25 am)Dan The current Engineering Director (ex-Stagecoach) prefers ADL - but, to be honest and appreciating this isn’t a popular answer for the ADL fanboys on this forum, they are equally as poor for reliability (based on a % of those operated).

Also ADL are really expensive for what you get. Try finding a cheap second hand E200 that isn't absolutely f*cked.

As an example, just gone on coach & bus market. McGills want £45k for an E200. Or for an extra grand, you could buy;
B7TL ELC Myllenium
Optare Solo M850
Setra S416 GT-HD executive coach (ok that one's really cheap for what you get but still)
Ex-Dublin Volvo Olympian

Enviros simply aren't worth it. Now I'll admit the E200 is a 15 plate and the others are quite old, but even so, if you're a small operator I'd stay away from Enviros unless you can find a really cheap one, but should probably be prepared for the explosions bill.
F114TML
11 Apr 2024, 8:25 am #547

(11 Apr 2024, 5:25 am)Dan The current Engineering Director (ex-Stagecoach) prefers ADL - but, to be honest and appreciating this isn’t a popular answer for the ADL fanboys on this forum, they are equally as poor for reliability (based on a % of those operated).

Also ADL are really expensive for what you get. Try finding a cheap second hand E200 that isn't absolutely f*cked.

As an example, just gone on coach & bus market. McGills want £45k for an E200. Or for an extra grand, you could buy;
B7TL ELC Myllenium
Optare Solo M850
Setra S416 GT-HD executive coach (ok that one's really cheap for what you get but still)
Ex-Dublin Volvo Olympian

Enviros simply aren't worth it. Now I'll admit the E200 is a 15 plate and the others are quite old, but even so, if you're a small operator I'd stay away from Enviros unless you can find a really cheap one, but should probably be prepared for the explosions bill.

Dan

Site Administrator

18,126
11 Apr 2024, 10:07 am #548
(11 Apr 2024, 7:41 am)streetdeckfan Is that not more to do with the inherent reliability advantages of an electric drivetrain rather than down to the particular manufacturer?


Possibly, but also aftersales support with Pelican is brilliant.


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Dan
11 Apr 2024, 10:07 am #548

(11 Apr 2024, 7:41 am)streetdeckfan Is that not more to do with the inherent reliability advantages of an electric drivetrain rather than down to the particular manufacturer?


Possibly, but also aftersales support with Pelican is brilliant.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Unber43



3,566
11 Apr 2024, 10:27 am #549
Wonder what the Hydroliner and the Electroliner will be like for maintence etc, aswell the Evora they seem to be quite good
Unber43
11 Apr 2024, 10:27 am #549

Wonder what the Hydroliner and the Electroliner will be like for maintence etc, aswell the Evora they seem to be quite good

Storx



4,621
11 Apr 2024, 12:36 pm #550
(11 Apr 2024, 8:25 am)F114TML As an example, just gone on coach & bus market. McGills want £45k for an E200. Or for an extra grand, you could buy;
B7TL ELC Myllenium
Optare Solo M850
Setra S416 GT-HD executive coach (ok that one's really cheap for what you get but still)
Ex-Dublin Volvo Olympian

I'm not a fan of ADL, but you've picked some horrid buses there mind other than the coach since the Olympian is unusable due to DDA. 

Solo's are horrid little things and ELC's fall apart.
Storx
11 Apr 2024, 12:36 pm #550

(11 Apr 2024, 8:25 am)F114TML As an example, just gone on coach & bus market. McGills want £45k for an E200. Or for an extra grand, you could buy;
B7TL ELC Myllenium
Optare Solo M850
Setra S416 GT-HD executive coach (ok that one's really cheap for what you get but still)
Ex-Dublin Volvo Olympian

I'm not a fan of ADL, but you've picked some horrid buses there mind other than the coach since the Olympian is unusable due to DDA. 

Solo's are horrid little things and ELC's fall apart.

F114TML



909
11 Apr 2024, 1:35 pm #551
(11 Apr 2024, 12:36 pm)Storx I'm not a fan of ADL, but you've picked some horrid buses there mind other than the coach since the Olympian is unusable due to DDA. 

Solo's are horrid little things and ELC's fall apart.

