Rotala Management - Questions & Answers

[sonic84]

Another question Simon-sorry! What is your opinion on route branding as we have seen a lot of it go at diamond even though it seemed popular and looked really smart Thanks

other than

226/50 what other Diamond routes were branded ?, 529 branding was still alive at Xmas running in bilston on 42
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90949252@N04/8582734085/in/set-72157632441422617

As you say Nathan, 226, 50, 16, 17, 97, 37, 10(H), 119, 401E, 142, 002, 529 and also some redditch routes were sort of branded-144/57/58 etc and at worcester 30/31-maybe more.

Don't forget the 4 (404) Black Country connection

Course!! How did I forget that??!! Best ones were the bcc, super 16, nifty 50 and double o 2 in my opinion

I dunno the ones for Worcester city services competing with First were pretty good, Oooh Matron!

Haha there was ooh matron! forgot about that and then the super melons one as well. In fairness, they were imaginative brandings and some quite funny but shame some people dont have a sense of humour

Which route was "Ooh Matron" for?

It was for the 37 in Worcester, but from memory the branding was removed when staff at the hospital complained.

[PM]

Another question Simon-sorry! What is your opinion on route branding as we have seen a lot of it go at diamond even though it seemed popular and looked really smart Thanks

other than

226/50 what other Diamond routes were branded ?, 529 branding was still alive at Xmas running in bilston on 42
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90949252@N04/8582734085/in/set-72157632441422617

As you say Nathan, 226, 50, 16, 17, 97, 37, 10(H), 119, 401E, 142, 002, 529 and also some redditch routes were sort of branded-144/57/58 etc and at worcester 30/31-maybe more.

Don't forget the 4 (404) Black Country connection

Course!! How did I forget that??!! Best ones were the bcc, super 16, nifty 50 and double o 2 in my opinion

I dunno the ones for Worcester city services competing with First were pretty good, Oooh Matron!

Haha there was ooh matron! forgot about that and then the super melons one as well. In fairness, they were imaginative brandings and some quite funny but shame some people dont have a sense of humour

Which route was "Ooh Matron" for?

It was for the 37 in Worcester, but from memory the branding was removed when staff at the hospital complained.

Sadly yes but they lost the route anyway.

[Jay]

Why don't you extend the 226 to west bromwich daily?

They cannot run the 226 right now as some drivers not all ( Some will run to time but others will park up and fake a brake down ( well thats what they tell Centro then leave on hansons time))  will hang back or park up on route and then run on hanson time. so before you send it to west brom i think Simon will have to look in to why his drives are doing the above and taking the **** out him and rotala. ps Simon they do mess about on the night when centro pay you to run the routre

I am surprised by your comments.  This service has come under scrutiny from VOSA.  From their investigations 95% or more of our journeys operate with in the window of tolerance.  That being said, any VOSA view is at those given point in time.  We do monitor these services on an on going basis, if you have specific examples of were this has happened I would appreciate some exact information off line.  It is important that we run our services properly and we do not give instructions to drivers to or any member of staff to act inappropriately.

Hi Simon

Thanks for your comments this is were we have to agree to disagree, but i think the best thing to do know is leave this matter for this forum but if you want to talk please contact me off the forum

[Diamond Geezer]

It was for the 37 in Worcester, but from memory the branding was removed when staff at the hospital complained.

The branding wasn't removed because the hospital complained - although it made headline news around the UK and Europe, Matron ran on the back of the bus until the contract came to an end.

The one that was tweaked was 'Ride Me All Night' to 'Catch Me All Night' on the 31 branded Solo following 'feedback' from the University, Police and, urm, a rape support group.  We were referring to the bus - dunno what they were referring to  :o ::)

[Liverpool Street]

It was for the 37 in Worcester, but from memory the branding was removed when staff at the hospital complained.

The branding wasn't removed because the hospital complained - although it made headline news around the UK and Europe, Matron ran on the back of the bus until the contract came to an end.

