London General (on loan from Arriva London) PDL90 and TEN12 on Route 192, Tottenham Hale
Both types will be replaced by these new Streetlites:
London General WS33 on Route 192, Northumberland Park
As of the second day of these entering service, only WS33 and WS37 had entered service.
As of the 31st January, by then, only WS 33, 34, 37, 39 had entered service out of WS33-48.
Rear of WS33, Tottenham Hale
Compared to the Enviro 200s/Darts they have replaced, they all have the same length, but the longer wheelbase in the Streetlite can be difficult.
London General WS33 on Route 192, Tottenham Hale Bus Station
Comments about the buses on Flickr were generally negative. One comment said:
"These are breaking down and being towed in on a daily basis. Also feedback from the drivers is not good, having the wheels at the front is causing problems with some of the roads that have lots of parking and traffic islands to negotiate."
The "aggressive" bumpers with the challenge of driving the route in itself (as one driver stated that he was glad to not be driving the 192) means that the Streetlites will be a challenge on this demanding route. My only experience with this batch of buses was, as predictably, at the front of the bus, standing whilst it was full. It rode like most other Streetlites, and were not too quick compared to the Enviro that was taken towards Northumberland Park. But they are here to stay due to ADL delays. Oh well, at least Arriva London can have their buses back!
The 192 is my local bus from Bush Hill Park
ReplyDeleteI do think they have missed a trick with the new design of the 192 as they should have made the wheelchair area larger
there is two versions of the old design
version 1 - has one wheelchair area
version 2 - has two wheelchair areas
now most of the time there is no wheelchair but people will fill it with push chairs { that get bigger all the time } and trolley shopping bags
even if there is a wheelchair - version 1 has room for one push chair
the new design would only allow in one wheelchair and it would be full.
At busy times I reckon they will soon discover that they cant fit in a few push chairs.
once a push chair is in the walkway that screws up everything as people cant get off or on as the walkway is very narrow. { + there is only one access door }
Someone within Arriva North { who used to have the contract } must have worked this out hence why 50% of the old design is now 'version 2'
for sure the new version looks far more modern but is not as practical as the older buses.
That route is very important as there is no tube stations close {apart from Tottenham Hale} and it soon fills up with many people carrying shopping bags so space is more important than seats.
Go Ahead (London General) only recently took over the contract and all they needed to do was send someone to sit on the bus for a few hours and they would soon work out that the new version was a step back rather than a step forward.