Brighton & Hove / Metrobus Discussion

[johncrossley]

Can't they use an alternative site for hydrogen filling? What about the old Southdown depot?

 

[MotCO]

Can't they use an alternative site for hydrogen filling? What about the old Southdown depot?

See post #107. Great minds etc!

The Copthorne site is small - Southdown operated around 24 buses. Metrobus have almost 100 hydrogen buses in place or on order. I don't think that they could all be housed there, but they could call in to be refuelled perhaps, either mid duty (without passengers!), or at the start or end of the day.

The Copthorne site does not appear to be close to a school or railway, but there is obviously a cost in relocating the kit from Crawley.

 

[busesrusuk]

See post #107. Great minds etc!

The Copthorne site is small - Southdown operated around 24 buses. Metrobus have almost 100 hydrogen buses in place or on order. I don't think that they could all be housed there, but they could call in to be refuelled perhaps, either mid duty (without passengers!), or at the start or end of the day.

The Copthorne site does not appear to be close to a school or railway, but there is obviously a cost in relocating the kit from Crawley.

Not to mention the added dead mileage, duty costs to enable drivers/engineers to get to what may be a remote site from their route and impact on overall duty lengths and efficiency....

 

[MotCO]

Not to mention the added dead mileage, duty costs to enable drivers/engineers to get to what may be a remote site from their route and impact on overall duty lengths and efficiency....

But buses terminating in East Grinstead already go past the Copthorne depot on their way to Crawley

 

[stadler]

Does anybody have any information on the rumoured new B&H route 1X?

Can i ask where you have heard that? Where is that rumour from? The current route 1 is a standard urban cross city route. An express version of that would not really make much sense at all.

 

[dontteleport]

Can i ask where you have heard that? Where is that rumour from? The current route 1 is a standard urban cross city route. An express version of that would not really make much sense at all.

I can't speak for OP but have been following these rumours. From what I know, a (well-known and trusted) former managing director of B&H recently alluded to the 6 new 400s in the new standard livery (738-744) being ordered ahead of the rollout of a new 'city route'. These buses are fitted with different interiors to the coasters too, but are still single-door and fully diesel powered.

This information was from his blog post, and an unknown individual in the comments below stated this would be a '1x'. So definitely not a reliable source for what the route will be, but a new route of some kind does look plausible.

 

[Edvid]

You're referring to Roger French, I take it.

38 new coasters for Brighton & Hove

Thursday 21st March 2024 Bus passengers travelling along the coast road between Brighton and Eastbourne are enjoying superb comfort from the brand new buses now entering service with Brighton &…

busandtrainuser.com

38 of the new [E400MMCs] are destined for the hugely popular and frequent route 12/12A/12X wearing an updated livery featuring the ‘coaster’ brand and the now familiar green and blue colour scheme with later deliveries to be deployed on ‘sister’ coaster route 14 between Newhaven, Peacehaven and Brighton. The remaining six buses of the order will be deployed on a new city service.

 

[dontteleport]

You're referring to Roger French, I take it.

Yes.

 

[Park47515]

Interestingly, there was a suggestion earlier in the year that the six e400 in the standard livery were for the 6, which was why they had single doors.

 

[MotCO]

Short Scania Omnicity 6633 is currently operating the 410 ex Southdown service in full Fastway livery. Is this the first time a true Metrobus vehicle has operated a Southdown route (as opposed to the buses such as the Geminis which have transferred to Copthorne)?

 

[Murray J]

Short Scania Omnicity 6633 is currently operating the 410 ex Southdown service in full Fastway livery. Is this the first time a true Metrobus vehicle has operated a Southdown route (as opposed to the buses such as the Geminis which have transferred to Copthorne)?

No it's happened quite a few times. There's also been multiple instances of Brighton & Hove liveried Omnidekkas running on routes, particularly the 410 I think.
Also the Geminis are at Crawley, not Copthorne.

 

[JonathanH]

Short Scania Omnicity 6633 is currently operating the 410 ex Southdown service in full Fastway livery. Is this the first time a true Metrobus vehicle has operated a Southdown route (as opposed to the buses such as the Geminis which have transferred to Copthorne)?

Seems to only be a substitute, as an available vehicle. The relevant 410 ran from Redhill about half an hour late for the 1735 departure, seemingly after LK55AEA was unavailable. However, that later managed to run the 1935 from Redhill. It was working 100s earlier in the day. I saw a Brighton & Hove Scania Omnidekka double decker on the 400 earlier in Redhill, but this was running on a spare ticket machine.

YN56FDP appears to be regularly working on Copthorne duties at present. SN12AAF had a day on the 409 today.

 

[MotCO]

Seems to only be a substitute, as an available vehicle. The relevant 410 ran from Redhill about half an hour late for the 1735 departure, seemingly after LK55AEA was unavailable. However, that later managed to run the 1935 from Redhill.

I actually saw the Omnicity in Oxted working on the 410 towards Redhill at around 19.10 on Saturday evening, with complete destination display. If the Dart LK55AEA was available for the 19.35 from Redhill, it looks as though the Scania ran one round trip.

How easy is it to reprogramme the destination displays, or do all Metrobus buses have a full set of Southdown displays?

 

[Murray J]

How easy is it to reprogramme the destination displays, or do all Metrobus buses have a full set of Southdown displays?

Yes they all have the Southdown blinds, and vice versa with Southdown buses on Metrobus routes (although that's never happened yet).