The one that was tweaked was 'Ride Me All Night' to 'Catch Me All Night' on the 31 branded Solo following 'feedback' from the University, Police and, urm, a rape support group.  We were referring to the bus - dunno what they were referring to  :o ::)

HAHAHAHA!!!!!

[PM]

It was for the 37 in Worcester, but from memory the branding was removed when staff at the hospital complained.

The branding wasn't removed because the hospital complained - although it made headline news around the UK and Europe, Matron ran on the back of the bus until the contract came to an end.

The one that was tweaked was 'Ride Me All Night' to 'Catch Me All Night' on the 31 branded Solo following 'feedback' from the University, Police and, urm, a rape support group.  We were referring to the bus - dunno what they were referring to  :o ::)

Haha thats brilliant-did it have a picture of someone on the back or something? And people do go totally over the top

[Ash]

It was for the 37 in Worcester, but from memory the branding was removed when staff at the hospital complained.

The branding wasn't removed because the hospital complained - although it made headline news around the UK and Europe, Matron ran on the back of the bus until the contract came to an end.

The one that was tweaked was 'Ride Me All Night' to 'Catch Me All Night' on the 31 branded Solo following 'feedback' from the University, Police and, urm, a rape support group.  We were referring to the bus - dunno what they were referring to  :o ::)

Haha thats brilliant-did it have a picture of someone on the back or something? And people do go totally over the top

There you go, theres the article and photo of the advert on the back of the bus.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1258371/Ooooh-Matron-Upset-nurses-demand-bus-company-removes-demeaning-advert-promoting-bus-route-hospital.html

[Nathan4775]

advert looks alright to me  ;)

[PM]

Since Tony received his fleet list.  There has been some fleet changes, and I think some of you expressed a desire to take pictures of the buses before they go.  Since Monday of this week, we have accepted offer on the following

1.  Willenhall Commercials

K123/6URP, plus all 5 darts parked up at Redditch and Kidderminster

2.  Peter Reddish - for Scrap

The last lance at Kidderminster

3.  A Bristol operator with 1 or 2 vehicles.

These are planned to be removed after service on Monday

R220MSA
P401MLA


Does anyone on here know which 5 darts are parked up at redditch/kiddy-cos not interested in the MLA ones really as theyre vile but MSA need to get tomorrow along with YCR and CCV. Are all of these still in service? Just out of interest as i dont live very near worcestershire so dont get out there very often. Hope that someone from redditch or kidderminster or Simon could help here?

[Cedric]

Since Tony received his fleet list.  There has been some fleet changes, and I think some of you expressed a desire to take pictures of the buses before they go.  Since Monday of this week, we have accepted offer on the following

1.  Willenhall Commercials

K123/6URP, plus all 5 darts parked up at Redditch and Kidderminster

2.  Peter Reddish - for Scrap

The last lance at Kidderminster

3.  A Bristol operator with 1 or 2 vehicles.

These are planned to be removed after service on Monday

R220MSA
P401MLA


Does anyone on here know which 5 darts are parked up at redditch/kiddy-cos not interested in the MLA ones really as theyre vile but MSA need to get tomorrow along with YCR and CCV. Are all of these still in service? Just out of interest as i dont live very near worcestershire so dont get out there very often. Hope that someone from redditch or kidderminster or Simon could help here?

not 100% sure what is parked up in Kidderminster   but P 403 mla did the late 292 on  Saturday  and  all the adds  inside  have been removed   and  it was very clean inside  so do not  know if that on could be going

[bwsau cymru]

Hello and great to see your here.

I have a couple of questions for you

1. when Veolia transport lost the nx coach work did you put in a bid for the London 410/420 as well

2. will you be looking to purchase any buses with leather seats still?

and finally id just like to thank you for running rotala its good to see competition in the west midlands as it gives customers choice.

