Coventry Garage

[Beano2211]

4836 is now back at Coventry

[P419 EJW]

4836's rear fleet number seems to have applied amateurishly.

[Beano2211]

4836's rear fleet number seems to have applied amateurishly.

They have now been removed!

[P419 EJW]

They have now been removed!

Saw 4836 today, and the rear fleet number is in the correct position.

[JoNi]

The internal fleetnumbers on the E200s face into the bus on the panel above the windscreen on Coventry 871-5 and above entrance door on ex Wolverhampton ones.

[Sandy Lane]

Coventry garage is tops!
Press release on NX Coventry web site
http://nxbus.co.uk/coventry/news/coventry-is-top-west-midlands-bus-garage

(Winners names removed as not sure on this forum rules)

National Express' Coventry garage has swept the board at the bus operator's yearly awards.

The Pool Meadow depot won seven awards - including Garage of the Year - at the annual prize giving, hosted by National Express Group Chief Executive, Dean Finch.

Pool Meadow beat National Express' ten other UK bus garages - Birmingham Central, Perry Barr, Yardley Wood, Acocks Green, Bordesley Green, Walsall, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton and Pensnett, plus Xplore Dundee.

Coventry garage also donated the most money to charity in 2016, raising £3,273 for Rainbow Ripples at Myton Hospice. That brought them the prize of an extra £1,000 for the charity, which offers support for children and young people.

The depot also won the Customer Service award, which rates each garage on cleanliness, punctuality and reliability.

In addition, five people from Coventry depot won individual awards.

Xxxxxxx xxxxxx was crowned National Express Driver of the Year in the bus division, beating 3,500 of his fellow drivers across the West Midlands and Dundee. Xxxxxxx is a certified Master Driver - he has passed advanced motorist and customer service qualifications over and above National Express' basic driver training, as well as recording exemplary driving scores on the in-bus computers.

Xxxxxxx was shortlisted for the company's Group Values awards in London in April, where he will be up against National Express staff from across the UK as well as Spain, Morocco and America.

The team award for Driving Out Harm went to Coventry garage's xxxxxx xxxxxx and Xxxxxx Xxxxxx for producing safety training for the city's bus routes. Armed with a Go-Pro camera and a bus, xxxxxx and Xxxxxx make videos highlighting what drivers should pay special attention to on the routes. These films go out via the depot TV for drivers to watch as they book on for duty.

Newcomer Xxxxxxx xxxxxxx won the Outstanding Support Service award. The judges said, "His enthusiasm and passion for providing a reliable service to the city is contagious."

And cleaner xxxxxx xxxxxx was named Unsung Hero for her dedication to improving cleaning standards at Coventry garage. She was especially praised for making sure that buses that had been off the road for some time go back out to passengers looking their best.

Martin Hancock, Director of the Coventry operation, said:

"These awards represent what the whole garage does really well - providing a safe, clean service that gets the buses out on the road ready to pick up passengers, day in, day out. Quietly, without drama, everyone gets on with their own tasks to deliver what our passengers need and expect.

"At the end of the day, we are in business to carry passengers and our simple aim is to carry more passengers in safety."

National Express Coventry has bucked the nationwide trend of falling bus passengers, and is now carrying more people than last year and the year before.

The 12X was a particular success in 2016. In November, extra journeys were added on Friday and Saturday evenings to serve students coming into the city for a night out. National Express Coventry has seen year-on-year growth of over 10% on services to the university.

Published 13th February  2017

[JoNi]

An antonym of drama is comedy....

I've just boarded 4413 with defective destination lights. Advised driver who said I know, as I did to the driver of the 8 the bus was on when I caught it in the dark on 8 the other night.

As Mr Hancock says same consistant standard of operation.

[Adam 404]

Service 5 will run direct down Lythalls Lane from 23rd April 2017 according to NWM Newletter.

"Withdrawn from St Lukes Road, Beacon Road, and Compton Road"

[paulb1973]

Service 5 will run direct down Lythalls Lane from 23rd April 2017 according to NWM Newletter.

"Withdrawn from St Lukes Road, Beacon Road, and Compton Road"

Has there ever been much patronage on those roads? Seemed a strange way to go when buses could go along Lythalls Lane (which for many years never had a regular service).

[JoNi]

Passengers especially elderly catch the bus which goes into the community instead having a long walk to a main road in same way the Leasowes Avenue area is now served by the 9.

The service to the area was pioneered by Midland Red South minibus service H that was every 10 minutes.

[JPC]

Passengers especially elderly catch the bus which goes into the community instead having a long walk to a main road in same way the Leasowes Avenue area is now served by the 9.

The service to the area was pioneered by Midland Red South minibus service H that was every 10 minutes.

Has there ever been much patronage on those roads? Seemed a strange way to go when buses could go along Lythalls Lane (which for many years never had a regular service).

Unsure about the patronage for this area but when looking at bus stop locations, Compton Rd can be replaced with new stops on Lythalls Lane (about 50 metres away), then another city bound stop will probably be sited on Lythalls Lane by St Lukes Rd, I would imagine most residents around the Beacon Rd stop who travel to the City Centre would already walk to Holbrook Lane for a direct/more frequent service, those travelling to Radford etc I expect will groan the most.... if this change actually goes ahead of course, thinking back to Everdon Rd last year.
Did Stagecoach ever thought about diverting any of their 55/56/57 services via these areas when they axed the 'H'?

[JoNi]

The 5 is classic example of a route that was created to mop up bits and pieces. Indeed when I caught one this morning it actually picked up two passengers in the section being removed who were travelling to Arena Tescos.
Having done the other end yesterday it can't be a lack of overall running time in the off peak as the buses potter along.
Quite why buses depart at different times from Pool Meadow on a Monday to Friday and Saturday is beyond my powers of reasoning.
There is heavy traffic in the peak using Burnaby Road but the effects on the service can easily be solved by breaking the route up at those times. Indeed you could cross link it to the 18 at Tile Hill South to give more options for reliability.
No this is just a crude fudge to save a couple of minutes running time.

[Sandy Lane]

Service 13 ex Whitmore Park into town often seem to get delayed in the evening peak. Often resulting in 3 or 4 of them, going out of town to Willenhall within a couple of minutes. Happened again tonight. A cross city route that can struggle to deliver the timetable. Needs a rethink maybe?

[JoNi]

4836 had a day on 13.

[Beano2211]

4144 is now at Coventry and 6016 is withdrawn and parked at the front of the garage.