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Bus Manufacturer News & Discussion
- Thread starter Jordan Adam
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Jordan Adam
Established Member
Presumably Hydrogen powered and what First Aberdeen will be getting 10 of next year...
randyrippley
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It would appear that Arriva haven't taken a batch of Wright Streetdecks built to Sapphire specification with 7 now being advertised by Chartwell Bus Sales:
Chartwell Bus Sales Ltd
Chartwell Bus Sales Ltd 01403 756 804 / 07950 616 106, Founded in 2016 by Director Steve Swain who has over 30 years’ experience in the UK Bus and Coach industry. Chartwell offers a wide range of new and used buses and coaches, from 22 seats through to 80 + to suit all specifications and budgets.www.chartwellbussales.co.uk
The photo with that advert looks like one of Preston's new buses, its exactly the correct livery
Class465pacer
Member
Anyone know what depot/sapphire route they were meant to go to?It would appear that Arriva haven't taken a batch of Wright Streetdecks built to Sapphire specification with 7 now being advertised by Chartwell Bus Sales:
Chartwell Bus Sales Ltd
Chartwell Bus Sales Ltd 01403 756 804 / 07950 616 106, Founded in 2016 by Director Steve Swain who has over 30 years’ experience in the UK Bus and Coach industry. Chartwell offers a wide range of new and used buses and coaches, from 22 seats through to 80 + to suit all specifications and budgets.
NewcastleOne
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Arriva Yorkshire 110 (Wakefield)
Eyersey468
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I think the only Wright's Stagecoach have were inherited from Traction Group or on order at the point of the Tracky takeover
Robertj21a
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Surely, their open toppers are from Wright ?
Plus the Eclipses for Cambridge busway ,Streetlites for Wales & Sheffield & Gemini 3 hybrids for London (not sure if the Streetlites for Isle Of Arran was bought by Stagecoach or SPT)
It's not that Stagecoach doesn't have Wright stuff, its just they bought it so infrequently it's noteworthy when you do see it. Compared with First and Arriva, you don't bat an eyelid when you see Wright products in their colours as it's so normal.
LOL The Irony
On Moderation
Although it's now a lot less common than say 10 or 15 years ago.
Jordan Adam
Established Member
Other than West Yorkshire (or where vehicles have been externally funded) First are very much ADL buyers now, they haven't outright bought Wrights for any other opco for nearly 5 years now.
The current Stagecoach Group Wright count with previous owners in brackets;
13 B5LH/Gemini 3 Open Top (new)
5 B7TL/Gemini (Yorkshire Traction)
3 B9TL/Gemini (First Manchester)
4 B7TL/Gemini Open Top (First Chester & Wirral)
76 NB4L Borismasters (new, owned by TfL)
5 B7RLE/Eclipse Urban (Rapsons)
6 B7RLE/Eclipse Urban (Yorkshire Traction)
15 B7RLE/Eclipse 2 (new)
1 B7RLE/Eclipse Ubran (First Wigan)
20 B7RLE/Eclipse 2 (First Chester & Wirral)
18 B8RLE/Eclipse 2 (new)
2 B8RLE/Eclipse 3 (new)
8 Streetlite DF 10.8m (new, owned by SPT)
18 Streetlite MAX (new, green bus funding)
12 Streetlite WF 8.8m (new)
3 Streetlite WF 8.8m (D&E Coaches)
So just over 200 vehicles out of a total fleet size of around 7,000.
13 B5LH/Gemini 3 Open Top (new)
5 B7TL/Gemini (Yorkshire Traction)
3 B9TL/Gemini (First Manchester)
4 B7TL/Gemini Open Top (First Chester & Wirral)
76 NB4L Borismasters (new, owned by TfL)
5 B7RLE/Eclipse Urban (Rapsons)
6 B7RLE/Eclipse Urban (Yorkshire Traction)
15 B7RLE/Eclipse 2 (new)
1 B7RLE/Eclipse Ubran (First Wigan)
20 B7RLE/Eclipse 2 (First Chester & Wirral)
18 B8RLE/Eclipse 2 (new)
2 B8RLE/Eclipse 3 (new)
8 Streetlite DF 10.8m (new, owned by SPT)
18 Streetlite MAX (new, green bus funding)
12 Streetlite WF 8.8m (new)
3 Streetlite WF 8.8m (D&E Coaches)
So just over 200 vehicles out of a total fleet size of around 7,000.
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A very comprehensive list. Thank you for taking the time to compile it!
Are the Merthyr Streetlites included with this? Don't know how many there are?
Reinforces my point magnificently - thank you!
I'd be happy to say without checking that Stagecoach have historically ordered more from Optare - a fact that would be conversely untrue of First and Arriva.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
All three of those groups have received large number of Optare Solos for certain of their OpCos. Aside from that, it's a little more detailed.
