Messages

Because 45 years of the right wing sh!tshow (& the bleeding idiots that vote for more of the same) has made the country such a wonderful place...

Yes of course during those apparently 45 years how many far-left wing governments have been successful, ANYWHERE?

And I think compared to many other countries, (look at the US or France for example) we still do live in a decent country, plenty of people still see us as a safe haven. I'm sure Venezuela have some vacancies if Britain is such a hell hole for you.

Richard Parker seems to think he'll have bus franchising up & running in the WM within 2 years... We'll see! 🤔

I foresee these headlines appearing in the next few years:

LABOUR MAYOR ASKS FOR REFUND FOR THE MAGICAL SEEDS HE BOUGHT - APPARENTLY MONEY TREES DON'T ACTUALLY GROW MONEY ON THEM!

NO LECCY, NO LIKEY! LABOUR REALISES THAT NATIONALISING THE UTILITIES DOESN'T WORK AND IS A TAD EXPENSIVE.

(The following day's headline) PARKER'S ELECTRIC BUSES SIT IDLE AS UNFORTUNATELY THEY CAN'T RUN ON ONLY HIS HOT AIR!

(Followed closely by...) DIESEL IS BACK! PARKER SIGNS DEAL WITH WYTHALL TRANSPORT MUSEUM TO GET REPLACEMENT VEHICLES FOR HIS ELECTRICS.

LABOUR DECIDES TO NATIONALISE ITSELF!!!

(And in 4 years time hopefully!!!) STREET'S AHEAD, AT LAST THIS NIGHTMARE CAN END 🤣🤣🤣

I'm pretty sure with all the legal challenges and wrangling that would occur against franchising, it won't get done in the 4 years this mayor has.

Such a small majority of votes will very likely mean that unless this new guy gets everything right (and labour's track record does not point to that happening in the west Mids!) he will be gone in 2028 and franchising hopefully won't be a thing here. In Manchester that mayor has a big majority of can get away with stuff like this as he knows Labour will still be there in 2028 and beyond.

With a majority of ONLY 1500 despite the Tories being in the worst turmoil for a generation, there's no way franchising will get through here before this joke Labour guy is kicked out at the next mayoral election. 

This disaster will just mean the West Mids will no have to plateau for a few years rather than make any progress. 

Can't wait for the increased council tax to pay for all these 'plans'. Well done Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Birmingham, enjoy the fruits of your voting in a bottomless money pit!

If I was to get 4 buses Darlo to Walsall Walsall to Lichfield and then vice Versa. If I paid by Card would I pay £2 on four buses so £8 or would they charge me for a daysaver £4.50 or is it better to pay £4.50 on My first Bus in cash and know I don't have to pay again

It should cap it at £4.50 via card payments as long as you used NX buses for all trips. You may have an issue if you caught a non- NX bus in the West Mids on one trip though. I'm old school though and would much rather have a paper ticket so would pay cash knowing there won't be any issue then.

The buses with Euro 6 exhaust upgrades, once upgraded will the bus always be classed then as Euro 6 or  will the system need continued upgrading through its life due to normal degradation of the system for it to stay as Euro 6? 

Poor results from Mobico this morning after numerous delays & missing their own EBIT targets:

FY Results 2023:
https://tools.eurolandir.com/tools/Pressreleases/GetPressRelease/?ID=4505169&lang=en-GB&companycode=uk-nex&v=r2023

Q1 Trading Update:
https://tools.eurolandir.com/tools/Pressreleases/GetPressRelease/?ID=4505170&lang=en-GB&companycode=uk-nex&v=r2023

CFO James Stamp has also fallen on his sword:
https://tools.eurolandir.com/tools/Pressreleases/GetPressRelease/?ID=4505175&lang=en-GB&companycode=uk-nex&v=r2023

Group share price down to new all time lows of 54p valuing entire group at just £331 million.

While certainly not a great year over the whole group, reading the report for the U.K. bus and coach operations makes far more positive reading - return to 98% pre-Covid passenger numbers is amazing really compared to the situation just 2 years ago, and I doubt many other U.K. operators have regained passengers to that level so far.