In fairness there's not much on C&BW at the moment, although there'll be plenty other buses elsewhere. Point is you can get a lot for the price of an E200. Weardale have a double deck omnicity on there for 25k. Elsewhere I know there's tridents going for sub-15k. Even if they don't last as long, you'd still get much more use out of them. Olympian could still have use, for example as private hire.
Edited 11 Apr 2024, 1:37 pm by F114TML.
F114TML
11 Apr 2024, 1:35 pm #551

(11 Apr 2024, 12:36 pm)Storx I'm not a fan of ADL, but you've picked some horrid buses there mind other than the coach since the Olympian is unusable due to DDA. 

Solo's are horrid little things and ELC's fall apart.

In fairness there's not much on C&BW at the moment, although there'll be plenty other buses elsewhere. Point is you can get a lot for the price of an E200. Weardale have a double deck omnicity on there for 25k. Elsewhere I know there's tridents going for sub-15k. Even if they don't last as long, you'd still get much more use out of them. Olympian could still have use, for example as private hire.

Storx



4,621
11 Apr 2024, 4:22 pm #552
(11 Apr 2024, 1:35 pm)F114TML In fairness there's not much on C&BW at the moment, although there'll be plenty other buses elsewhere. Point is you can get a lot for the price of an E200. Weardale have a double deck omnicity on there for 25k. Elsewhere I know there's tridents going for sub-15k. Even if they don't last as long, you'd still get much more use out of them. Olympian could still have use, for example as private hire.

Aye I had a look, the prices seem a bit allover, guessing there must be demand for midibuses and lack of demand for Decker's. The DB300's from London seem a bargain in comparison to some of Versa's and things on there.

The Solo SR's are rather expensive aswell.
Storx
11 Apr 2024, 4:22 pm #552

(11 Apr 2024, 1:35 pm)F114TML In fairness there's not much on C&BW at the moment, although there'll be plenty other buses elsewhere. Point is you can get a lot for the price of an E200. Weardale have a double deck omnicity on there for 25k. Elsewhere I know there's tridents going for sub-15k. Even if they don't last as long, you'd still get much more use out of them. Olympian could still have use, for example as private hire.

Aye I had a look, the prices seem a bit allover, guessing there must be demand for midibuses and lack of demand for Decker's. The DB300's from London seem a bargain in comparison to some of Versa's and things on there.

The Solo SR's are rather expensive aswell.

busmanT



934
11 Apr 2024, 6:49 pm #553
(10 Apr 2024, 9:40 pm)Ambassador Is the Wright build so bad that 6 year old buses are dropping like flies?

The Hybrids were equally troublesome so why go back to Wright? It’s poor management. They’ve either followed the cheaper deal, ignored the engineer or the engineer and procurement team are incompetent

The problem with the hybrids was the Volvo chassis not the Wright body.
busmanT
11 Apr 2024, 6:49 pm #553

(10 Apr 2024, 9:40 pm)Ambassador Is the Wright build so bad that 6 year old buses are dropping like flies?

The Hybrids were equally troublesome so why go back to Wright? It’s poor management. They’ve either followed the cheaper deal, ignored the engineer or the engineer and procurement team are incompetent

The problem with the hybrids was the Volvo chassis not the Wright body.

Tiger5105



123
11 Apr 2024, 7:19 pm #554
Durham Diamond E400 6235 tonight. Looks like there's 3 or 4 at Consett now. 6232 is another.        

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Edited 11 Apr 2024, 7:20 pm by Tiger5105.
Tiger5105
11 Apr 2024, 7:19 pm #554

Durham Diamond E400 6235 tonight. Looks like there's 3 or 4 at Consett now. 6232 is another.        

Sent from my SM-G990B using Tapatalk

11 Apr 2024, 7:33 pm #555
(11 Apr 2024, 7:19 pm)Tiger5105 Durham Diamond E400 6235 tonight. Looks like there's 3 or 4 at Consett now. 6232 is another.

Sent from my SM-G990B using Tapatalk

Looks smart !
Edited 11 Apr 2024, 7:33 pm by Retro Nero.
Retro Nero
11 Apr 2024, 7:33 pm #555

(11 Apr 2024, 7:19 pm)Tiger5105 Durham Diamond E400 6235 tonight. Looks like there's 3 or 4 at Consett now. 6232 is another.

Sent from my SM-G990B using Tapatalk

Looks smart !

Ambassador



1,862
11 Apr 2024, 8:35 pm #556
Was this an in house design or one of Ray’s specials?

