Introduction
2011/12 was a good period for double decks. Although Scania sales slumped and Optare failed to take advantage of a general manufacturing upswing, double deck deliveries were up by one third. Without deckers, the year would’ve been lean. As usual, London accounted for a significant clutch. The government-backed interest in hybrid technology, both in and out of London, helped achieve production increases.
England's most popular double deck, the Enviro 400. Here are three of them
Time was when every self-respecting urban fleet was dominated by double decks. That’s no longer the case, outside London. Whether this new, rising interest in deckers will be sustained is a matter of debate. The operating industry obviously reacts to market conditions and this has always been mirrored in vehicle purchases, so:
- One-man single decks of the 1960s replaced crewed double decks as a necessary expedient, until front-entrance double decks could at last be one-manned—and then urban single decks fell from grace
- Territorial “country” operators enjoyed a mixed fleet, with a growing 1970s tendency towards single deck operation. After all, the “clunky” Bristol RE at 53 seats could accommodate nearly as many as the double deck LD Lodekka a generation beforehand. But MAP’s fleet size reductions largely brought a new interest in deckers
- As conventional double & single decks were replaced by the mid-1980s Klondike-style deregulated rush for frequent minis, so this gave way initially to the more flexible midibus. Double decks were seen as something of an anachronism
- Years of eroding demand has resulted in the continued popularity of the 40-ish seater now, thanks to DDA, in 12m form. We may talk optimistically of “growth” but that’s from a decidedly very low base.
And there’s the rub. Marginal increases in ridership, the same number of scholars travelling as there ever was and the new post-0930 nu-peak period for free travellers can be enough to tip the balance towards double decks. The cost differential between a full sized 12m single and double deck at about £50,000 isn’t as much as you’d think, especially when compared to the alternative to increasing single deck frequency.
But double decks are double edged. As passengers are aging, so fewer of them can actually manage the stairs, particularly for shorter, urban journeys. And then there are those who prefer to leave the top deck alone, as a young person’s playground, intimidated by the prospect of sitting in front of some foul-mouthed, mobile phone playing, feet-on-the-seat yob.
But there’s another problem as regards double decks and it’s one we’ll discover shortly in pt 2 of 2…
27 comments:
The cost of double deckers pretty much rules them out except inlarge urban areas.
With fare paying passenger numbers falling and at best only a small increase in Concessionary travel which is increasingly uneconomic for the operators few will inveest in deckers, The only real demand is coming from London. Other areas if they might have a small need for them take second hand models
Anon @ 0744
Plenty of new (61-plate) double decks working on Stagecoach routes from Swindon into the surrounding country towns, and with quality high-backed seating too.
Manchester doesn't do so bad either. I'm in Singapore, it's all full length 3 axle b9tl's here
Double Decks on rural routes appear to increase the number of social travellers as it is now possible to see over the hedges.
Norfolk Green have increased their fleet with double decks and have ordered some new Enviro 400s
Indeed Anon 08:31, hence the Stagecoach Swindon adverting slogan for the double decked 49 and 55 being "there's so much more to see.."
I would rather have excess capacity than not enough.Thence the decker.
There is, of course, a height flaw with deckers. They aren't particularly useful for routes where there is a low bridge, where a meeting of the two can create a single decker and carnage in seconds!
I'm not sure if the law has changed but doesn't a driver have to have a license to be able to drive a decker? If so, is there any extra renumeration in his/her wage bill for having this ability?
Eric said:
"I'm not sure if the law has changed but doesn't a driver have to have a license to be able to drive a decker?"
That hasn't been the case for many years.
With a cost differential of £50k, when this is spread over the depreciated life of the vehicle, it is pretty minimal. Probably about £100/wk..... though if you don't need the capacity, then why do it?
That said, the view on deckers can vary markedly within the industry. Bob Hind, now departing Arriva, was an advocate of single deckers. Since his departure from Arriva North West, the number of new and cascaded deckers heading into that firm has been noticeable.