- Arriva received some very late model Metroriders (though I think they were ordered by NE Bus or British Bus before Arriva was created). The did purchase some Spectras for Yorkshire but the main contribution has been a fairly substantial number of Versas in their Midlands and Southern Counties fleets.
- Stagecoach did get some Versas for Wales and northern Scotland IIRC but they never really moved away from B6LE/Darts/e200s or ALX300 B10BLE/MAN or various e300s for single deck needs.
- First have been more of an Optare fan, being an early adopter of the Solo. However, they did also buy new Excels but in limited numbers (GM and Leicester?) and IIRC, some Prismas were delivered (but were probably ordered by GRT). They did get a number of Versas for South Wales, plus some electric ones for York that are now being joined by Metrodeckers.
Without going through BusListsOnTheWeb, I'd suspect Arriva have traditionally ordered the most Optares of those three. When you look at firms that were purchased and subsequently joined their fold, I'd probably suspect Arriva also operated more on the grounds that both the former Proudmutual business (Northumbria & Kentish Bus) and especially North East Bus were both big fans of Optare.
All three did operate new Tempos, courtesy of the Welsh government.
Sorry I didn't quite qualify what I meant, that Stagecoach have ordered more Optare than they have Wright, and conversely Arriva and First have ordered more Wright than they have Optare.
Presume these are the 7 that were going to numbered 1560, 1561, 1563, 1566, 1567, 1570, 1571 in the Arriva Yorkshire number series.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
No worries - that makes sense now
Really, it's the Solo that underpins Optare and that's reflected in the orders with the historic big 3.
You're right that Stagecoach had their age old affinity with Alexander and ADL, in no way affected by any other ownership concerns
so once the ALX100 died, it really was Solos for their mini needs and not a huge amount else save a few Versas. As you say, Arriva and First did have a bit more of a dalliance with Optare (other than just Solos) but both did go for Wright in a big way with healthy numbers of Pulsars and Geminis for Arriva after healthy batches of Commanders and Cadets whilst First standardised on Geminis and Eclipses (plus a few Solars) for a good few years after big batches of Axcess and Renowns (plus B6 Crusaders along side the usual Darts).
Think the B10BLE Renown is perhaps one of the best machines of that last 30 years IMHO
Absolute tanks! The B10M of the low floor generation in that regard, I would offer?
Mikey C
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If anything, Arriva's closest affinity was with DAF/VDL, as didn't Cowie import DAF buses into the UK?
Arriva in London for example for a while mainly used the DB250LF chassis as it's low floor double decker instead of the Trident or B7TL, and also bought a number of SB120/Wright Cadets when everyone else was buying Dart SLFs. Nationally they favoured the SB200 single decker.
Arriva in London for example for a while mainly used the DB250LF chassis as it's low floor double decker instead of the Trident or B7TL, and also bought a number of SB120/Wright Cadets when everyone else was buying Dart SLFs. Nationally they favoured the SB200 single decker.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
They did indeed have the UK Daf dealership - now Arriva Bus & Coach at Gomersal near Cleckheaton.
I mentioned the SB200 on Commanders and Pulsars bodies (and they also took a good number of SB220LFs before that though with Plaxton and Ikarus bodies). Arriva did also take the Cadet (SB120) whereas First took the Crusader (Volvo B6LE) to mix things up a bit rather than just have Darts.
For DDs, they did indeed take Daf DB250 with a range of bodies (ELC, ALX, Wright) and the DB300 was taken in healthy numbers latterly with a specially chamfered low height design made by Wright. Arriva weren't adverse to a B7TL though and took quite a few and not just in London, but seem to recall some biggish batches for Yorkshire, Leicester, Medway and Liverpool, and think some of those (Leicester?) had Eclipse Gemini bodies. Arriva seemed less keen on Tridents but some early W reg ones are still grinding around Luton 20 years on!
Could we try not to veer too far off-topic and stick with discussing the current situation with UK manufacturers please?
As an end to the off-topicness...
Yes, the Merthyr Streetlites are included - they're the 12 8.8m WFs bought new for the Olympic Torch's tour of the UK.
Bristol LH
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There are only 10 in the batch - 43001-10.
Indeed - apologies, I've no idea where 12 came from!!
Bristol LH
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- 6 Aug 2017
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No need to apologise. The 10 are probably 10 too many. One (43009) has been off the road with a suspension fault for over a year.
The Government press release states Bamford, not Wrightbus, but they are receiving an undisclosed amount of funding to deliver a zero-emission single decker bus that can be powered by either electric batteries or a hydrogen fuel cell.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/49-million-uplift-drives-automotive-industry-towards-green-future