Today I received my type training on the new 15 metre Plaxton Panthers. I wrote earlier that having seen one I was none to keen to drive one! They look daunting both because of their overall length and the overhang behind the rear wheels. In practice there aren’t half as bad as I expected. Managed a circuit within Winchester’s narrow streets, including some tight turns, and didn’t even touch a kerb. With the added bonus of no dead or injured I guess this must be rated a great success!

On the motorway they are a dream to drive, lots of power (450bhp), 12 forward speeds and 4 reverse speeds. I wonder what the top speed in reverse would be? Since there isn’t a rear view camera I’m unlikely to test this.

I hestitate to say this but the worst thing about them is the wheelchair access. I totally agree with offering wheelchair access but the system fitted is incredibly complicated. That’s because there is no dedicated space for the wheelchair, the front aisle seat on the nearside has to be unlocked (requires 3 seperate things to be done) and slid back. The front window seat on the nearside has to be unlocked (again 3 actions) and then swiveled before being slid back. Next both seat squabs have to be unlocked and removed. These are stored each in a different hold locker! Once the wheelchair is in place it has to have two karabiners attached to it and is then winched to be held against the forward facing seat back of the front aisle seat. The slide out hydraulic lifting platform is fine, it’s the internal modifications which have to be done to the bus which are the real problem.

“It is this friendly co-operation between passengers and conductor and driver that makes bus travelling comfortable”. “The people enter the bus in an orderly manner, no crowding or pushing out of turn, and the conductor controls everything in a cheerful way”. How times have changed!

In our depot we work a four week rota around 4 duties. Mixed in with detailed duties are a few AD days (As Detailed – usually covers sickness, holiday etc.) and the one I got to today – Spare, or to be pedantic Late Spare.

It sounds like a dream duty, you’ve nothing to do at all except sit around and wait for something to go wrong! 8 hours pay for sitting on your arse and twidling your thumbs … sounds great? Maybe, until you’ve got to do it. I arrived at the depot for a 12:00 start and did absolutely nothing until 20:00, nothing that is except make lots of tea, do the Telegraph cryptic crossword, answer the ‘phone a couple of times and listen to lots of gossip as people passed through the controllers office. Nice, for about 30 minutes and then the novelty wears off!

I only did one useful thing for Megabus today and that was even before I booked on. As I got into my car to drive to Winchester a traffic announcement came on the radio that there had been a serious accident on the M3, southbound at Junction 6 Basingstoke, and already the tailback was 5 miles. That is the worst possible spot for an M3 problem, if the problem is north of Basingstoke you exit before and rejoin at Basingstoke and if it’s south of Basingstoke you leave there and rejoin later. It’s difficult to explain briefly why this spot is so important but please accept that it is so. Realising that we had a bus leaving Victoria, for the M3 southbound, at the moment I heard this I called my depot and informed them of the traffic report with the advice that if they were able to contact the bus my advice would be to leave London via the A3 to Guildford and then the A31 to Winchester. This routing adds about 15 minutes journey time (London – Winchester) over that of using the M3. An obvious winner in the current circumstances. They were able to contact the bus and the day was saved.

None of this would have neccessary if Megabus hadn’t been so ‘cost conscious’ (bloody mean) and barred drivers from dialling Vodafone 222222’s service. This is an interactive service where you key in the ‘A’ or ‘M’ road number and get live trafiic updates. We all did this as we drove away from Victoria in order to determine which route would best keep the service running on time. The cost of the call was equal to what the driver is paid for 5 minutes work. Not being able to make these calls causes us to be late more often, resulting in overtime payments and, in the most extreme circumstances, duplicate buses being put on the road. I guess those bigger payments must come from a different budget so it doesn’t matter as much as saving a few pence on the ‘phone call!

The full Press Release is here.

I’m not sure about the “the first of the vehicles was delivered to Stagecoach’s headquarters in Perth today (12 February 2007)”. Here’s a picture I took of one in Victoria last week. Maybe it’s only now found its way to Perth!

Sorry about the poor quality of the picture but I only had my mobile to take it with.

Having had the chance to see how long a 15 metres coach is in the ‘flesh’ I’m quite pleased that they’re not going to be used on the services I drive. Look at the rear end overhang, it looks as long as a small car! The only bus I’ve ever damaged was a B10 which also has a large rear overhang. I entered the yard at the back of Winchester bus station, turned into a space to park the bus and BANG. I’d forgotten I was not driving the usual low floor, or Dart, and as I turned the rear had swung across the yard and clouted another bus. There was worse to come – it was right outside the canteen window which was suddnely filled with a myriad peering faces.

Although we wont normally be driving them we still have to be type trained on them. I’m scheduled for type training next Sunday and will report back on how well it goes, or what damage I did![email][/email]

One of my hobbies is cooking so when I can get to the fortnightly Farmers’ Market in Winchester I’m in my element. My depot is in Winchester and today I did an early duty that booked off around 11:00, I then went to the market. My purchases were:

A bag of Selsey whelks
Dozen eggs
2 packs of plain pork sausages made by the butcher in Botley
1 wood pigeon
A pack of faggots made the ‘proper’ way by being wrapped in caul fat
2pts unpateurised full cream Jersey milk
2 packs dry cured steaky Gloucester Old Spot bacon
Bread from the wood fired oven at Long Crichel Bakery
Organic veg

Can’t decide which of these things to have for dinner tonight. I know, it will probably be a few whelks with mayonaise as a starter with wood pigeon main. I’ll take the breasts off the pigeon and make a stock for the gravy using the rest of the bird. The breasts will be seared on an iron griddle and be served with some blood still in them, like a medium-rare steak. served with some shredded greens and potatoes anna. My wife isn’t keen on pigeon which is why i’m going to have it …… she’s visiting her family at the moment.

It’s a rest day tomorrow! Which means the pigeon can be washed down with a decent bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape.