In the autumn of 2022 this Blog reported the arrival to Flintshire County Council of two brand new Optare (Switch) Solos YJ72EVF and YJ72EVG. These are fully electric vehicles. They were both first registered on 11th September 2022. As far as it is known - they have yet to see any service and have stood idle for the last 17 months.
Here they are seen today stored at a 'recycling centre' within Flintshire. They were previously stored at the Alltami depot
Whilst they are still taxed the MoT Certificates have been required since September 2023 (first test) and therefore the vehicles cannot currently be used on a road.
It is understood that the total cost of these two buses would have been approximately half a million pounds - £500,000.
It is further understood that local operators have deemed them unsuitable for work for their services in particular for use on the Buckley / Kinnerton fflecsi service as they are too long to negotiate the roads involved.
It would be extremely interesting to learn:-
How much waste of money there has been associated with the purchase of these two buses especially bearing in mind the severe financial constraints and the cuts being imposed by the local authority.
What is the future for these two buses - to minimise further loss for the ratepayers of Flintshire.