14 August 2014

Tridents Trickle Back to Plymouth

First Devon has started to swap buses around with the TAVISTOCK E400's going to Cornwall and an assortment of older Tridents coming back in return. Nick caught 32802 operating on the 15. It does look quite smart tooWelcome back Mr T.
Nick Rice (cc)

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25 comments:

  1. New buses,newer buses,then surprise surprise older buses and even then the ones binned by Plymouth in the first place!!.

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    1. But at least the Kernow names have been removed for you. ;-)

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  2. Nevertheless, they'll carry the majority of customers between Plymouth and Tavistock. Whatever you say, the customers are voting with their feet.

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    1. Exactly and a pound cheaper too. First don't need new buses to win here

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    2. It will change, First has fairly new, nice E40D's and cheaper fares than Citybus. Now they have really old DD, but still the cheaper fares, Customers with little money will use First, people who want a nice bus(like myself) will use Citybus. Kind Regards James Hales

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    3. yh, when the bus breaks down they have to walk! lol

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  3. And with their wallets now that the National Go Ahead board have obviously said they want a return on their investment and have pushed Citybus into raising their prices!

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    1. Yes it certainly would seem that way...Go ahead have invested heavily in Citybus in the hope of pushing First out and this has not worked. They are clearly loosing money on their new routes whilst loosing customers to a much cheaper First in their traditional areas..if Go Ahead force prices up this could result in more customers lost to First, then what? Will First fancy their chances in Southway, Plympton etc now after success in Honicknowle and Efford?

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    2. How else is PCB going to contribute to the groupwide £100m profit target without some price increases???

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    3. It's higher than that now isn't it. Didn't they raise their promise to the city?

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    4. PCB invested in New buses, because Plymouth need them! First will probably be out soon, there almost about to exit Dartmouth, once the Tavistock routes fails, it will be a quick drop down to one corner of the City!

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  4. How come they're shifting buses all over the place? What's the purpose of moving the Enviro 400's to Cornwall?

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  5. Will all of the E400's be going to cornwall? I hope not :-( just when first was showing that they where winning on the Tavistock route the shove old busses on to it, not going to go down well.

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    1. all e400s are going to falmouth for a university contract. 4 have gone down already.

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  6. I don't think all of the E400 are going down to Cornwall, the boss of First Devon has said that he has promised the council that they would put the buses in the new Park and Ride livery (which isn't finished on the 08 Enviros) ready for a re-launch.

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    1. The three 08-plate ones are staying as they were part funded by the council who rightly got upset when First transferred them to Weston-super-Mare a couple of years ago. Believe that all 9 of the 12-plates are going, though.

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    2. The three 08 reg Enviros where not part of the 56 batch which went up to Weston-Super-Mare but they where on the old X9 route before operations where sold to stagecoach.

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    3. First never sold its operations in North Devon, The Dft referred it, so Stagecoach pulledout, a few months later First left leaving Stagecoach full control! The Old X9 Enviros did go to Weston-Super-Mare for a few months, before DCC ordered First to bring them back to Plymouth, where they then operated the X80(until its withdrawal) and the PR1/PR2 services!

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    4. I don't know why they have K803 ORL still in operation!! When they have Royales that they can trancefer up in replacement for the Enviros?

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    5. Then I'll tell you...
      The 9 E400s have been swapped directly with 9 Tridents, so there are no Royales free
      K803 ORL is modified for the Dartmouth ferry, and operates a college contract across it, which is why it is still used. In addition, this contract requires a high capacity vehicle, whereas the Royales have low seating capacities.

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    6. Simple - First don't sell buses on, so they run the life-expired ones until they die and/or they don't have the parts already in stock to repair them or it simply isn't cost effective to do so. Why scrap something that still works when it's fully depreciated and isn't costing them any money to keep going?

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  7. Anon 17:29. Change the record ??/ How long have First been about to leave Plymouth ?? Give the guy a chance he knows what he is doing ?? With Citybus price increases, First are not going to lose Tavistock route anytime soon, quite the reverese I would say.

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  8. Bums on seats. That is what it is ALL about. An older bus costs less to operate and the shareholders are more likely to get their expected return. Go Ahead and FIRST are identical in that respect and if a route doesnt make ENOUGH money, it WILL be axed....local circustances do not affect decisions made by head offices hundreds of miles away. In that respect, First can keep lower fares for longer, hence they are not gone yet as many predicted.

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    1. In the case of PCB financial decisions are made in Poole by GSC's finance director.
      If the decisions are not made there, they're made by Go Ahead centrally. Hence the £100m profit target for their UK bus operations.

      Be under no illusions, service reductions and swingeing fares increases will follow when a monopoly is gained.

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  9. I have spotted K803 ORL on 93 Dartmouth, 2 Mount Batten and 15 Roborough in the last few days

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