Bus Talk (2 Viewers)

whistlehead

Alias Mr Hackenbacker
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Dec 10, 2015
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Seeing as you've compared a GNE StreetLite to the one you've filmed, I assume you were on an Arriva Durham County StreetLite? The maintenance at ADC is appalling, the ones we have North of the Tyne at Northumbria are maintained better, and perform a hell of a lot better than Durham's. Ours can get up a hill at more than 10mph too.

Go North East seem to have theirs set up for power too, whereas Arriva have set theirs up to be more eco-friendly.

You'd be absolutely right, and appalling they are too. They are totally unfit for the 22 and 24 where they spend most of their lives. Meanwhile, 99% of the SB200s have mismatched panels, the Solos smell of soot and the E200s try to rip your eardrums out.

The deckers seem to be generally better than the singles though, the ALX400 B7TLs on the X46 are a pleasure, the E400s are perfectly alright and the DB300s are... well, acceptable is probably the best word.

Best buses in the area are definitely the GNE '53 Scania L94s. Tired as anything but the gearboxes are amazing.
 
Jul 1, 2016
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You'd be absolutely right, and appalling they are too. They are totally unfit for the 22 and 24 where they spend most of their lives. Meanwhile, 99% of the SB200s have mismatched panels, the Solos smell of soot and the E200s try to rip your eardrums out.

The deckers seem to be generally better than the singles though, the ALX400 B7TLs on the X46 are a pleasure, the E400s are perfectly alright and the DB300s are... well, acceptable is probably the best word.

Best buses in the area are definitely the GNE '53 Scania L94s. Tired as anything but the gearboxes are amazing.

I had the displeasure of a 3 hour round trip on a 22 StreetLite to Sunderland and back to Durham, it was 1601, and both me and the driver were sick of it by the time we left Durham...


The Pulsars are hit and miss, to be honest, there's a few decent ones running, but quite a few limp and lifeless ones, same goes for the DB300s. The B7TLs were badly refurbished by Thorntons (seats falling apart, diabolical paintjobs) but they do the job well, again hit and miss. I had one on the X93 last year, and it struggled to leave Robin Hoods Bay, and almost stalled on the bank...

Northumbria and Durham County swapped an X18 E400 and an X12 DB300 recently for trials on the X12 and X18 respectively, so they may be looking at options to renewing the X12 fleet soon.

The '55 reg L94UBs at GNE are amazing too, recently cascaded from the Tynedalexpress, I believe they're residing at Chester-le-Street now. No struggles at high speed and rather comfortable.
 

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whistlehead

Alias Mr Hackenbacker
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Dec 10, 2015
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I had the displeasure of a 3 hour round trip on a 22 StreetLite to Sunderland and back to Durham, it was 1601, and both me and the driver were sick of it by the time we left Durham...


The Pulsars are hit and miss, to be honest, there's a few decent ones running, but quite a few limp and lifeless ones, same goes for the DB300s. The B7TLs were badly refurbished by Thorntons (seats falling apart, diabolical paintjobs) but they do the job well, again hit and miss. I had one on the X93 last year, and it struggled to leave Robin Hoods Bay, and almost stalled on the bank...

Northumbria and Durham County swapped an X18 E400 and an X12 DB300 recently for trials on the X12 and X18 respectively, so they may be looking at options to renewing the X12 fleet soon.

The '55 reg L94UBs at GNE are amazing too, recently cascaded from the Tynedalexpress, I believe they're residing at Chester-le-Street now. No struggles at high speed and rather comfortable.


I'm surprised to hear that about the B7TLs, in my experience they've been consistently the most comfortable and generally well-kept buses in the Arriva fleet. Still, they rarely stray onto the routes I frequent, so I guess I have a pretty limited sample size - must have been lucky a few times, or maybe I'm just biased because I prefer the type.

I've certainly noticed a few unusual allocations recently, I'd just put it down to there being a few vehicles off the road for one reason or another - I haven't really been keeping track of fleet updates. I know there was a set of Tempos regularly working the 56/57/57A for a while, but they seem to have reverted to the usual Solos and SB200s now
 
Jul 1, 2016
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I'm surprised to hear that about the B7TLs, in my experience they've been consistently the most comfortable and generally well-kept buses in the Arriva fleet. Still, they rarely stray onto the routes I frequent, so I guess I have a pretty limited sample size - must have been lucky a few times, or maybe I'm just biased because I prefer the type.

I've certainly noticed a few unusual allocations recently, I'd just put it down to there being a few vehicles off the road for one reason or another - I haven't really been keeping track of fleet updates. I know there was a set of Tempos regularly working the 56/57/57A for a while, but they seem to have reverted to the usual Solos and SB200s now

Tempos are currently at Thorntons, for refurbishment, and the plan is for them to return to Yorkshire.

The allocations are due to the significant timekeeping issues across their patch now meaning that buses have to be swapped so they leave on time, and also due to maintenance.

As for the B7TLs, the seat bases aren't attached properly and are rusted from what I've seen on a few of them.
 
New stagecoach Gold Anyone
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JoshYouWerLad

Top IRL Bus Driver
Sep 1, 2016
113
1
168
West Yorkshire
Really don't understand why people hate StreetDecks. I've been driving them on our main StreetDeck route Saturday and yesterday. I am fond of them. They're lovely buses to drive and are quick. Had no problems keeping to time today. Absolute pleasure to drive, don't really understand why people don't like them. Great buses much better than the Enviro 400.
 