I recall that the management of North East Bus (pre Arriva) were very much of the opinion that the decker was "of the past", hence the eradication of DDs within the Arriva fleet in Teesside.
Stagecoach have always specified double decks because of the ability to accommodate market growth without necessitating higher frequencies and resultant staff costs.
There's many good examples of Stagecoach investing in DDs on provincial services. As noted earlier, the 49 and 55 in Wiltshire, the 12s in Torbay, the 94 in Gloucester.
Most recently the new Gold 66 service between Oxford and Swindon. Ridership doesn't need that capacity yet... they're investing to accommodate further growth!
Two recent Enviro400s in service on Jersey where the entire network is contracted out. Some services at saturation demand but due to sky-high driver costs frequency increases would have required additional subsidy which was simply not available.
Additional to their extra capacity, growth has resulted from the novelty value in being able to peer over garden walls for the first time in four decades. Despite the half-hearted exterior livery, the plush 'motor show' spec of the two vehicles in question also helps.
The fact that they are longer, heavier and 250mm wider than the island's legal maximums appears to be unimportant!
Arriva Yorkshire have just bought a job lot of Wright double deckers with plans for more to come. Along with Plaxton Presidents, ELC/Darwin's, and Optare Spectra's there are now far more double deckers that there were a few years back.
Bus procurement seems to go in phases. We had the 1980s deregulation services, running a bus with 20 seats every 20 seconds. Gradually that morphed into reducing frequencies with bigger single deck buses or replacing high step double deckers with low floor single deckers.
Urban operators, especially, are now faced with a choice between increasing PVR or buying bigger buses. From having one route operated with double deckers in 2005, most of the core Stagecoach routes in Newcastle once again have double deckers. Rationalising of routes out of estates into key corridors has pushed this along; the smallest bus Stagecoach Newcastle now have is an MPD, as opposed to the massive fleet of Mercedes minibuses a few years ago.
There are definitely more double deckers about than there used to be, and not just on urban routes. Arriva have a load of double deckers now, especially on Northumberland coast services, Go North East are heading back towards deckers on their core County Durham routes; even Yorkshire Coastliner, an entirely inter-urban or rural operator, has a significant number of double deckers. Even Stagecoach Cumbria have bought a load of E400s for their busiest services.
@ Anonymous 1032 - When I used the Stagecoach 66 I was greeted with a full single deck arriving in Swindon. The bus loaded well on its return run to Oxford and it wasn't a particularly busy time of day. It wouldn't surprise if at peak times the capacity of the extra deck is needed already. As you say Stagecoach are undoubtedly after more and more patronage
Talking odf Stagecoach Swindon's 55. I was having a clear-out at home yesterday and found their leaflet dated 1998 announcing an increase in frequency to half hourly throughout the day. A few years later Kick-Start boosted this to a 20 minute frequency and brand new Tridents with route branding, and an all day extension to Chippenham railway station. This year saw the Tridents replaced with E400s with new branding on a 'there's so much more to see' theme featuring offside vinyls depicting images of each of the towns on the route.
Meanwhile First offers assorted scruffy step entrance Darts and early model Volvo/Wright SLFs on route 231/232 which links Chippenham to Bath. This route was 100% double deck on the same frequency (half hourly) not so many years ago. No guesses which route has experienced the higher growth?
Please don't under-estimate the pleasure a top-deck view provides for passengers.On scenic or longer distance runs,the chance to look over the fences and hedges makes a journey a real treat,especially for youngsters.No cars can offer that viewpoint...up to The Needles or along the coast,or over the hills in a single-decker...no thanks!
With CCTV fitted ,the nuisance factor can be tackled.Why not fit speakers upstairs and ask drivers to inform anyone messing around 'up top'that they are being recorded?
