iBus fitted buses without displays?
 

I've noticed several types of buses which have had the 'business end'
of iBus fitted, and make the correct announcements (and have that
little blue and yellow sticker in the windscreen), but have no
interior LED displays - the long Darts on my local route 227 are one
example, and the Citaro artics on the 436 are another. I wonder
whether a) these types fall into the 'too difficult' category (though
some of each type *have* been fitted with displays), b) once the 'hard
bit' of the fitment is done, local garages are able to add the
displays at their own pace, or c) despite reports to the contrary,
iBus fitting is not quite as complete and trouble-free as stated?

iBus fitted buses without displays?
 

wrote...
I've noticed several types of buses which have had the 'business end'
of iBus fitted, and make the correct announcements (and have that
little blue and yellow sticker in the windscreen), but have no
interior LED displays - the long Darts on my local route 227 are one
example, and the Citaro artics on the 436 are another. I wonder
whether a) these types fall into the 'too difficult' category

Citaros are among the easiest to fit, apparently, and most of Arriva's were
among the early conversions. With the darts, it depends on the mdel, but
I've heard of no major issues.

More likely a parts problem, at a wild guess.
--

Andrew

"She plays the tuba.
It is the only instrument capable
of imitating a distress call."

iBus fitted buses without displays?
 

On 2009-02-22 10:45:50 +0000, said:

I've noticed several types of buses which have had the 'business end'
of iBus fitted, and make the correct announcements (and have that
little blue and yellow sticker in the windscreen), but have no
interior LED displays - the long Darts on my local route 227 are one
example, and the Citaro artics on the 436 are another.

I was wondering this myself lately on a 207 with announcements but no
displays - but was already a little thrown by the bus having Stagecoach
moquettes and floors, rather than the slightly plainer First variety.

- m

iBus fitted buses ... the 207
 

"martin" wrote ...
... but was already a little thrown by the bus having Stagecoach moquettes
and floors, rather than the slightly plainer First variety.

Interesting that under Boris "I hate Bendies / I love the Standard" Johnson,
there are more Bendies on the road now than there ever were under Ken "I
just want to keep London Moving" Livingstone.

When London General won the 453 from Stagecoach, they put on all new
bendies, and Stagecoach's old ones are seeping back to Arriva, First etc.,
to boost their services.
--

Andrew

"She plays the tuba.
It is the only instrument capable
of imitating a distress call."

iBus fitted buses ... the 207
 

"Andrew Heenan" wrote in
:

"martin" wrote ...
... but was already a little thrown by the bus having Stagecoach
moquettes and floors, rather than the slightly plainer First variety.

Interesting that under Boris "I hate Bendies / I love the Standard"
Johnson, there are more Bendies on the road now than there ever were
under Ken "I just want to keep London Moving" Livingstone.

When London General won the 453 from Stagecoach, they put on all new
bendies, and Stagecoach's old ones are seeping back to Arriva, First
etc., to boost their services.

Yeah, but that was a done deal already, right?

iBus fitted buses ... the 207
 

"James Farrar" wrote:
When London General won the 453 from Stagecoach, they put on all new
bendies, and Stagecoach's old ones are seeping back to Arriva, First
etc., to boost their services.
Yeah, but that was a done deal already, right?

Not at all; when Stagecoach (sorry, actually NOT stagecoach anymore, but
East London Group!) lost the contract, the expectation was that all the
Bendies would return to the lessor - almost immediately, a couple went to
their own route 25, and a couple (I think) to the 18 (First). Maybe a couple
to Arriva for the 29 (anyone know for sure?)

Then some got sent to the Olympic site for internal movement, the rest went
into store.

The latest additions were as recent as last month. I'm pretty sure than
none were agreed before the contact went to Go-Ahead, and three months ago,
the expectation was that no more would be used in London (barring fires,
accidents, etc)(!).
--

Andrew

"She plays the tuba.
It is the only instrument capable
of imitating a distress call."

iBus fitted buses ... the 207
 

Andrew Heenan wrote:


The latest additions were as recent as last month. I'm pretty sure than
none were agreed before the contact went to Go-Ahead, and three months ago,
the expectation was that no more would be used in London (barring fires,
accidents, etc)(!).

Where's this from? My running total from londonbusroutes shows PVR of
356 in December and 355 now, with one fewer on the 207.

Tom

iBus fitted buses ... the 207
 

"Tom Barry" wrote ...
The latest additions were as recent as last month. I'm pretty sure than
none were agreed before the contact went to Go-Ahead, and three months
ago, the expectation was that no more would be used in London (barring
fires, accidents, etc)(!).
Where's this from? My running total from londonbusroutes shows PVR of 356
in December and 355 now, with one fewer on the 207.

