Bus Shite

[Guest Hooli]

My mate was lucky enough to drive them, they were modern compared to the shite stagecoach run out of the worthing depot.

[Slappy]

Hooli, have Heritage always had that gopping fantastic Pink to purple livery? I always thought it was an expressive one man band type operation, until I stumbled across the yard on StreetView.

[Guest Hooli]

Hooli, have Heritage always had that gopping fantastic Pink to purple livery? I always thought it was an expressive one man band type operation, until I stumbled across the yard on StreetView.

 

As far as I know yup, it is rather fetching isn't? Don't forget the prancing my little pony in gold to really set it off.

[83C]

Whoever decided fitting a Voith gearbox in anything wants shooting. A distinct lack of cogs, and feck all torque

Fixed that for you.

 

At Tanat Valley we had some Neoplan N4016's - stonking 5-pot MAN engine with mega amounts of grunt and clag. However the gearbox was so dim-witted and slow that it made progress difficult and reversing uphill nearly impossible.

[Felly Magic]

The Voith 4 speed when fitted to Scania N113s isn't bad, especially when some daft bastard fits an uprated engine from a truck, downside is gallons to the mile and a ride that makes a Pacer on shitty track seem smooth. Boingy boingy

[Pillock]

Got on the Park and Ride and there's a little electric bus in place of the double decker.

 

Half a mile in to the journey there's a squealing noise and the driver gets on the radio for advice... Red light on dash.

 

Stops bus, opens and slams the emergency exit, noise stops, passengers applaud, carry on...

 

It may be a 16 plate bus but that sort of shit was happening in 1996 on my way to college on a Leyland National

[cobblers]

Which (70s/80s?) coach was it that used to flash the emergency door light over bumps cos the back end of the frame was rotten and the whole thing was flexing?

[Inspector Morose]

Plaxton supremes used to break their backs quite regularly due to frame rot. Then again so did most coaches of that era.

[83C]

The ECW B51 body was notorious for arse end problems, especially on Leopard and Tiger chassis. The chassis didn't extend far past the rear axle and the body frame wasn't strong enough to be self supporting. A good number got rebodied and more than a few had some fairly major surgery to strengthen the rear end.

 

The reason was that the B51 had been designed as a cheap coach body for the Bristol RE, which was rear-engined and had plenty of meat on the chassis to mount the body to. The chassis on the Leopard and Tiger stopped just after the rear axle to allow coach builders to create a large boot area, usually adding their own rear chassis section to support it. ECW didn't take account of this (although they certainly weren't alone in not providing sufficient strength) and there were more than a few stories of luggage strewn all over the road when the boot fell apart.

[davidfowler2000]

On the subject of Voith boxed Tridents...

 

Stagecoach Western 18332 SF55NNZ by David Walker, on Flickr

 

Those were bloody lovely. 225 horse and a 4 speed box. The 4 speed ones had a shorter 1st gear and I think top was an overdrive on these. Seeing as they would power their way to 65mph, we used the blue and white Tridents at Kilmarnock to deputise for coaches on motorway express work when someone booked wheelchair assistance as noone could be bothered to work the wheelchair lift on the B7 Profiles. Best thing to ever be said about the Tridents was

"Watch out when you're going down a bit of a hill. The retarder stops working at 70mph!"

[rml2345]

The arse falling out of ECW B51 coach bodies also happened to a batch of Leyland

Leopards bought by Greater Manchester some years previously. They were stregthened in house and no one thought to inform ECW at the time that a coach boot floor without much support doesn't work terribly well.

As for coaches with saggy bottoms, anything Willowbrook...

[83C]

They were exactly the ones I was referring to regarding the strengthening, I was 90% sure they were GM motors. Thanks for confirming it.

[Asimo]

How is vehicle condition / roadworthiness monitored or controlled for small coach / bus operators?

 

I have been hearing tales from teachers regarding the apparently dodgy state of some of the vehicles used for school excursions. Doesn't sound any different from when I was at school 40+ years ago when failiures and obvious decrepitude were common. Apart from every seat having a belt, has anything changed since the '70s?

 

Is it just a result of school hires always going to the cheapest?

[83C]

Class VI MoT test every 12 months, and each operator should have verifiable inspection records - vehicles should have a full inspection every 4-6 weeks in the operators workshops. Each vehicle should have a pre-use inspection done every day by the driver, who checks lights, tyres, bodywork, interior etc for defects, and records the inspection either in a daily check book or card, which is retained by the company for inspection by VOSA officials who can drop in at any time to inspect vehicles and paperwork. They can also pull a vehicle over at the side of the road for inspection.

 

Keeping vehicles in a condition that meets or exceeds the minimum standards laid down by VOSA is part of the terms of the Operators Licence issued by the Traffic Commisioner - the 'Green Disc' that all PSVs in revenue earning service have to carry.

 

That said, there are operators who do operate right on the limits of what is legal (and beyond it in some cases). Unfortunately they can get away with it for long periods as VOSA are not the quickest of organisations when it comes to enforcement beyond roadside checks.

