My daily commute to University involves a free ride between
York’s two campuses, occasionally on First York’s 4, however usually on the
Transdev Unibus 44, simply because it drops me off closer to my department. Today
was no exception and it was, by chance, one of the more recent additions to the
Transdev York fleet that took me (halfway) home. I am referring to one of the ‘Y’
plate Plaxton Presidents, transferred in from Harrogate, mentioned in my last
post.
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| The Presidents have been at York a while now, but today was the first time I've seen one venture onto the 44 |
As I also mentioned, the two new additions join two sister
vehicles, which are part of the branded unibus fleet. Despite being the two
oldest members of the 9 strong 44 fleet, they are, in my opinion the most
comfortable. They have ample legroom and nicely padded seats. The only drawback
is that their interior is a little dated, hardly surprising given their age.
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| The two former Harrogate Presidents join two Unibus branded sisters at York |
I was therefore pleasantly surprised at how modern my
offering this evening was in comparison. Unlike its sister vehicles, the
Harrogate batch have had a full refurbishment, with new flooring, seat covers,
wall panels and repainted grab rails. It looked like a new bus, and was many
passengers were commenting on how much nicer this “new” bus was in comparison
to the “old” ones (which are the same age if not newer).
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| Not the best photo (taken quickly on my iPhone) but it does demonstrate the modern looking interior on the refurbished buses |
It just goes to show how much of an impact a refurbishment
can make to a vehicle. Transdev are clearly good at this, but so are Trent
Barton. The people of Hucknall and Belper would no doubt agree to that, as
their designated vehicles come out of “dreamworks” (the affectionate nickname
given to the Langley Mill refurb centre) looking like they’ve just come out of
the box. The buses on Hucknall’s Connect certainly don’t look 14 years old,
either on the inside or the outside, but the effort put into rejuvenating the
Sixes fleet is like nothing seen before within Trent Barton.
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| The buses on Hucknall's Connect certainly don't look their 14 years |
As well as a refresh to bring the brand in line with the new
corporate style, plenty of thought and effort has been put into making the
journeys more comfortable and enjoyable. A journey between Derby and Bakewell
can take over an hour and a half so comfort is of paramount importance. It’s
therefore to see that high backed seats have been retrofitted, alongside more
padded bases, as seen on the 2012 Solo SRs and Versas. It’s difficult to
describe in words but there is a notable difference in the comfort of these
seats compared to those on the i4 Tempos. Free wifi will also allow passengers
to keep themselves entertained, although you’d think the breathtaking views of
the Peak District along the route would be entertainment enough…
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| The buses on the Sixes look as good as new inside and out thanks to their refurbishment |
Thorough refurbishment is a cost efficient yet effective way
of maintain an attractive fleet. Buses do age quickly, they get dirty and the
volume of people using them can make the seats fade into nothing. Failing to
act on a deteriorating environment inside a bus can lead to passengers being
put off their use which can have a long term negative impact. Buses are
expensive things to buy, and a good quality refurbishment is far from cheap,
but the results are obvious. Neither Transdev nor Trent Barton would be
investing the money that they are in refurbishing vehicles if they weren’t
seeing results by way of increased passenger numbers and therefore increased
profits. Other companies would only benefit if they took a look inside some of
their buses, and engaged them in a programme of thorough refurbishment to make
them as good as new once again.
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