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GusB

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Please remember that when quoting external sources, you must provide the direct link to that source (not just the homepage address) and quote the relevant information.
 

MotCO

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An E400 with an Optare body? I'd suggest your source is incorrect. Do you have the direct link to the page that this information came from?

Not my photo - picture of Optare Olympus DOE37 LX58CYG taken recently on the Isle of Wight
 

Lynford1976

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Not my photo - picture of Optare Olympus DOE37 LX58CYG taken recently on the Isle of Wight

May be worth mentioning that this was initially an East Lancs design. There is commentary elsewhere which describes how it became an Optare-badged product.
 

MasterSpenny

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the middle of pointless protests

Not my photo - picture of Optare Olympus DOE37 LX58CYG taken recently on the Isle of Wight
I thought they were on a Trident chassis?
 

TheGrandWazoo

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I thought they were on a Trident chassis?
According to Bus Lists on the Web

Early e400s were listed as Tridents
WA56FUDAD Tt SFD45MBRA6GX34108AD 6411/1H39/32F
12/2006​
First Devon & Cornwall
33412​

So these Optare bodied vehicles are also listed as Tridents

LX58CWOAD Tt SFD16MBRA8GXE4907Oe C71002H43/21D
12/2008​
London General
DOE2​

E400s continued to be listed as Tridents

SN59AVUAD Tt SFD18SBRF9GXB5340AD 9412/3H41/26D
11/2009​
Travel London
9507​

However, the subsequently, they became e40D during 2011
SN61DFEAD E40D SFD1DSBRFBGXB6263AD B426/21H41/24D
11/2011​
London Central
E225​

Someone like @Jordan Adam may know but was the chassis reworked for Euro V and that meant the Trident ceased to exist c.2011
 

MotCO

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I thought they were on a Trident chassis?

The AD E400 come out in 2006 or thereabouts, and I think the early ones were described as Trident chassis. The Olympus pictured was from 2008, so maybe the designation was E400 by that time?

Returning home from loan at Wigan / Bolton.


An E400 chassis yes - albeit was still referred to as a Trident chassis for a time. Even Optare referred to it as a E400:
@WibbleWobble found this info as well which suggests they could be E400s

Edit: @TheGrandWazoo has provided more detailed info before I posted.
 

Jordan Adam

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According to Bus Lists on the Web

Early e400s were listed as Tridents
WA56FUDAD Tt SFD45MBRA6GX34108AD 6411/1H39/32F
12/2006​
First Devon & Cornwall
33412​


So these Optare bodied vehicles are also listed as Tridents

LX58CWOAD Tt SFD16MBRA8GXE4907Oe C71002H43/21D
12/2008​
London General
DOE2​


E400s continued to be listed as Tridents

SN59AVUAD Tt SFD18SBRF9GXB5340AD 9412/3H41/26D
11/2009​
Travel London
9507​


However, the subsequently, they became e40D during 2011
SN61DFEAD E40D SFD1DSBRFBGXB6263AD B426/21H41/24D
11/2011​
London Central
E225​


Someone like @Jordan Adam may know but was the chassis reworked for Euro V and that meant the Trident ceased to exist c.2011
The chassis was reworked around 2009 for Euro 5 at which point "Trident 2" was superseded by E40D. The Trident 2 and E40D can be distinguished by the radiator position. Its on the nearside on a Trident and on the offside on an E40D.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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The chassis was reworked around 2009 for Euro 5 at which point "Trident 2" was superseded by E40D. The Trident 2 and E40D can be distinguished by the radiator position. Its on the nearside on a Trident and on the offside on an E40D.
Thank you - in that case, it does hold true that the DOE vehicles with Go South Coast are indeed Tridents and not E40D
 

nw1

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Messages
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Anyone know the deal with display of working numbers from Bluestar Empress Road depot?

Since around May they seem to go through phases of appearing and not appearing. Since the September change they barely appear at all - though oddly, and by contrast, last Saturday (28th) the majority of Empress Road workings were displaying them, just for the one day it seems.

I also note that the seasonal street market in the city centre is causing road closures, thus impacting Bluestar arrival and departure points significantly - the first year this has happened since the takeover of First services. Presumably the workings/diagramming of services will remain the same? Are delays to be expected (for example, it looks like the 16 will need to turn around south of West Quay rather than just run in and out again without having to turn round)?

Finally, to add to the collection of "other" Go South Coast brands, I saw a Damory vehicle on the 20 the other day. I think that completes all the Go South coast brands!
 

