Coach VS Minibus on local service?

[Martin1988]

Last year, the bus route I used to travel to college on was operated by a local company that had a mixture of coaches, double deckers and minibuses.

The morning journey has for the last 4 or 5 years mostly been operated by minibuses although during one academic year it got a coach and passenger numbers seemed to be higher, that year.

However, the afternoon journey has pretty much always had a minibus and
it was suggested to me on a number of occasions that the driver doing the return service in the afternoon had done other duties beforehand(eg private hire or another school's service) using a coach or double decker bus but was instructed to return to the depot(which was just up the road) and transfer to one of the minibuses before commencing this route. It was suggested that this helped to save on fuel. However, on a few occasions I encountered drivers who didn't approve of this and seemed to be questioning whether or not it would actually save fuel.

Does anyone have any idea, would swapping to a smaller capacity vehicle have been of greater economic benefit to the company or would it have made no difference what size vehicle had been used?

 

[ECML180]

Impossible to answer without measuring the MPG of the vehicles! The improvement in fuel economy would have to match the fuel burnt on the detour to the depot. Certainly where I work it's commonplace for spare drivers to return to the depot to do a bit of coach cleaning or paperwork or just to have a break in a decent place, so if he has time to kill between runs it makes sense for him to go to the depot.

 

[CatfordCat]

The running / fuel costs of a smaller vehicle will generally be less than a full size coach, but it's not a direct proportion to the number of seats, e.g. a 25 seater will generally cost more than half the cost of running a 50 seater, and more than 1/3 the cost of running a 75 seater double decker.

As ECML180 says, it depends on a lot of things, and there's a balance between the (possible) additional cost of the extra dead mileage.

Alternatively, if the company has an evening private hire with the full size coach, then it almost certainly makes sense to change vehicles.

 

[robertclark125]

Another thing to consider, in some cases, is that there may be some occasions when a bigger vehicle has to be used on the route, for a one off event. A recent fishing event at Anstruther saw Sunday workings on route 95 hwew in Fife worked by Double deckers instead of coaches.

 

[CatfordCat]

Or for that matter, it may be that the company scheduled a small vehicle, but if for any reason one isn't available that day, it will use a bigger vehicle instead.

There may be other routes where a small vehicle must be used (e.g. low bridge) hence those route/s get first priority on smaller vehicles.

 

[BrummyBoy]

Or for that matter, it may be that the company scheduled a small vehicle, but if for any reason one isn't available that day, it will use a bigger vehicle instead.

There may be other routes where a small vehicle must be used (e.g. low bridge) hence those route/s get first priority on smaller vehicles.

Maybe they used a mini-bus as it then went on to operate a local service

 

[Titfield]

Typically
Double deckers and full size single deckers 8 - 11 mpg.
Minibuses (e.g. Renault Master) 22 mpg

 

[Martin1988]

Thanks to those who have taken the time to respond.

I think in the mornings the minibus has mostly been used due to the fact the capacity is lower than on other services and given the fact that the
operator runs a number of other school services and is also a full time National Express contractor I would guess that there is more pressure put on their resources at this time of day.

At one point, the minibuses appeared to be unavailable in the morning and coaches got used instead. Normally a 35 seater van-hool coach with tables fitted but sometimes a regular 49/53 seater. I remember on one occasion the table seated coach wasn't available and a bus borrowed from another local operator was used instead as opposed to one of the company's own minibuses. On that particular day the company also had a number of its coaches on rail replacement standby.

It was suggested to me(at least for the last few years) that a smaller vehicle was what was required by the contract and what the college were subsidising. The company has also acquired more buses(including several smaller vehicles) over the last few years following its gain in National Express contracts than it had previously.

As well as the suggestion that a minibus was more economical on the afternoon journey , it also got suggested to me that the minibus was easier to manouevre around the narrower roads and it was suggested to me that by keeping the coaches back at the depot, they were available should they be required for something like rail replacement or NX cover although I'm not sure how accurate this was.

The only instances where a full size coach was used on the afternoon journey last year were on a couple of occasions where the company had just finished doing a private hire job for the college. In one instance the plan was for a minibus to be sent down from the depot but in the end it was considered easier to just use the coach.

There was also a point where the morning journey got worked by vehicles and drivers that were going onto National Express services afterwards and on a couple of occasions this resulted in brand new caetano levantes being used on the route. I understand a similar thing also happened on some of the other routes worked by the company. It got suggested to me that the company were eventually stopped from using National Express vehicles on local services although I'm not sure how accurate this was.