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Big question was why did they shut lea hall now they need a depot over that way

Remembering back to what us office staff for the group at the time were told in 2010 was that NX Group was still struggling as a result of the recent handing back of the East Coast rail franchise and Stagecoach's failed takeover bid.

All parts of the company were asked to make savings to help restore the groups fortunes, so bus division decided to close a garage to reduce overheads. Lea Hall was one of the smaller ones and all it's work work could be transferred to other locations.

Is all the 19 tendered or just the Sunday service?

I know Nx had the one part after Igo, but can't remember the circumstances of them getting the other part.

The 19 is two separate tenders, one for the Monday to Saturday service and the other for Sundays. Not sure which one(s) are up for tender in this round though.

How come no hydrogen buses out today?

I understand there has been some problem at the Tyseley fuelling station which means that they haven't been able to be sent out in service.

I wonder if a passenger can request that a driver uses a certain route (ignoring scenarios when they've been told to use a certain route because of traffic, etc.)?

As it wouldn't affect a passengers ability to board or alight, I would hope not. Leave the driver to make the best decision without being bothered by passengers.

A shuttle bus service was operated today for Jaguar Land Rover in Solihull. 15 vehicles supplied by Diamond (Kidderminster depot) and 10 vehicles supplied by LandFlight.

Ah so that was why. Thanks for advising 

In the past half hour there have been at least 7 Diamond vehicles heading down Comberton Road in Kidderminster in the direction of the town centre. Didn't manage to catch any of the fleet numbers, but a mixture of Solos, B7RLE and Streetlites. 

The only scheduled route that should be running along here on a Sunday is the infrequent 52, so not sure what was happening?

Same driver, same time but two weeks later.

That same 18:40 A9 from Solihull to Blythe Valley has just shot past me in Cheswick Green running 5 mins early... does TfWM actually impose any penalties to them for this?

https://bustimes.org/services/a9-kinghurst-blyth-valley-park/vehicles?date=2023-04-08#journeys/410877637

If TfWM's own service monitoring staff see early running then they will be penalised for it.

The £2 max fare wasn't applying on the 192 either. I was charged £2.65 for a Kidderminster to Hagley single today, and some friends of mine also travelled today and wanted returns from Kidder to Halesowen, they were told to buy a £7.40 Network ticket as the best option.

Yes, that's right, WB garage to operate the route, still interworking with he 48

Could they not do emergency tenders to cover the routes would love to see uk transport have a shot only downside would be the fact that every bus needs to be euro 6

They can't really issue tenders when they have no long how long they will need to be for, it might be over in days or heaven forbid months.

And of course there is the driver issue, where will all these driver that would be needed come from.

@Tony this question has probably already been asked so I pre-apologise if it has but does this strike effect NEAT and Coach divisions or is it JUST West Midlands division of the company 

It's just NXC and NXWM, i.e West Midlands Travel Ltd

Hopefully NX Group will sort themselves out.

I think they need to claw back routes lost to SC with some aggressive business plans - just like SC are doing to other operators.

Take Coventry as an example. NXC recently gave up on running the 3 from WSP to the hospital and this was a bad business mistake in my view. The SC 60 that replaced it is doing quite well in pass no's from what I see. Modern comfy buses and drivers generally are polite & helpful. If it carries on this way demand could need a 30 min frequency in my view? NXC should never had let this happen and should fight to run the 60 if they want to survive. I wonder if NXC has gone soft on their home patch?

Sorry for the rant and not ment to wind people up.

That section of the 3 was a TfWM Tender. If it had done well enough then I am sure NXC would have run it commercially. NXC obvioulsy decided to concentrate drivers and resourseces on the commercial network.

The problem with these petitions is that they can easily be shared, and people will often just sign them, because someone has asked them to.

Reading through some of the comments there, anyone would think there are no other bus services in Dudley!

Exactly.

One wonders if the petition asked if people would be happier to pay on their Council Tax to help pay for TfWM to subsidise more services if they would then be so quick to sign! 

It seems that there will be no Chiltern services North of Banbury for 4 weeks from 13th December 

https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/strike

I believe the 42/43 will also have a new timetable from 1/1/23

Nothing registered on either operators licence on VOSA or on their websites that I can see, so must be a very late decision.