Mwanesh

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Messages
795
The AD E400 come out in 2006 or thereabouts, and I think the early ones were described as Trident chassis. The Olympus pictured was from 2008, so maybe the designation was E400 by that time?


@WibbleWobble found this info as well which suggests they could be E400s

Edit: @TheGrandWazoo has provided more detailed info before I posted.
The E400 came in 2005
 

nw1

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Messages
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Noticed an apparent additional on the Bluestar 15 yesterday, leaving the city centre just before 1700.

It's not on the timetable, and presumably wasn't the late-running 1620, as another 15 had departed around 1620.

It picked up one passenger at the Vincents Walk stop.

Any ideas on what that was?
 

Marcus Fryer

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27 Dec 2014
Messages
736
Noticed an apparent additional on the Bluestar 15 yesterday, leaving the city centre just before 1700.

It's not on the timetable, and presumably wasn't the late-running 1620, as another 15 had departed around 1620.

It picked up one passenger at the Vincents Walk stop.

Any ideas on what that was?
Looking at bus times.org, it may have been the incoming bus off the 14 (270 - HF69 CMZ), 17:20 to Hamble running 20 minutes early!
 
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pm2304877

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Roby
1713-40 have yet to appear on the Buslists UK website. They may have different criteria possibly due to the period number change in September (or March).
 

cnjb8

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Nottingham
1713-40 have yet to appear on the Buslists UK website. They may have different criteria possibly due to the period number change in September (or March).
They have to be suggested for an admin to add them to the site, it takes some time for new buses to be added
 

gka472l

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29 Apr 2016
Messages
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So it seems they have been registered locally?

In other news, buslistsontheweb.co.uk has reported a new batch of Enviro 400 MMCs:

1741 - HJ73NFN
1742 - HJ73NFO
1743 - HJ73NFP
1744 - HJ73NFR
1745 - HJ73NFT
1746 - HJ73NFU

These are for Southern Vectis, should be 1747 as well as there's 7 for there. Another 21 for More and a number for Bluestar also due, although I'd assume they would be in 2024....
 

Gloster

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Up the creek
1741 was on show in the centre of Newport today. Technically little changed from the 67 ones, but latest standard engine (Euro 6?) and cameras instead of rear-mirrors. Slightly lower capacity as the two seats immediately behind the front door have given way to a larger luggage platform, more padded seats and a different arrangement along the back row (both up and down). A new type of floor covering, presumably less likely to be slipped on. They are intended for the 1 to Cowes, so presumably that won’t be returning to the RedJet terminal for the foreseeable future.

EDIT: I didn’t go upstairs, but one of the news reports says that all the Stop buttons are in the back of the seats. This strikes me as daft: all too many chances that there will be lots of erroneous pushes of the button by umbrellas, bags, elbows, etc. They have also replaced the vertical handholds with smaller handles on the outside corner of the seats and I am dubious about this as well: plenty of opportunities to clout someone in the face or on the back of the head when seeking a handhold.
 
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OptareOlympus

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Dorset
They have also replaced the vertical handholds with smaller handles on the outside corner of the seats and I am dubious about this as well: plenty of opportunities to clout someone in the face or on the back of the head when seeking a handhold.
It's an attempt to reduce the noise levels from yet more ADL junk trying to rattle itself to bits. Doubt it will do any good though, the build quality on the latest morebus deliveries is beyond shocking.
 

baza585

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It's an attempt to reduce the noise levels from yet more ADL junk trying to rattle itself to bits. Doubt it will do any good though, the build quality on the latest morebus deliveries is beyond shocking.
Indeed it is. Were they built in Falkirk?
 

Towers

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Any idea if the latest deliveries have done away with the god awful design ‘feature’ of high backed cumfy seats upstairs on the front nearside and then a pair of padded boards over an equipment cupboard on the offside? Looks awful and really detracts from the value of posh seats.

A different rant; chaos again on the Bluestar 1 today owing to Winchester market and heavy traffic, with buses running in convoy. I observed a pair leaving Winchester one behind the other, the driver of the first bus declined to pick up at the M&S stop presumably expecting the bus behind to do the honours, however the bus behind had decided on impromptu diversion round the block to cleverly frogleap the other while it picked up, which of course it didn’t. The result being a bus stop full of punters missed by two consecutive buses on an already heavily disrupted service. I’ve said before Bluestar desperately need to put a proper control system in place to regulate their services, just leaving drivers to make it up as they go along is the sort of practice expected of low rent cowboys, not major national opertors. These sort of operating practices have landed plenty of operators on the wrong end of the Traffic Commissioners’ boot over the years and rightly so, there really is no place for it out there today.
 