Buses, March 2009 - probably went to press round about 10th Feb.
--

Andrew

"She plays the tuba.
It is the only instrument capable
of imitating a distress call."

iBus fitted buses ... the 207
 

Andrew Heenan wrote:
"Tom Barry" wrote ...
The latest additions were as recent as last month. I'm pretty sure than
none were agreed before the contact went to Go-Ahead, and three months
ago, the expectation was that no more would be used in London (barring
fires, accidents, etc)(!).
Where's this from? My running total from londonbusroutes shows PVR of 356
in December and 355 now, with one fewer on the 207.

Buses, March 2009 - probably went to press round about 10th Feb.

Thanks. May have to buy a copy, although if I do so regularly in
addition to my usual railway periodicals my other half will probably leave.

Are there any numbers around it?

Tom

iBus fitted buses ... the 207
 

On Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:55:54 +0000, Paul Corfield
wrote:

Yes, CT Plus won that contract.

If I can correct that (as I know someone who works for ECT at quite a
high level who told me about their success on that contract), it was a
joint venture of ECT (Ealing) and HCT (CT Plus).

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

iBus fitted buses ... the 207
 

"Tom Barry" wrote ...
The latest additions were as recent as last month. I'm pretty sure
than none were agreed before the contact went to Go-Ahead, and three
months ago, the expectation was that no more would be used in London
(barring fires, accidents, etc)(!).
Where's this from? My running total from londonbusroutes shows PVR of
356 in December and 355 now, with one fewer on the 207.
Buses, March 2009 - probably went to press round about 10th Feb.
Thanks. May have to buy a copy, although if I do so regularly in addition
to my usual railway periodicals my other half will probably leave.

It was a throway line in the bit about tender results:

"Ironically, the number of artics in London has climbed to its highest
total, after Arriva London North and First London each took a former Selkent
one to meet increased scheduled requirements."

A

iBus fitted buses ... the 207
 

Andrew Heenan wrote:

"Ironically, the number of artics in London has climbed to its highest
total, after Arriva London North and First London each took a former
Selkent one to meet increased scheduled requirements."

Surely Boris has only suggested Bendies will be got rid of when Borismaster
is available, not before.

iBus fitted buses ... the 207
 

John Rowland wrote:


Surely Boris has only suggested Bendies will be got rid of when Borismaster
is available, not before.



Let's ask him, shall we? From Mayor's Question Time 16/07/2008:

Q: Given the considerable challenge of replacing 388 “bendy” buses with
540 new Routemaster Mark 2 buses before 2012, will you prioritise
withdrawing ‘bendies’ from routes involving narrow roads and sharp
turns? Can you itemise your objections to operating articulated buses on
long straight routes where there is high demand, such as the Old Kent
Road, the Mile End Road, and Uxbridge Road?

A: You seem to have misunderstood my commitment- articulated buses will
not be directly replaced with 21st Century Routemasters as the process
of phasing them out will not necessarily be coterminous with the
delivery of a new Routemaster. TfL is planning to replace articulated
buses with standard double deckers in line with my manifesto commitment
on a route-by-route basis as their contracts come to an end. This is the
most cost effective approach to replacing this vehicle type and avoids
amending existing contracts with the various operators, which would be a
costly exercise. It also ensures that appropriate options for
double-deck services can be designed and consulted on before
implementation, in the usual way.
This strategy will be revisited when the new design of bus becomes
available.

http://mqt.london.gov.uk/mqt/public/...on.do?id=22580

[this is of course before people pointed out that the 507 and 521 can't
be replaced by double deckers, so it's best seen as the earliest
post-election expression of a muddled policy]

My suggeted dateline says that the earliest possible bendy-to-RM
conversion would be the 207, but that's due in April 2012, bang in the
middle of the election campaign. I recall Paul saying earlier that
major changes aren't made during the campaign in case the incumbent
gains a political advantage by scheduling delivery of projects as part
of his re-election campaign. In any case, the 207 is a special case,
being the only bendy route entirely outside the central London area.
I'm not sure Boris put the whole thing in train for the benefit of the
inhabitants of Shepherd's Bush and Southall, but there you go, should
have looked into it more.

Given that, it's unlikely *any* routes will go from bendies to RMs in
Boris's first term, in fact it's far from clear that enough will be
available for more than a token service somewhere in the first months of
2012 - of course it might be that they create an entirely new route for
them. There'll be a substantial number of bendies running at the time
of the election, almost certainly more than the number of Routemasters
unless something amazing happens to their delivery schedule, like coming
into full production in the second half of 2011.

On which note, I notice Wrightbus are laying off staff. Doesn't sound
like the bus industry is gearing up to build the thing, frankly.
Survival mode seems likely - Boris might be best advised to put money*
into a larger hybrid order to keep people employed rather than twiddling
for three years waiting for his vanity project.

Tom

* the £3.5m extra premium paid for debendifying the first three bendy
routes, for instance.