More Mercedes Ciratos

Vehicle and Fleet discussions for First Midland Red Buses Limited or its predecessor, Midland Red West Limited.
bmmoboy
Posts: 549
Joined: 20:02 Tuesday 5th July 2016

More Mercedes Ciratos

Post by bmmoboy » 21:09 Saturday 20th April 2019

Canteen gossip, and from another reliable source, is that Worcester is to receive another 10 Mercedes Citaros, to replace Streetlite/Max vehicles, which are due to go to Leicester/Potteries. The Citaros are expected to be surplus 09 plate from Slough. I am not sure if they are going to be refurbished, I will try and find out.

Birmingham_Bus
Posts: 36
Joined: 15:54 Friday 17th November 2017

Re: More Mercedes Ciratos

Post by Birmingham_Bus » 09:33 Sunday 21st April 2019

Well a Slough don’t have 09 plates - all of theirs have been recently repainted too!
64019 is a 2003 build which carries a blue frontal livery
64020 is a 2004 build, of sister to Nimrod 21 which carries a yellow frontal livery
64030-9 are the 2007s that surround Worcester’s spares - all have coloured fronts bar lilac 64036 which acts as a spare
64046-8 are the other 2008s that Worcester didnt get - all have coloured fronts

I wouldn’t be surprised for first to transfer buses they have just repainted, but I guess we will find out with the impending further Streetlite transfers.

The only other Citaros in the group are
64001/2/5 all 2002 ‘OIGs’ that have been withdrawn for quite some time at Southampton, I cant imagine these would be easy to reprive after all the trouble Worcester’s own caused
64004 is a trainer in East Lothian and 64017 as such at Slough
64049 and 050 are two ex Western Greyhound survivors, used on Truro P&R
64051-7 are council owned ? 2015 builds that are also used in Truro

I hope this sheds some light on the current situation with Citaros in the group - it shows how lucky Worcester is to have 13 of them. We can only dream for some brand new ones :)

willr7
Posts: 527
Joined: 21:53 Friday 11th August 2017

Re: More Mercedes Ciratos

Post by willr7 » 10:02 Sunday 21st April 2019

Thank you Birmingham_Bus for pointing out that they are recent repaints. (You beat me to it!) However, I suppose it is not uncommon for First to transfer recent repaints elsewhere to then be repainted again! Also, it would only be the front ends that need repainting into Worcester's pink fronted livery.

It would also make sense to put all of the Citaro's in one place for various reasons such as easier maintenance/common engine parts etc.

As pointed out there are 13 left at Slough which includes 2 older ones. I don't know anything about the Slough operations but unless they are expecting new vehicles or transfers in from elsewhere to replace the remaining Citaro's OR they have lost service work then I'm not sure how they have 10 vehicles spare! (Also it appears they are all still in regular service at Slough!)

If we do get the remaining Citaro's I would expect that around half of them would be refurbished and branded up for The Malverns (as we will be losing the 5 Streetlite Max's that have the Malverns branding. Presumably, the rest would be put into standard livery with Worcester city fleet names like Worcester's current older ones.

Matt
Posts: 47
Joined: 22:17 Tuesday 26th June 2018

Re: More Mercedes Ciratos

Post by Matt » 22:00 Sunday 21st April 2019

Maybe we can have some nice bendi-bus Citaros :lol:

First York P+R have some and I believe they’re due to be getting more all-electric buses for the P+R services?

http://ukbuses.co.uk/fleet/fwy.pdf

Seriously though, I’ve not been in Worcester long enough to know if FMR are treated as a bit of a poor cousin to some other operations thus we receive Old Citaros to replace newer Streetlites? It is an older Citaro consider a better vehicle? :o

willr7
Posts: 527
Joined: 21:53 Friday 11th August 2017

Re: More Mercedes Ciratos

Post by willr7 » 09:16 Monday 22nd April 2019

First Kernow also have a collection of Mercedes Citaro’s, (64049-57) they are used on Truro P+R services and wear an all over blue livery. There are two older 08 plate and 10 plate examples and 7 NEWER 15 plate examples! So they are probably too New to transfer to Worcester! :roll:
There are 9 in total (which would be the exact amount needed to replace the 9 Streetlite Max’s) ;)

