London to trial out a Tri-Axle (1 Viewer)

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Rhys

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Mar 20, 2016
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Feel like those seats are gonna get vandalised pretty quick. I hate that ceiling as well. It's similar to the Scania ones and they look bloody horrid.
I think those seats might actually be kept it tact, for a bit of time. The X68 is a commuter route, most of the passenger that'll use the X68 are people who are commuting from the suburbs of south London into the financial districts of the city. I very much doubt you'd have Timothy who works in investment banking tampering with USB Ports.
 

LT586

Was Living in the editor
Oct 25, 2016
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Its just a shame Britain has made these for all the years and TfL have yet to acknowledge, and I know it's not just about looks but these look 10x better.

KMB-ATENU803-2-big.jpg


KMB-ATENU803-5-big.jpg


KMB-E500NG-2-big.jpg


To be fair a lot of buses outside of London are a lot more interesting. I know these are designed specifically for the Far East but still, ADL, Wright and even Volgren made bodyworks for the B7TL, B9TL and the like. First are running E500s in Edinburgh so I don't know why London went with a Bendy Bus rather than these....
 

whistlehead

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I suspect the reason a BCI has been chosen for this initial trial is BCI's ability to adapt their vehicles to exact customer specifications even for small order numbers, which means for the purpose of this trial a vehicle of the exact intended spec could be ordered. Bigger manufacturers like ADL and Wright don't offer such a level of customisation in their vehicles unless you buy in significantly larger numbers, which is not much use for a small scale trial like this.

If this trial is successful I would imagine there will be London versions of the E500 and tri axle G3 made because the market for them will be there.
 

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Rhys

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The first pic you posted is down in Reading for the 702, I think. The second Tri-Axle is more of a coach, which most coach operators have across England

Was not to sure if it included Coach anyway. First picture can't be due to it being in service in Sunderland X24 route which has 3 of them 24001/2/3 brought from Scotland X55 route. Maybe its Hologram in Reading of same bus hehe.

Replacing Coach here is another, Vanhool Hydrogen I think its still in trial (I hope other UK bus companies get them) .
SDC10090.JPG
 

Blastella

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Oct 23, 2016
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What is a location?
It is definitely a good idea to explore the possibility of tri-axle buses, because having a go probably wouldn't hurt? :oops:

Coming from a city where there are more tri-axle buses than other ones, I have got a comment on the use of tri-axle buses.

Basically, the route needs to be relative longer to maximise the ability of a tri-axle double decker.

This is due to if the route is relative short (i.e. 15 mins), then people wouldn't bother to go upstairs.

Taking one of the routes at where I live as an example, it is basically a shuttle to a nearby underground station, a full single journey is only around 20 mins.

KMB currently uses either Enviro 500 (capacity: 124) or Enviro 500 MMC (capacity: 137) on the route, a sample photo is below:
41557062722_6195d79a8d_b.jpg

(a relatively old photo, but will do the job)

This issue happens on this route is most people would rather stand on the lower deck instead of sitting on the upper deck,
especially older people (because going on stairs isn't fun for them!).
You can see from the photo, there are many people standing on the lower deck but empty seats on the upper deck!

Even in rush hour, you can see the down deck packed with standing passengers but plenty of seats on the upper deck, so that's something bus companies will need to take note of when trying out tri-axle double deckers.

To be fair a lot of buses outside of London are a lot more interesting. I know these are designed specifically for the Far East but still, ADL, Wright and even Volgren made bodyworks for the B7TL, B9TL and the like. First are running E500s in Edinburgh so I don't know why London went with a Bendy Bus rather than these....

Just a note on that:

Firstly, I think the First Glasgow Enviro 500s have already moved to Aberdeen?

Secondly, Dublin also has a batch of tri-axle Volvo B9TL with Enviro 500 bodies, similar to what KMB bought in 2006.
 
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Lukeo

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Jun 4, 2016
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Aside from the bus being tri-axle, there's a few other things to note TfL are trialing out here. There are no poles/handrails, and whilst I think stop bells on the backs of seats is an interesting idea, I can already imagine how difficult it'll be trying to walk down the upper deck whilst the bus is moving/turning etc lol.

Basically, the route needs to be relative longer to maximise the ability of a tri-axle double decker.

This is due to if the route is relative short (i.e. 15 mins), then people wouldn't bother to go upstairs.

Taking one of the routes at where I live as an example, it is basically a shuttle to a nearby underground station, a full single journey is only around 20 mins.

This issue happens on this route is most people would rather stand on the lower deck instead of sitting on the upper deck,
especially older people (because going on stairs isn't fun for them!).
You can see from the photo, there are many people standing on the lower deck but empty seats on the upper deck!

Even in rush hour, you can see the down deck packed with standing passengers but plenty of seats on the upper deck, so that's something bus companies will need to take note of when trying out tri-axle double deckers.
I wouldn't say that point is specific to tri-axle buses, as the same can be said for any route gaining double decker buses. I'm sure any route that gains tri-axle buses, if any, will be routes which are already double decker. In contrast, my local route is very much a commuter route, taking only 15 minutes from the start of route to the town centre/bus station/tube station. It currently utilises single deckers every 10 mins off-peak, and every 3-7 mins during peak, but this autumn it'll be going fully double decker (at a reduced peak frequency). I think the problem you've pointed out here is what's inevitably going to happen with my local route, but we'll see!
 
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Apr 16, 2016
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First Glasgow used to run about 9 East Lancs Nordic bodied Volvo B7L Tri-Axle double deckers, but most of them were sold to BrightBus. As the BrightBus operation has closed, some are moving to TM Travel. Photo credit goes to awsnews.
View attachment 27860
Only 1 went to TM Travel
At least one has come to Notts and Derby and I belive there is a second being painted at the moment. (picture credit to Guy, Flickr)

 

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