Recent content by Cesarcollie

Er…. Yes. That’s what I said in different words

But the £2 fare doesn’t ‘fund’ buses - it merely pays for passengers to have lower fares.

No, no classics were built as Euro VI. Actually - in my mind I have a recollection some were built for TfL services, who wanted Euro VI sooner - but I stand to be corrected! There was a cut off but I can’t remember what it was. Clearly not 2013 for buses though! But all slightly off topic -...

it’s not that simple. The ‘Classic’ E200 was produced as Euro V (5) from about 2010 and continued until about 2017 ( I think there were even a few registered with 18 plates). The E200 MMC was Euro VI (6) from new, and started production in about 2016. To complicate matters, some Euro 5 E200s...

That is my guess. I suspect the proposed solution used more resources, with a new higher price. But ECC would say of course that it would be unfair on other bidders to pay more money mid-term. The odd thing is that the contracts were due to finish at the end of July in any event. So the company...

But if I were an operator I wouldn’t annoy a major customer and loads of passengers. I’d carry on running and if the Traffic Commissioner or DVSA queried late running I’d simply show them copies of all the ongoing correspondence with the contracting authority……

Essex local bus contracts are fixed term. There is no facility for early withdrawal. The company have breached the contract. In addition- and I suspect this is the DVSA reference- there has been a huge amount of non-operation ongoing for months and months.

Central Connect - owned by Vectare sine September 2023 - have announced a number of Essex County Council contracts will cease from this weekend. Their version of events is on their website at Vectare.co.uk. The Essex County Council response is on TravelEssex.com. It appears many journeys have...

Volvo diesel decker is only available as a 12m tri-axle. Wrights May in theory offer a diesel Streetdeck but aren’t interested in quoting for it!

No. But you could specify a plain engine cover instead!

Are the cancellations Tranche 1 or 2 services? I’m not local enough to know!

Unfortunately it is unlikely that an order placed now could be delivered for the start of January 2025 - irrespective of manufacturer. And there isn’t a lot of secondhand available- a handful from Warringto, but most of their fleet is pretty old

Maybe. Or maybe not. But unfortunately the Mayor has been claiming for several years that these robbing private companies are useless and deregulation is c**p, and that everything will be better under public control. So he’s rather made a rod for his own back…….

Whilst manufacturers might like their name displayed, many operators take the view that the only brand that matters for the customer is their own (and/or route branding if applicable). Hence their specification will include the words ‘delete manufacturer badges’ (or similar). At the end of the...

I‘m not quite sure of the point you’re trying to make….? The £2 fare is voluntary and each operator is offered a fixed sum for the period ahead (seemingly from a random number generator). as a commercial business, each operator must decide whether the scheme works for them……