[cms206]

... as 83C says above; we normally get one DVSA "walk in" visit per year; additionally our school contracts are subject to two unitary authority checks per year, plus spot checks at schools normally up to four times per year. We work on a 4-weekly internal inspection schedule which is more or less an MOT, which must be kept on file for over a year (either 18 or 24 months from memory), defect cards must be kept for a year as well and must be completed every morning along with a walkround check.

 

Additionally you have to comply with European Working Time AND EU Driver Hours standards as well; we operate 100% legit, but not everyone does.

 

I've attached an example 4-weekly check to show whats supposed to be done.

 

 

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[mrcitroen]

Every year, at around school trip time, the rozzers/ Vosa turn up at Blair Drummond Safari park. According to the press, they remove scores of vehicles there and then. Must be easy pickings for them.

 

I remember being on a school trip and obviously the handbrake did not work as when we reached our destination, a breezeblock was placed on the foot brake. That was a small local operator. Can't remember what chassis it was, but it had the engine between the door and driver so possible ford r series or Bedford.

 

In contrast, Alexander Midland had the contract for ferrying us to and from skool and their vehicles were spot on.

[cms206]

DVSA have been kicked out of Blair Drummond, something to do with them putting seven coaches off the road and the park being unable to close until enough coaches to take 350 kids away showed up.

 

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[mrcitroen]

I wondered how that would go. Can't see some of these operators having spare vehicles to bring home the screaming weans.

[Guest Hooli]

Defect sheets, yes I've heard of them. Had them when I worked at Stagecoach, although if you put down that a bus had no brakes all you got was the workshop manager shouting at you about it stops eventually. Don't recall ever doing them at the other place I worked.

 

The school buses I went to school on were a dodgy shite company, they had lots of the same coach in the fleet. Oddly enough you could tell which one was due an MOT because it had the working suspension fitted (the saggy corner used to move around the fleet regularly).

[cms206]

Oddly enough we had a local firm which had three MOT buses; a black Iveco 21-seater, a white Iveco 21-seater and a white 25-seater to cover a fleet of about 15. They got away with it until the 25-seater went for test with a 21-seater's plate on it.

 

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[83C]

Defect sheets, yes I've heard of them. Had them when I worked at Stagecoach, although if you put down that a bus had no brakes all you got was the workshop manager shouting at you about it stops eventually. Don't recall ever doing them at the other place I worked.

 

The school buses I went to school on were a dodgy shite company, they had lots of the same coach in the fleet. Oddly enough you could tell which one was due an MOT because it had the working suspension fitted (the saggy corner used to move around the fleet regularly).

The workshop manager at one Cornish operator stopped shouting at me when I waved the PSV test manual at him and pointed out exactly what VOSA would do with the vehicle for the defects listed.

[Guest Hooli]

The workshop manager at one Cornish operator stopped shouting at me when I waved the PSV test manual at him and pointed out exactly what VOSA would do with the vehicle for the defects listed.

 

I just told him to go out & drive 33011 in service, then swap to 33013 & notice how you missed the first half a dozen bus stops trying to get used to how it didn't stop. They were identical models & ages too.

 

Fuck knows why I remember their fleet numbers, it's 10 years since I did that job ffs.

[Felly Magic]

The worst vehicle I had for brake faults was Rider 5507, an Oilycan/Optare. Bloody thing used to cook it's front brakes, one day a driver brought it in and the yellow plastic markers for the wheel nuts had melted, I refused it, massive arguments with the traffic office, town inspector turned up, he said he would ride with me to a changeover point. first set of traffic lights I got to, footbrake went straight to the floor, inspector saw it as he was riding shotgun with the cab door open, I told him to hold on as I yanked on the parking brake. Bus was coasted to the next stop and dumped, and the inspector didn't stop swearing at the engineering manager on the phone. On my last day at one depot, it was boiling hot and I managed to cook the engine and box on a Scania, as it was my last run, I left it dumped where it died, and caught the next bus back to the yard. It was funny how some buses though from the same batch were utterly fucked, but some drove like a dream

[83C]

Despite the continual sense of impending doom we did occasionally have a laugh at the joke of a company I used to slave for. 

 

Deep water has always been a hazard in the south west, so with severe flooding of the coast road between Hayle and Portreath reported I marked up the vehicle with suitable indicators and carried on:

 

 

In similar circumstances I ventured forth from Newquay Bus Station towards Plymouth. This time I was more prepared so I ran up the red duster as my vessel was registered in Britain:

 

 

I bought a Honda Citysomething 125. I needed to transport it:

 

 

One Vario had a partial screen failure. Given the absolutely atrocious levels of service at the time, the remaining message was felt to be quite appropriate:

 

[Felly Magic]

That firm's collapse was painful to watch, like a plane crash in slow motion

[83C]

That firm's collapse was painful to watch, like a plane crash in slow motion

Believe me, it was even more painful to be part of.

[Felly Magic]

Yeah the worry of not getting paid, and to whether you will still be in a job the next day cannot be pleasant, Plus the grief from passengers about X bus not turning up. 

[Six-cylinder]

What am I looking at, on A1M today?

[RoadworkUK]

What am I looking at, on A1M today?

 

The latest Elddis caravan is a bit on the large side?

[Guest Hooli]

If it's by Thorntons it'll have a chocolate gearbox.