Gloster

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Up the creek
1741 was in use on the 1 (Newport-Cowes) at lunchtime today. At the front the fleet number is up by the destination screen and at the back it is up by the roof.
 

nw1

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9 Aug 2013
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Notice that the U8 seems to be consistently a Bluestar Enviro 200.

Presumably the loadings don't justify a double-decker (it seems quite well used, but a single-decker suffices), Unilink no longer have any single-deckers, so they "borrow" one from Bluestar (they share a depot, after all!)
 

nw1

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Messages
7,291
A different rant; chaos again on the Bluestar 1 today owing to Winchester market and heavy traffic, with buses running in convoy. I observed a pair leaving Winchester one behind the other, the driver of the first bus declined to pick up at the M&S stop presumably expecting the bus behind to do the honours, however the bus behind had decided on impromptu diversion round the block to cleverly frogleap the other while it picked up, which of course it didn’t. The result being a bus stop full of punters missed by two consecutive buses on an already heavily disrupted service. I’ve said before Bluestar desperately need to put a proper control system in place to regulate their services, just leaving drivers to make it up as they go along is the sort of practice expected of low rent cowboys, not major national opertors. These sort of operating practices have landed plenty of operators on the wrong end of the Traffic Commissioners’ boot over the years and rightly so, there really is no place for it out there today.

More generally, the 1 seems to have been less reliable of late. I tend to find that bus reliability decreases markedly around the time the clocks change; perhaps something to do with higher incidence of disruptive weather, water on roads, etc? I've seen two or three "convoy" incidents of late.

I've noticed the 1650 and 1755 journeys ex-Southampton seem to be, IMX, particularly prone to delays and even cancellations, not sure if there is a specific reason for this. The 1755 almost invariably uses an older bus (not one of the branded E400s) so presumably comes off another route or the incoming 'short' from Asda - haven't checked bustimes yet. It was quite reliable until around late Oct but reliability has worsened this month.

On another matter, what was going on last Sat on the Totton side? There were large numbers of passengers waiting on the westbound stop outside West Quay and all the incoming Totton buses seemed to be heavily delayed around 1600, so nothing left that stop westwards for a good while and there were no Totton vehicles parked up between duties further south along the road as often happens. Things became less delayed around 1630 and quite a few buses came in relatively close to each other, all of which made rapid turnarounds and were queuing up to stop at West Quay. Football? Didn't see any football crowds leaving around 1600-1700 as they normally do, though, and the northern and eastern routes didn't seem so delayed.
 
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WibbleWobble

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Down south
More generally, the 1 seems to have been less reliable of late. I tend to find that bus reliability decreases markedly around the time the clocks change; perhaps something to do with higher incidence of disruptive weather, water on roads, etc? I've seen two or three "convoy" incidents of late.
Yes - my bus commutes have been hellish of late - traffic volumes also seem to go up at this time of year as more people are less willing to use alternative means of transport to get to and from work etc, as they don't want to walk or cycle in the cold, wet, dark conditions.

Although in my case, there has also been a spate of emergency roadworks which hasn't helped matters!

On another matter, what was going on last Sat on the Totton side? There were large numbers of passengers waiting on the westbound stop outside West Quay and all the incoming Totton buses seemed to be heavily delayed around 1600, so nothing left that stop westwards for a good while and there were no Totton vehicles parked up between duties further south along the road as often happens. Things became less delayed around 1630 and quite a few buses came in relatively close to each other, all of which made rapid turnarounds and were queuing up to stop at West Quay. Football? Didn't see any football crowds leaving around 1600-1700 as they normally do, though, and the northern and eastern routes didn't seem so delayed.
Southampton were playing at home, but they won so fans may have stayed at the stadium a bit longer to celebrate?

Traffic from the west can be bad at weekend, due to the volumes heading into town and parking at Ikea or Westquay (and it being the main route in from the motorway) - and that's before you have the football traffic! Bluestar were reporting widespread delays on X:
There are significant delays across #Bluestar and #Unilink services of up to 40 minutes late due to Football traffic in and around the city centre. To track your bus in real time please use our Bluestar app. Thank you for your patience
Having a football stadium right in the centre of a city is never a good idea! It also depends on if there were any cruises in, as that can also make things worse.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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Having a football stadium right in the centre of a city is never a good idea! It also depends on if there were any cruises in, as that can also make things worse.
It's fine in Newcastle. That's because it IS right in the centre of the city so it has all the benefits of bus and train (and Metro, to be fair). St Marys isn't so it's a bind to get to by public transport
 

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