Diamonds problem

[tank90]

Ok so I have worked out what I think Diamonds problem is
It doesnt have a Dunn in charge.

If you look at Wessex and Preston the have a Dunn and new buses Diamond gets none. So unless a fourth dunn is found Diamond is going to be in a pile of scrap before long.

[richie]

Or they can't compete with NX?

[winston]

Ok so I have worked out what I think Diamonds problem is
It doesnt have a Dunn in charge.

If you look at Wessex and Preston the have a Dunn and new buses Diamond gets none. So unless a fourth dunn is found Diamond is going to be in a pile of scrap before long.

Whether they have a Dunn in charge or not Rotala group subsidiaries are hardly raking in the profits, in fact buying around 30 new buses per year based on Rotala's fleet size of 530 is implying a vehicle life of 17.5 years. I hope KR & RH staff aren't expecting to be driving anything new once they get shot of First......

[winston]

Or they can't compete with NX?

NX didn't really put up much of fight with BCC / Go-West Midlands etc, its only since the East Coast fiasco & Dean Finch arriving that NX have given Rotala a run for their money, as a result Rotala have/are now withdrawing off a number of well established routes that date back to BCC & Pete's Travel days

[PM]

Diamond's Problems is a good thread and Iim glad tank90 started it. Here are what i perceive as problems:
TRAVELCARD-rotala fight for essentially 50% of the market in the west midlands, the other 50% being unaccessible heightened by problem number 2
Removal of the 50p WM card ticket
Drivers who are sometimes prepared to sit behind NX buses and not get ahead like both pete's and bcc tried to do to get the passengers
Lack of any sort of branding on routes like the 16, 4, 301 and 56
We need leaflets, vinyl on windows like NX-doesnt cost the world yet simple, clear, concise and effective
Too much depot capacity: scrap Long Acre, scrap coaches-focus on the bus market in redditch, the black country and a few key birmingham routes
Give some routes another try-diamonds bristol road services were always busy and well used until they started messing around. Perhaps try bringing back a couple of routes and having another go as the situation has changed-we dont have Thandi etc running bristol road and on the core services we have mostly clapped out NX tridents. Surely there must be room for diamond to come in offering good value and service.

[tank90]

Thanks Peter, but when a Dunn was at the helm they did have abit of fight about them. They seem to have rested on there lorals to much. Its a shame really as there customer service can be great. As for Kidder they will be over joyed with V,W,Y,51,52 reg darts as the only other useful darts they have are 54 plate. I could see Kidder getting the 3 Enviros too.

[Cedric]

Thanks Peter, but when a Dunn was at the helm they did have abit of fight about them. They seem to have rested on there lorals to much. Its a shame really as there customer service can be great. As for Kidder they will be over joyed with V,W,Y,51,52 reg darts as the only other useful darts they have are 54 plate. I could see Kidder getting the 3 Enviros too.

yes we  will be as other than the 3 54reg darts the other are  p/r s and they have come from else where in the first empire
and  there is 1 n reg dart which was new to midland red west, before first and think it was even before bagerline

[Steveminor]

I don't see lack of route branding being any sort of issue. I mean Petes only ever attempted route branding once ( the 451 ) & that was a half hearted crap effort. Diamond do have an uphill battle nowadays fighting the travel cards (as does everyone else) the price of the travel card is so low compared to buying single fares & the NBus for political reasons is always priced at a set percentage higher & so is uncompetitive.
But there is one major problem for Diamond & others, the SQP in Birmingham City Centre. If you look at Diamonds recent withdrawals most are City based routes, 17, 37, 97, 10, 904.
How Centro got this past the competition committee beggars belief. Let's look at it, since it was announced National Express has become the sole operator on most corridors. Pershore Rd, Alum Rock Rd, Dudley Rd, Soho Rd, Bristol Rd, Warwick Rd, Bordesley Green Rd, Coventry Rd. how can anyone say National Express haven't been given a huge monopoly.

[Tony]

I don't see lack of route branding being any sort of issue. I mean Petes only ever attempted route branding once ( the 451 ) & that was a half hearted crap effort. Diamond do have an uphill battle nowadays fighting the travel cards (as does everyone else) the price of the travel card is so low compared to buying single fares & the NBus for political reasons is always priced at a set percentage higher & so is uncompetitive.
But there is one major problem for Diamond & others, the SQP in Birmingham City Centre. If you look at Diamonds recent withdrawals most are City based routes, 17, 37, 97, 10, 904.
How Centro got this past the competition committee beggars belief. Let's look at it, since it was announced National Express has become the sole operator on most corridors. Pershore Rd, Alum Rock Rd, Dudley Rd, Soho Rd, Bristol Rd, Warwick Rd, Bordesley Green Rd, Coventry Rd. how can anyone say National Express haven't been given a huge monopoly.