Surely the reason for double deckers is obvious......large pockets of passenger growth and a lot of it outside London too (unless you are First!). With the current economic and employment situation, a lot of people are awitching to bus travel as the cheaper mode of travel. As someone else on here said, it also means that you don;t have to make costly frequency/ driver increases if a single deck routes becomes too busy. And there is the nosey lets look over the garden walls attraction of an upper deck too!!!
But you can look over garden walls from the rear of a Plaxton Centro :-)
' young person’s playground, intimidated by the prospect of sitting in front of some foul-mouthed, mobile phone playing, feet-on-the-seat yob.'
Talk about a hasty generalisation...
Us young people do respect buses and use them frequently!
The Purbeck Breezers by Wilts and Dorset is one example of how big a route can become. Route 50 which is a two and a half hour round trip (Swanage - Bournemouth Interchange and back again) runs every 20 minutes, and is open top. All the chairs upstairs will fill up before even the bottom begins to fill up. It also gets to the point where passengers moan if it isn't an open top bus...
Of course, many scenic routes have now received DDs because of the effective of twirly passes.
Increased loadings without the full reimbursement of means that frequency increases are not economic. Hence deckers appearing in places such as 128 Scarborough to Helmsley via the Vale of Pickering, and the 840 Leeds to Whitby, again via Pickering.
Anon @2027.
I don't think Busing was being serious when he said that. I think that was the whole point.
RedRover said...
"But you can look over garden walls from the rear of a Plaxton Centro :-)"
LOL. If you look out the back, yes. But, although high up enough to see over walls, I'm too tall to see out of the windows, so some grey ceiling panelling is all the view I get!
In most rural areas (e.g. Cheshire/High Peak), declining industrial areas (e.g. S.Wales valleys) and even medium-sized cities (e.g. Stoke/Cardiff), double-deckers have been almost completely phased out (apart from for school journeys), due to the inexorable decline in bus use outside London and a few parts of some other large cities. I don't expect they will return anytime soon, as they are very expensive to run. One of the last double-deckers in Macclesfield was decapitated by a low bridge within the last 2 years, fortunately without any passenger injuries.
@Anonymous 2012-05-28 10:32
“With a cost differential of £50k, when this is spread over the depreciated life of the vehicle, it is pretty minimal. Probably about £100/wk..... though if you don't need the capacity, then why do it?”
As you say, investing for the future is one reason. You don't want to buy brand new single deckers only to find that a couple of years down the line passenger numbers have outgrown the capacity. With buses having a lifespan of ~15 years, you need to be looking at their use beyond the present.
There's also the question of varying demand. There are plenty of diagrams up and down the country that have demand for double-deckers at certain times only, often at school or commuter times, or maybe interworking between different routes, or just having the flexibility to use any bus in the depot on any route. If double-deckers don't come at too much of a premium, it may be worth safeguarding yourself and covering all bases by buying them even if most of the time the extra capacity is unneeded, because when it is needed you'll be very glad to have it!
It is actually interesting that history seems to repeat itself. The double decker has no doubt been pronounced dead before, but in practice they have come back to favour several times because they are an efficient way of carrying increased numbers of passengers. The instances referred to by other commenters on rural and interurban services are of particular note - I am reasonably sure that the growth in passenger numbers being experienced on the Stagecoach services in south west England would have been so great if capacity had been increased by using artics. How many motorists would be tempted out of their cars for a trip from Oxford to Swindon if they had to try to stay upright in the gloom of the turntable section of an artic!
"If double-deckers don't come at too much of a premium, it may be worth safeguarding yourself and covering all bases by buying them even if most of the time the extra capacity is unneeded, because when it is needed you'll be very glad to have it!"
And even when it isn't needed, passengers like a double-seat to themselves. So you'll make them happier, as well.
Neil
RC169 said...
"... the growth in passenger numbers being experienced on the Stagecoach services in south west England would have been so great if capacity had been increased by using artics. "
..should, of course have read:-
"... the growth in passenger numbers being experienced on the Stagecoach services in south west England would NOT have been so great if capacity had been increased by using artics. "
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