Saturday November 8th 2014 ~ Waiting Time

33815 near Walsoken working the 11.00 Norwich - Peterborough on a bright October 28th.

Well I've been waiting for something noteworthy to report in this blog for a while without success. That being the case, thought we'd better have an update. Thanks to Ryan and Des we can now confirm the mileages on the Enviro 400s based at Lowestoft. As at October 21/22 these were as follows :
33818 110820
33819 099283
33820 106572
33821 109559
33822 098786
33823 102116
33824 102936

21st October was the anniversary of the entry into service of 33824, the last of the X1 fleet, so these figures pretty much indicate the first years mileage. 33818 went into traffic on 7/10/13 hence its slightly higher mileage. Both 33819/22 spent sometime out of traffic for collision and engine repairs and yet both have almost touched 100,000 over the year. I wonder if there are any other UK bus (not coach) fleets which clock up huge figures like these ? Do let me know if you have any ideas.

It is extremely rare for any of the Enviros to spend more than three days in the garage, to illustrate this here are the occasions when that last happened with number of days off the road in parenthesis and the date of return to traffic / reasons where known.

33803 (5) 28.08.14 Rear advert and servicing
33804 (4) 15.03.14 MOT
33805 (4) 07.05.14 overheating
33806 (5) 03.04.14 MOT
33807 (24) 26.08.14 new gearbox
33808 (0) New 30.09.13
33809 (7) 20.06.14 MOT ?
33810 (4) 03.10.14 Oil cooler
33811 (0) New 30.09.13
33812 (6) 16.10.14 collision repairs
33813 (4) 01.11.14 Oil prob and servicing
33814 (12) 15.05.14 Oil cooler
33815 (4) 25.06.14 unknown
33816 (4) 08.09.14 Air Con leak
33817 (6) 31.12.13 Liner sensor fault

Pretty impressive by all accounts and the unblemished records for 33808 and 33811 are reflected in them being among the highest in the mileage stakes.

33817, one of four (33806/11/15 being the others) Enviros advocating shopping for Christmas in November at Chapelfield and just in case you didn't get the message, these vehicles have a similar ad on the other side too ! 33817 has a slight crease on its back corner following a minor collision and is due for attention shortly.

Speaking to a driver last night, he agreed that things were really quiet and that failures are almost unheard of. The most unusual thing that had happened to him was when a passenger arrived in King's Lynn at midnight wanting to get to Cambridge. Seemingly stranded, said driver then kindly offered to drive her to Cambridge himself, an offer she was pleased to accept. Nice to have a Good Samaritan story.

First of all it was pink ribbons (above)  and now our X1 fleet are adorned with poppy symbols to commemorate Armistice Day. Both campaigns strike a chord with the public and 'First' are to be congratulated for recognising the importance of both occasions.

Now I have to admit that just as I was about to post this update, I thought I'd better check out the other local bus blogs to see if I'd missed anything X1 related in recent weeks. Turns out I hadn't but do have a look at these blogs yourself if you've not already done so. Links are at the bottom of this blog. Between them they provide comprehensive coverage of the local scene with other operators as well as First. Congrats to Andy, Roy, Steve and Cameron in particular for keeping up the good work in this respect.