Arriva to run on rubbish

[northwichcat]

Bus company Arriva has spent £2m on a fleet buses which will be powered by landfill-produced gas.

The investment will see the introduction of 21 gas engine buses after a successful trial of the technology in the North West this year.

The gas buses will enter service at the start of 2013.

Mike Cooper, managing director of Arriva UK Bus, said: "As one of the largest bus companies in the UK we are committed to leading the way when it comes to using technology to deliver solid benefits to our customers, the environment and our stakeholders.

"The buses have been specially designed for the UK market and, as they run on Bio-gas, provide a carbon neutral solution to the environmental challenges we face as a transport provider in the 21st century.

"The 21 new gas buses and our order of 153 hybrid vehicles is only one element of our strategy for improving our environmental impact.

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2012-10-31/arriva-buys-rubbish-fuelled-buses-after-north-west-trial/

I liked the sound of road vehicles running on cocoa waste better - although it might make the passengers hungry!

 

[MCW]

I thought arrivas buses were rubbish? LOL

 

[Jatos]

Indeed, so they are now becoming self powered?

 

[Eagle]

If you could convert them to use biofuels distilled from herbs and such then maybe they'd finally run on thyme.

 

[Jatos]

Ah, this would be a ground breaking achievement for Arriva, their trains running on time!

 

[MCW]

Indeed, so they are now becoming self powered?

very ecologically friendly that

If you could convert them to use biofuels distilled from herbs and such then maybe they'd finally run on thyme.

as long as its the right type of herb! if you live where I do its a different type of Herb :roll: the smell is disgusting hock: (yes they do smoke ON the Bus)

 

[Pyromaniac]

This would be the MAN Ecocity buses ordered as part of the 3rd round of Green Bus Funding for which I believe Arriva had the demonstrator for a point this year.

Anglian Bus are also taking some of the MAN Ecocity vehicles too in the coming weeks.

 

[Qwerty133]

I thought arrivas buses were rubbish? LOL

most of them especially them east lancs lowlanders which are tottaly worn out (including the refurbs) why dont they just buy leicester 150-200 new busses

 

[MCW]

most of them especially them east lancs lowlanders which are tottaly worn out (including the refurbs) why dont they just buy leicester 150-200 new busses

hey careful, I love those Lowlanders seriously they are the best thing going in the Leicester fleet, along with the VLW's!

 

[BuhSnarf]

They're not too bad... except downstairs is always cramped and drafty in winter.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[90019]

This would be the MAN Ecocity buses ordered as part of the 3rd round of Green Bus Funding for which I believe Arriva had the demonstrator for a point this year.

We had the Ecocity demonstrator for a few weeks earlier this year. Unfortunately I didn't get to drive it, but speaking to others who did, no one really liked it.

 

[MCR247]

We had an ecocity demonstrator for 10 weeks although I never rode on it. Are they any good?

 

[Pyromaniac]

why dont they just buy leicester 150-200 new busses

I dislike this attitude from people anywhere online (even my local rag newspaper etc) because people don't seem to know that new double deckers cost around £180,000 and new single deckers around £130,000 hock:

If you fancy purchasing 150-200 buses at that price go ahead!

 

[90019]

I dislike this attitude from people anywhere online (even my local rag newspaper etc) because people don't seem to know that new double deckers cost around £180,000 and new single deckers around £130,000 hock:

If you fancy purchasing 150-200 buses at that price go ahead!

The two prices I know are that our Volvo deckers are roughly £220,000 each, and the ADL hybrid deckers cost £350,000 each.
I don't know about the single decks, but I might ask at some point.

 

[northwichcat]

If you could convert them to use biofuels distilled from herbs and such then maybe they'd finally run on thyme.

If there's some free Thyme available Arriva might just do that, otherwise they can get some cheap Parsley.

(Don't worry the writer of that joke has just been executed.)

 

[Pyromaniac]

The two prices I know are that our Volvo deckers are roughly £220,000 each, and the ADL hybrid deckers cost £350,000 each.
I don't know about the single decks, but I might ask at some point.

I stand corrected. I was working on prices from around 4 years ago when I applied for a job with my local bus company .

 

[Ivo]

The recent-ish purchase of 12 Optare Versas in Southend cost £1.8M; on this evidence, 150 Versas would cost £22.5M (roughly equal to the amount spent by Brighton & Hove, one of the country's best operators, on that many deckers in the period 1999-2006)!

I stand corrected. I was working on prices from around 4 years ago when I applied for a job with my local bus company .

Please tell me that wasn't with...

 

[northwichcat]

The recent-ish purchase of 12 Optare Versas in Southend cost £1.8M; on this evidence, 150 Versas would cost £22.5M

Would Optare not offer a cheaper price per unit for a large order?

 

[Pyromaniac]

The recent-ish purchase of 12 Optare Versas in Southend cost £1.8M; on this evidence, 150 Versas would cost £22.5M (roughly equal to the amount spent by Brighton & Hove, one of the country's best operators, on that many deckers in the period 1999-2006)!

Please tell me that wasn't with...

Yep, works out to £150k each hock: . And yes, it was with "them" .

 

[Qwerty133]

I dislike this attitude from people anywhere online (even my local rag newspaper etc) because people don't seem to know that new double deckers cost around £180,000 and new single deckers around £130,000 hock:

If you fancy purchasing 150-200 buses at that price go ahead!

however if they hadn't neglected the fleet in first place by bad maintenance and no new buses this wouldn't be necessary. They are too complacent due to the only competition being Wirst and Centrebus whos buses are older and in a even worse condition. plus surely there must be a bulk buy discount.

 

[Ivo]

Would Optare not offer a cheaper price per unit for a large order?

It was part of a larger order though - something like 40-50 across Arriva as a whole, suggesting that £150K per vehicle was probably discounted anyway. Personally I'm just surprised that they saw fit to buy new buses for Southend in the first place...

...although if they had any sense they wouldn't have bought 12 for a route whose PVR is 12 (now 13)!

 

[Pyromaniac]

...although if they had any sense they wouldn't have bought 12 for a route whose PVR is 12 (now 13)!

At least they sourced another Versa when the put it up. No wait, at least they put it up to make reliability better!

Ironically the bus they sourced is much better despite being older. Has a 6 cylinder Cummins engine as opposed to the 4 cyclinder Mercedes engines in the others. However 4200 also doesn't have a moveable bandit screen.