Most of Blue Diamond's fleet met the SQP qualification, so I don't see how that has driven them off any of those routes. Ex London darts are hardly expensive vehicles at the moment and meet SQP specification so I don't see that as the problem

[Stu]

The SQP hasn't driven Diamond off routes like the 17, 37 and 97.

It's the fact that these were routes that Diamond operated commercially against NXWM, and simply couldn't compete commercially while NXWM operate the same services so frequently. There's no point in Diamond operating a competitive commercial service if they're not making money on it.

[Steveminor]

Not all ex London darts meet SQP Requiements it all depends on if the eminox filters are still fitted and working, from what I hear & this may be a rumor but a lot of vehicles which Rotala thought would be suitable turned out not to be, for various reasons. It's not just about the emmisions though is it.

Look at the 17, the 94 & 55 of Claribels, same route as NXWM but because of stand allocations different bus stops until the operators complained to Centro.

[Steveminor]

Stu the fact is the revenue they were bringing in off the 97 & 17 was at a level that was viable to keep them running ok maybe not the 37.

[Stuharris 6360]

I think a lot of diamonds problems stem from operating on routes already operated by another operator.

For example, the 16 in Birmingham has buses flying around everywhere and whenever i see a Diamond bus on it, the loadings are quite low.

However take the 002 route, operated solely by Diamond, really well used route with branded buses and friendly staff.

Maybe Diamond should look into some new route flows!

[PM]

I think a lot of diamonds problems stem from operating on routes already operated by another operator.

For example, the 16 in Birmingham has buses flying around everywhere and whenever i see a Diamond bus on it, the loadings are quite low.

However take the 002 route, operated solely by Diamond, really well used route with branded buses and friendly staff.

Maybe Diamond should look into some new route flows!
[/quote

Totally agree with you here and I think the X31 would be a good place to start

[winston]

I don't see lack of route branding being any sort of issue. I mean Petes only ever attempted route branding once ( the 451 ) & that was a half hearted crap effort. Diamond do have an uphill battle nowadays fighting the travel cards (as does everyone else) the price of the travel card is so low compared to buying single fares & the NBus for political reasons is always priced at a set percentage higher & so is uncompetitive.
But there is one major problem for Diamond & others, the SQP in Birmingham City Centre. If you look at Diamonds recent withdrawals most are City based routes, 17, 37, 97, 10, 904.
How Centro got this past the competition committee beggars belief. Let's look at it, since it was announced National Express has become the sole operator on most corridors. Pershore Rd, Alum Rock Rd, Dudley Rd, Soho Rd, Bristol Rd, Warwick Rd, Bordesley Green Rd, Coventry Rd. how can anyone say National Express haven't been given a huge monopoly.

Steve,

I agree that NX were given an unfair competitive advantage retaining control of the travelcard business at deregulation. That said, over the years there have been numerous successful examples of smaller operators providing stiff & successful competition against WMT / TWM & NXWM on various corridors even despite NX retaining control of travel card sales & pricing etc. Claribels seem to be about the only one remaining that is still thriving, Diamond do well on a handful of routes against NXWM but not all. I believe a lot of the lack of competition is down to small companies finding it increasingly difficult to make a profit due the recession, passenger numbers in the West Midlands have been in decline, high insurance / wage & fuel costs. I think this is backed up by the number of bus & coach companies that have been folder in the last couple of years. Unfortunately again the big operators have the advantage of being able to buy insurance in bulk, hedging fuel prices & bulk buying etc.

As regards the SQP in B'ham, Centro should have considered the possible implications of its introduction on competing smaller operators, the fact Rotala have chosen to withdraw City Centre routes rather than invest in a new more modern compliant fleet is nothing to do with NX, Rotala could have re-deployed the vehicles on routes that didn't enter the City Centre, but instead have chosen to reduce the size of the fleet, that is purely just a bonus for NX. Again, the fact Nbus is not priced competitively against NX's range of travelcards isn't down to NX, Centro should put the political issues aside to create a more competitive pricing structure & help the smaller operators thrive......