It does continue to surprise me that in a revenue driven cost cutting world that GNE don’t take the advertising cash, they’d be a tempting proposition for any ad sales agency and it might help fund a few newer buses or as importantly, keep a few of the back room team at head office in a job
Ambassador
11 Apr 2024, 8:35 pm #556

Was this an in house design or one of Ray’s specials?

It does continue to surprise me that in a revenue driven cost cutting world that GNE don’t take the advertising cash, they’d be a tempting proposition for any ad sales agency and it might help fund a few newer buses or as importantly, keep a few of the back room team at head office in a job

11 Apr 2024, 8:36 pm #557
Quite possibly they've made a smart move here and put the route branding and the slogans on advert boards allowing them to swap and change them if needed rather than having the peel of the letters off the paint work.
Rapidsnap
11 Apr 2024, 8:36 pm #557

Quite possibly they've made a smart move here and put the route branding and the slogans on advert boards allowing them to swap and change them if needed rather than having the peel of the letters off the paint work.

Dan

Site Administrator

18,126
11 Apr 2024, 9:44 pm #558
(11 Apr 2024, 8:36 pm)Rapidsnap Quite possibly they've made a smart move here and put the route branding and the slogans on advert boards allowing them to swap and change them if needed rather than having the peel of the letters off the paint work.


In the Martijn Gilbert era, Go North East moved towards fitting advertising frames to route branded buses with most of the branding contained within the frame itself. That way, when there was advertising income available, an advert would be displayed, and when there wasn’t, the company’s own product could be advertised instead.

This has been continued here, with vinyls inside the frame that will be covered in the event advertising is sold.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Dan
11 Apr 2024, 9:44 pm #558

(11 Apr 2024, 8:36 pm)Rapidsnap Quite possibly they've made a smart move here and put the route branding and the slogans on advert boards allowing them to swap and change them if needed rather than having the peel of the letters off the paint work.


In the Martijn Gilbert era, Go North East moved towards fitting advertising frames to route branded buses with most of the branding contained within the frame itself. That way, when there was advertising income available, an advert would be displayed, and when there wasn’t, the company’s own product could be advertised instead.

This has been continued here, with vinyls inside the frame that will be covered in the event advertising is sold.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jimmi



10,974
12 Apr 2024, 11:41 am #559
(08 Apr 2024, 7:37 pm)Unber43 All the ex-london buses ive been on are absolutely shocking.

https://x.com/liamhall24/status/1777410323437265331 confirms tthey will have USBs, I hope the Drifters get them when they get repainted later this year (hopefully in the same livery)

It will be intresting if the Durham Diamond Livery has changed
Not just any USB charging, USB-C charging ports!!! That's about exciting as things get.

Only other plus is separate wheelchair and buggy bays, which makes up a fair number of the complaints in the promo post on Facebook page concerning much of the current ex London stock.
Jimmi
12 Apr 2024, 11:41 am #559

(08 Apr 2024, 7:37 pm)Unber43 All the ex-london buses ive been on are absolutely shocking.

https://x.com/liamhall24/status/1777410323437265331 confirms tthey will have USBs, I hope the Drifters get them when they get repainted later this year (hopefully in the same livery)

It will be intresting if the Durham Diamond Livery has changed
Not just any USB charging, USB-C charging ports!!! That's about exciting as things get.

Only other plus is separate wheelchair and buggy bays, which makes up a fair number of the complaints in the promo post on Facebook page concerning much of the current ex London stock.

12 Apr 2024, 12:27 pm #560
(12 Apr 2024, 11:41 am)Jimmi Not just any USB charging, USB-C charging ports!!! That's about exciting as things get.

Only other plus is separate wheelchair and buggy bays, which makes up a fair number of the complaints in the promo post on Facebook page concerning much of the current ex London stock.

USB C ports are pretty essential these days, I struggled to find a USB A to C cable in the house the other day, pretty much everything is USB C now.

Doubt they've gone for USB PD ports though, would be nice if they had at least 20W ports to make them actually usable.
streetdeckfan
12 Apr 2024, 12:27 pm #560

(12 Apr 2024, 11:41 am)Jimmi Not just any USB charging, USB-C charging ports!!! That's about exciting as things get.

Only other plus is separate wheelchair and buggy bays, which makes up a fair number of the complaints in the promo post on Facebook page concerning much of the current ex London stock.

USB C ports are pretty essential these days, I struggled to find a USB A to C cable in the house the other day, pretty much everything is USB C now.

Doubt they've gone for USB PD ports though, would be nice if they had at least 20W ports to make them actually usable.

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