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Really don't understand why people hate StreetDecks. I've been driving them on our main StreetDeck route Saturday and yesterday. I am fond of them. They're lovely buses to drive and are quick. Had no problems keeping to time today. Absolute pleasure to drive, don't really understand why people don't like them. Great buses much better than the Enviro 400.
You clearly are not driving at a very fast speed. Trust me trying to get them up to 50 is not an easy task and if you say they are quick then you are clearly not a bus driver

MOD EDIT: can we not hurl unprovoked insults at each other please
 
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JoshYouWerLad

Top IRL Bus Driver
Sep 1, 2016
113
1
168
West Yorkshire
You clearly are not driving at a very fast speed. Trust me trying to get them up to 50 is not an easy task and if you say they are quick then you are clearly not a bus driver
They perform well, quick buses. Slower at setting off but once above 10mph no different to anything else. Yeah a B9 is the best double decker in our fleet but the StreetDecks are a good modern bus. Don't really understand how I'm 'clearly not a bus driver' coming from the person with 'simulatorguy' in their username lol.
 
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Oct 30, 2016
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They perform well, quick buses. Slower at setting off but once above 10mph no different to anything else. Yeah a B9 is the best double decker in our fleet but the StreetDecks are a good modern bus. Don't really understand how I'm 'clearly not a bus driver' coming from the person with 'simulatorguy' in their username lol
Yeah they are quite good buses, they are very welcoming to the customer.
 

Blastella

Not very well-known member
Oct 23, 2016
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What is a location?
A slightly old international news: Hong Kong welcomes the first Streetdeck of the region! :D

Origin of the photos: Plaxtonl's Bus Page (the post is in Chinese - but the photos aren't! :cool: )
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The rear design of the bus is very different to Streetdecks in the UK - probably because of the air-conditioning.
Would be interesting to see its performance with maximum air-con in the summer :rolleyes:
 
Really don't understand why people hate StreetDecks. I've been driving them on our main StreetDeck route Saturday and yesterday. I am fond of them. They're lovely buses to drive and are quick. Had no problems keeping to time today. Absolute pleasure to drive, don't really understand why people don't like them. Great buses much better than the Enviro 400.

The reason why Streetdeck's are not liked as much as E400 MMC's is due to that Streetdecks are underpowered from their tiny 5 pot Mercedes Benz engine specially with a full load, plus hills they do not fair well. They really aren't quick! Drivers aren't a fan of them in Reading due to the breaks are awful where the retarder won't engage once to press the break pedal twice but I believe this has been resolved. Scania chassis with Wright Streetdeck body would be lovely.
 

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JoshYouWerLad

Top IRL Bus Driver
Sep 1, 2016
113
1
168
West Yorkshire
The reason why Streetdeck's are not liked as much as E400 MMC's is due to that Streetdecks are underpowered from their tiny 5 pot Mercedes Benz engine specially with a full load, plus hills they do not fair well. They really aren't quick! Drivers aren't a fan of them in Reading due to the breaks are awful where the retarder won't engage once to press the break pedal twice but I believe this has been resolved. Scania chassis with Wright Streetdeck body would be lovely.
Strange how ours are liked by drivers and including myself. I would rather have a StreetDeck than Enviro 400 as do many at our depot. I had a Enviro 400 after a StreetDeck last night and I only did one and half round trips with it before it got changed over for a B9 Gemini. I had one yesterday and it flew, real pleasure to drive. They are quick got what they are and a damn sight nicer than an Enviro. Our double decker fleet preference goes as follows B7 Gemini<B9 Gemini<StreetDeck<Enviro 400. Would also appreciate it if people who have never driven a bus before and are simply bus spotters who only like noise and not what the driver thinks.

Personally my only gripe with the StreetDecks are the brakes. But once you've been driving for a while you get used to them. They are indeed quick if you know how to drive them... Would invite any bus spotter who thinks otherwise to come on my bus as they easily get up to 40 in little time with fair loads.
 

LazyGuy222

Resident First Leicester Enthusiast
May 7, 2016
1,071
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1,030
Leicester
Strange how ours are liked by drivers and including myself. I would rather have a StreetDeck than Enviro 400 as do many at our depot. I had a Enviro 400 after a StreetDeck last night and I only did one and half round trips with it before it got changed over for a B9 Gemini. I had one yesterday and it flew, real pleasure to drive. They are quick got what they are and a damn sight nicer than an Enviro. Our double decker fleet preference goes as follows B7 Gemini<B9 Gemini<StreetDeck<Enviro 400. Would also appreciate it if people who have never driven a bus before and are simply bus spotters who only like noise and not what the driver thinks.

Personally my only gripe with the StreetDecks are the brakes. But once you've been driving for a while you get used to them. They are indeed quick if you know how to drive them... Would invite any bus spotter who thinks otherwise to come on my bus as they easily get up to 40 in little time with fair loads.
Then again First Leeds have the newest ones. For there older ones they must have done something to them as there suspension is quite frankly terrible. Compared to an E400, There terrible. The E400’s are much more comfortable as they have a a half decent suspension.
 

JoshYouWerLad

Top IRL Bus Driver
Sep 1, 2016
113
1
168
West Yorkshire
Then again First Leeds have the newest ones. For there older ones they must have done something to them as there suspension is quite frankly terrible. Compared to an E400, There terrible. The E400’s are much more comfortable as they have a a half decent suspension.
Other way round here. Enviros have awful suspension and very sharp retarder and the door interlock takes ages to come off
 

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