[PM]

Since Tony received his fleet list.  There has been some fleet changes, and I think some of you expressed a desire to take pictures of the buses before they go.  Since Monday of this week, we have accepted offer on the following

1.  Willenhall Commercials

K123/6URP, plus all 5 darts parked up at Redditch and Kidderminster

2.  Peter Reddish - for Scrap

The last lance at Kidderminster

3.  A Bristol operator with 1 or 2 vehicles.

These are planned to be removed after service on Monday

R220MSA
P401MLA


Does anyone on here know which 5 darts are parked up at redditch/kiddy-cos not interested in the MLA ones really as theyre vile but MSA need to get tomorrow along with YCR and CCV. Are all of these still in service? Just out of interest as i dont live very near worcestershire so dont get out there very often. Hope that someone from redditch or kidderminster or Simon could help here?

not 100% sure what is parked up in Kidderminster   but P 403 mla did the late 292 on  Saturday  and  all the adds  inside  have been removed   and  it was very clean inside  so do not  know if that on could be going

No worries but thanks for the info about 403 as not all darts seem to being sold this time round but just trying to find out if any other pointer 2s other than the R...CAH one are being sold this time round

[Lukeee]

Another question Simon-sorry! What is your opinion on route branding as we have seen a lot of it go at diamond even though it seemed popular and looked really smart Thanks

other than

226/50 what other Diamond routes were branded ?, 529 branding was still alive at Xmas running in bilston on 42
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90949252@N04/8582734085/in/set-72157632441422617

As you say Nathan, 226, 50, 16, 17, 97, 37, 10(H), 119, 401E, 142, 002, 529 and also some redditch routes were sort of branded-144/57/58 etc and at worcester 30/31-maybe more.

Route 56 was also branded for a while

[Ash]

Although not officially route branded 802-805 and 807-813 carried the £2 return branding on the front windscreen for the 401E/404E services. 30201-30207 also carried similar £2 return branding on their front windscreen for the 301 service and these buses along with the centro's were rarely seen off route. 801 and 806 at that time were used on the 202 so never had the return branding for the 401E/404E.

[Simon Dunn]

Had a nice ride round the diamond network today and caught some of the new enviros which are nice and some of the ex yourbus darts

Couple of points:

Why did diamond initially try to sell all the ex first enviro300s?

One of the ex yourbus darts still has yourbus interior notices-could these be removed? Other than that, great buses and the ones at redditch/kidderminster seem to rattle a lot less than 20849.

Which buses are the priority for repaint at the moment?

Oh and in walsall bus station, I asked about the diamond 301 timetable which didnt seem to be there only to be told diamond didnt run the 301 anymore?? when I could see one outside-maybe this is the problem with bus information points ran by nx officials.

Thanks Simon

Thank you for your comments

In response to your questions

1.  Having acquire the two businesses based at Redditch and Kidderminster, I was approached and made an offer for the E300's.  I was not really interested in selling them, but as this offer was more than I viewed they were worth I decided to put them in the weekly advert we were running.  As if someone was prepared to pay more, maybe it made sense to dispose of them and replace with newer vehicles.
2.  Yes, the YourBus information should not be on.  Ironically I acquired these vehicles from Ensign Bus. 
3.  We must have about 6 vehicles going through paint at the moment.  We have now paid for the 3 x 59 plate Volvo's (they will go into paint soon), we agreed a deal with Wrights on Friday for 12 Streetlites.  We need to get all these vehicles into fleet to create capacity to repaint other vehicles.
4.  This is because we did not sign up to the Network review in this area.

Will any of the newly acquired buses be for the Midlands?

Of the 12 vehicles we have agreed to acquire.  7 are 10.8 metre New Buses, 5 are due now and the Balance in January.  5 are 9.5m versions.  1 is New, 4 are 2012 Registration.  Unless something changes, we expect all the first 5 Long 10.8m version will go to Redditch and 3 of the Used 9.5m versions will go to Avonmouth.