Another 15 MAN diesels (491-505)

Started by Barry Drive, July 29, 2011, 12:12:30 AM

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Barry Drive

After a tweet from Simon Corbell which didn't add up, further investigation has revealed that the contract for 74 diesel MANs was recently varied to add another 15 buses.

(You can access the Deed of Variation here)

The buses are scheduled to be delivered from 30 October 2011 through until 23 May 2012. As these are due for delivery before the new artics, we can safely assume their fleet numbers will be 491 - 505.

What we cannot safely assume is whether they will be CB60 or CB80 bodies. The deed makes no reference to body type at all, which could mean no variation.

Busnerd

That's good news I suppose....they must have found some mroe cash lying around.

Since your our numbers man Martin. With these new 15 buses what will the low floor percentage of the fleet be once they arrive?

Barry Drive

#2
Quote from: Busn00b on July 30, 2011, 01:30:53 PM
Since you're our numbers man Martin. With these new 15 buses what will the low floor percentage of the fleet be once they arrive?
That will depend upon how many buses are withdrawn.

Current low floor buses in service is 187 (includes 2 being repaired) out of 432 (= 43%). Let's assume all MANs result in one Renault PR100.2 being withdrawn and each Scania K320 is an addition to the fleet: so with 30 more rigid MAN to enter service and 14 Scania - there will be 231 low floor buses out of 446 (just under 52%).

(490 assumed to remain in service; total fleet number may vary due to timing and number of withdrawals; does not allow for low floor artics which may enter service before the last of the rigid MANs.)

To represent this as a chart (by request of Metrobus):



Thanks to Free image hosting

Barry Drive

#3
If you further assume that 15 low floor artics will be in service by December 2012 and also assume that each will replace an existing bus (artic or standard), the low floor number will increase to 246 out of 446 which is just over 55%, the DDA target required by end of 2012. (Now it becomes clear why they ordered the extra 15 MANs.)

But the only way to meet DDA by December 2012 is to withdraw an equal (or greater) number of non-low floor buses  (artics or standards) for each new low floor artic. If 490 is removed from service they will still meet 55% (with 245/445). If only, say, 240 low floors were in service by Dec 2012, then the fleet total would need to be 436 or fewer (which is roughly the number in service now).

743

Quote from: ACTbusspotter on July 30, 2011, 07:51:00 PM
Current low floor buses in service is 187 (includes 2 being repaired)

I think ACTION begs to differ...although it would appear they're counting buses sitting out at Woden (70 MANs?):

Quote from: https://www.action.act.gov.au/about_us.htmlAs at 31 May 2011 ACTION's bus fleet includes 201 easy access buses. Each of these buses is equipped with an extendable ramp, a wide front entrance, and space in the bus to accommodate wheelchairs or prams. Buses with easy access include:

70 MAN
16 CNG MAN
54 CNG Scania
16 Scania Steer Tag
20 Irisbus
25 Darts

I trust Martin's observations over that  ;)

Barry Drive

Quote from: 743 on July 30, 2011, 10:40:50 PM
I think ACTION begs to differ...although it would appear they're counting buses sitting out at Woden (70 MANs?):

Yep: although the diesel MAN figure is now up to 74, only 59 are in service. Also only 12 Scania "steer tag" in service, although one more should enter service very soon. And there's also two low floor buses which are under repair plus a random number of Irisbuses and Darts which are off the road at any given point in time. (I doubt that there will ever be a full complement of Irisbuses in service - although it may have happened once this year.)

Barry Drive

Not sure when it was changed, but ACTION's About Us page "Easy Access Bus" has been updated to only count the buses that are in service:

QuoteAs at 31 July 2011 ACTION's bus fleet includes 187 easy access buses. Each of these buses is equipped with an extendable ramp, a wide front entrance, and space in the bus to accommodate wheelchairs or prams. Buses with easy access include:

60 MAN
16 CNG MAN
54 CNG Scania
12 Scania Steer Tag
20 Irisbus
25 Darts

Barry Drive

^^ just realised that the above is wrong anyway. The count is correct, but they forget about the Scania K230 (490).

Barry Drive

#8
Some more info about the 15 additional MANs. They are still CB60 Evo II bodies (as everyone should be aware by now). However, they have the following variations from the previous bodies:


  • side mounted external video cameras (near side and off side)
  • front door entry light now LED instead of flouro (alas, no other internal LED lights)
  • CB80-style wireless bus stop buttons
  • relocated short-stop switch in driver's cab

smitho