Also, the big cost in this area was the 16% driver wage increase costing £130 million from last January. Looking forwards, such a one off dent in profitability won't likely happen this year so overall profitability should be pretty good in the UK market. If NX can shed some of the excess baggage in other areas of the business, the UK operations should provide a decent area for growth for the company and hopefully a potential merger with First which I believe would suit both companies.

Having got to know the Stourbridge network quite well in recent years, I'd make changes to the tendered routes running from there, particularly the 17, 25 and 57.

The 25 seems to carry fresh air on the Stourbridge and Wollaston section so I'd get rid of that service altogether (seems to run a crazy 30 min frequency too which is far too high on that section).

I'd replace it by re-routing the 17 along the 25 route from Stourbridge via Wollaston back to the a491 at Audnam (there's no need for the 17 to run direct along that section of a491 from Stourbridge as it is served by the pretty regular commercial services 6 and 16).

I would then also send the 17 along the current 25 route by turning right up Bretell Lane and current route off that up to Swan Lane. However instead of then continuing the 25 to Dudley, run via Swan Lane and the 226 route to get back onto the a491 to serve Wordsley. The 226 can cover the 25 route over most of those lost sections up to Brierley Hill and Merry Hill.

I'd also get rid of the 57 which also rarely sees high passenger numbers. Most of the route up to Wall Heath and Kingswinford is covered by the 16 and doesn't need replication against a commercial route. The missing bits of the 57 through estate roads aren't a million miles away from other routes either.

The missing bit in Wall Heath of the 57 could just have a further bit tagged onto the 'new' 17 so again the 17 doesn't just replicate the 16 route.

This would obviously lengthen the 17 route but ultimately provides what tendered services should, services where commercial operation isn't feasible. It would also save substantial money for the local authority too as getting rid of the 25 and 57 would save money (even if some sort of replacement on demand type-service, over any substantial missing section, was needed).

4069 (or it might have been 3867) may well have been behind 125 in that FA Cup procession.

Talking about Fleetline 3867, there is a current article on the Worcester News website showing this vehicle being used as the promotion vehicle for the opening of the Worcester southern link road (bypass). 

Link: https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/24233179.worcester-nostalgia-southern-link-road-carrington-bridge/

Apparently, it was the first vehicle that ran on that road. I'm sure a few Midland Red fans were put out seeing a WMPTE bus in core Midland Red territory!!!

Made the mistake once of catching the 258 in Brum city centre to Merry Hill. Never again! That route went on for ever. Was even longer still when it went to Wolverhampton.

The £2 max fare offer will likely continue for the foreseeable future, the hop fare would have had to rise in contrast anyway so would likely have ended up being £1.80 so hardly any point keeping it. Far easier for passengers to have a flat fare, £2 is easy to remember too and very good value really even for a short hop.

https://www.birminghamworld.uk/news/birmingham-busiest-bus-routes-national-express-west-midlands-4522034
74 seems to have come out 1st.

They have the wrong 16 labelled at number 10 - I'm sure they mean the every 5 mins 16 Brum to Scott Arms rather than the half hourly 16 Wolvo to Stourbridge! 

I saw Metro 2789 coming back along the A491 in Amblecote, maybe on the way back to Pensnett.

Wow you have a wonder attitude towards your job.

I would take a guess that 2900 is a careful driver who has had minimal incidents over the years. I'm sure his passengers would rather get from a to b safely even if, at times, they may run a few minutes late.

I don't know what CPC recommendations NXWM use, but at First we were encouraged to use the Smith's system of driving to minimise incidents. As part of this, we were encouraged to spend an extra few seconds at stops (to ensure passengers sat down, etc). These few seconds add up to maybe 5 minutes over a full journey yet drastically reduce incidents on board the bus. 

Driving slower for safety reasons is completely different to those drivers who purposefully drive slowly so the bus behind has to pick up their passengers - that is unprofessional driving yet what 2900 details is perfectly reasonable in my view.

All this moaning about the 74 on West Brom match days got me thinking about the football specials that were run in the past.

Does anyone have a list of all of the football special services that used to run for WBA, Villa, Blues and Wolves?

Also, I seem to remember on Easter bank holiday games, West Brom used to pay to put on a full range of local services direct to and from the game - I recall seeing multiple Metrobuses parked up along the Birmingham Road in the early 2000s. Anyone remember this too?