Just received more information regarding the new buses that will be used for Transdev's services. #134-#163 will be Gemilangs whilst #164-#168 (numbers yet to be fully confirmed by Gen Man) will be Volgren Optimuses all of which will be Scania K310UB's. In total there is an order of 34 buses. I reckon with that there will be some older fleet scrapped (particularly some of the high floors still operating which Transdev took from Ventura during the 2013 takeover). Maybe they could get rid of the buses that cause the most danger to customers so passengers do not have to go in any bus that may cause danger or health issues.
To say the least Dysons will be around for a while yet. And who knew that Ventura's loss of the contract would result in just about all metro bus operators(including Ventura) earning some extra business, Transdevs faults is everyones gain.
Except for the travelling public.
Well I think it depends really. Going on a bus from another operator is good for us as it means we can go on a graffiti-free and safe bus rather than any Transdev one which will most likely have graffiti up at the back and possibly break down (which unfortunately is common). For the travellers that go on the Smartbus routes regularly it isn't really any benefit for them however it's good to those who ride on the less popular runs where Transdev normally put their spare vehicles on which is where the replacement buses that have been operating in this crisis (eg; 364, 293, 281). I wonder why Transdev chose Dysons as the preferred replacement bus operator for this current crisis. Are their buses cheaper to rent than other companies? It would be really interesting to know.
Kind regards, JRBUS123