Introducing Daisy and Donald...

Following on from our success in winning a four-year contract for route 22 in Southampton, we needed to find a suitable vehicle with which to operate this route which starts on 8th February.

The Optare Solo was always going to be a favoured choice given its excellent layout for passengers. One of my grievances with the interior design of low-floor buses is that the first available seats are a long way back from the door (the DAFs are a spectacular example of this). This is bad news for dwell times at stops, as our drivers have to wait quite a long time for passengers to get to their seat, and for those with mobility difficulties makes the process of using a bus more traumatic than it need be.

The Solo avoids this problem, with seats available immediately inside the door.

However, different versions of Solo have differing reputations for reliability, so it took us a while to home in on suitable examples.

The upshot is that we have now acquired two Cummins-powered 8.8 metre examples from Mistral. They are Daisy (YJ55 YGN) and Donald (NX55 FFO), our fleet numbers 221 and 222 respectively, both with 28 seats.

Daisy arrives tomorrow as I write this and will go straight to Qualiti Conversions at Botley for paint, and Donald will turn up some time in the next few days. Since new they have been employed by Scarlet Band of County Durham, mostly on Durham Park and Ride, and we have high hopes for these vehicles!

One will always be allocated to route 22, and when the second one is available (which we hope will be most of the time) this will appear on the C.

Here are a couple of pictures of Daisy, taken before she knew she was going to be called Daisy, when we first went to look at her. No doubt the local Gricerazzi will come up with a few hundred more shots within a few minutes of her arrival!

On the Wagon

An interesting day today, the highlight of which lasted no more than a couple of minutes!

It was a typical Saturday, spent the morning and early afternoon washing buses and putting the world to rights in Brenhaul's rest room. Drove the second half of duty 56 - four hours on C3-C1 starting at 1500.

The world of Brenhaul can be quite surreal at the best of times but on Saturdays many of their clients and friends are not doing normal work, and when they are not doing their normal work, there is nothing that truck people like more than to hang around a workshop! So on a Saturday Brenhaul's Worldwide HQ at Barton Park takes on the role of a drop-in centre and like all the best soap operas, each week's episode has its own storyline.

Star of today's story was Steve, one of the owner-operators who parks (like us) in Brenhaul's yard. He set up in business on his own a year or so ago, using an X-reg DAF unit with which he hauls containers the length and breadth of the land.

Faced with the prospect of mounting repair bills and looking to build on a successful start to self-employment, Steve has decided to buy a new truck. Today was the day when much deliberation about his options finally came to a head, and he parted company with his faithful DAF and acquired a Volvo.

The happy twist in the plot is that after Shaun (part-owner of Brenhaul) had collected the truck for him and brought it back to Eastleigh, I got to take it for a spin round the industrial estate!

It is a little known fact that both Taz and I have obtained our LGV driving licences in the last couple of years. I have not used mine in anger at all, but occasionally get to have a play. Today was such a day.

Don't ask me any of the technical details, but all I can say is that this truck is gorgeous. Super-smooth to drive, equipped with every conceivable luxury (microwave, fridge.... as Ant jealously pointed out, more facilities than our office!) and in immaculate condition, spotlessly clean and well looked after. Thanks to the cherished registration you could easily believe it's a new truck, not the 52-plate that it really is. Needless to say, I am now hugely envious and I might just have to sell my car and buy one!

Anyway, recorded for posterity, here it is.... (I wonder if Steve needs any trips covering!!!)