Tank90
Posts: 4
Joined: 17:37 Tuesday 27th September 2016

Re: More Mercedes Ciratos

Post by Tank90 » 13:39 Monday 22nd April 2019

But as First seem to be investing in new buses for Kernow it could well happen. 19 plate Enviro 200 mmc would be a better bet for Truro P&R. Thus giving Worcester some newer replacements for buses that are them selves newer. This of course is if Kernow is making enough to get new buses. It would seem very plausible if this was to happen.

willr7
Posts: 527
Joined: 21:53 Friday 11th August 2017

Re: More Mercedes Ciratos

Post by willr7 » 17:19 Monday 22nd April 2019

Tank90 wrote:
13:39 Monday 22nd April 2019
But as First seem to be investing in new buses for Kernow it could well happen. 19 plate Enviro 200 mmc would be a better bet for Truro P&R. Thus giving Worcester some newer replacements for buses that are them selves newer. This of course is if Kernow is making enough to get new buses. It would seem very plausible if this was to happen.
Thanks for pointing this out Tank90. Again, it would make sense for first companies to keep all the same vehicle types (Especially the Mercedes as there are not many of them about in the group) in the same areas for easy maintenance.

I agree that new E200MMCs would be well suited for Truro’s park+Ride considering all there new buses have mostly been E200/400 vehicles (excluding the recent purchase of some new Solo SRs.

Birmingham_Bus
Posts: 36
Joined: 15:54 Friday 17th November 2017

Re: More Mercedes Ciratos

Post by Birmingham_Bus » 21:01 Tuesday 23rd April 2019

willr7 wrote:
17:19 Monday 22nd April 2019
Tank90 wrote:
13:39 Monday 22nd April 2019
But as First seem to be investing in new buses for Kernow it could well happen. 19 plate Enviro 200 mmc would be a better bet for Truro P&R. Thus giving Worcester some newer replacements for buses that are them selves newer. This of course is if Kernow is making enough to get new buses. It would seem very plausible if this was to happen.
Thanks for pointing this out Tank90. Again, it would make sense for first companies to keep all the same vehicle types (Especially the Mercedes as there are not many of them about in the group) in the same areas for easy maintenance.

I agree that new E200MMCs would be well suited for Truro’s park+Ride considering all there new buses have mostly been E200/400 vehicles (excluding the recent purchase of some new Solo SRs.
Very good points made there Will, MMC200s would certainly suit the P&Rs better. In the long run it’s probably better to concentrate Citaros in fewer places with them being fairly non-standard. I have rode a few of the Truro examples, very nice buses but the route is too short for them to really be ‘unleashed’ if you will properly. The only thing is, I’m sure the council own them ?

Here’s one of them, I really like the look of the 0295 Citaro, a shame they are so rare!
6C06FE29-3712-4A5E-BD4A-6E48CA2626D9.jpeg

bmmoboy
Posts: 549
Joined: 20:02 Tuesday 5th July 2016

Re: More Mercedes Ciratos

Post by bmmoboy » 22:41 Tuesday 23rd April 2019

Update fro the MD - there are NINE Mercedes to come to Worcester, all to be refurbished -I didn't find out where they are coming from.

willr7
Posts: 527
Joined: 21:53 Friday 11th August 2017

Re: More Mercedes Ciratos

Post by willr7 » 23:49 Tuesday 23rd April 2019

bmmoboy wrote:
22:41 Tuesday 23rd April 2019
Update fro the MD - there are NINE Mercedes to come to Worcester, all to be refurbished -I didn't find out where they are coming from.
Thanks for the confirmation bmmoboy :D

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