If you had the chance to modify or add any service, what would you do?

[TheMidlandsTrident]

As all services in Coventry have to be electric and BC has no, and won't be getting any charging facilities I think you can rule that out

For now, run it with diesel double deckers (which is allowed as stagecoach X18 along with others). Then see, if it is viable buy it electrics, if not get rid of the route.

[TheMidlandsTrident]

I can understand this, but would a non-stop service would it meet its costs?  If the fare cap didn't exist, £2.70 for 20 miles would be a bargain.

My guess is that improving the X1 frequency is a more viable option for NXWM.  The X1 has alot of intermediate traffic which I expect makes a big difference to the bottom line.

Well im not that local to coventry (stratford upon avon) but when there was no fare cap wasn't it a bargain anyways. I dont know if the x1 had different pricing to the other routes so correct me if im wrong, but £2.70 was the price anyways.

Improving the frequency and making it every 10 minutes would be good, but do CV have enough double deckers for that?

I ride the x1 around once or twice a week, since september so these are just my thoughts. I always do the full run from coventry to birmingham and while some people do get off at BHX (15 at a guess) id say most people do the full run cov to bham.

[Tony]

For now, run it with diesel double deckers (which is allowed as stagecoach X18 along with others). Then see, if it is viable buy it electrics, if not get rid of the route.

The X1 itself isn't a money spinner, en express one would lose a fortune, very few people actually want to go from Birmingham to Coventry or vice versa, and those that do use the train (20 minutes) as opposed to nearly an hour an express bus would take

[TheMidlandsTrident]

You'd have no standees because there'd be hardly any passengers.

I doubt you'd have hardly any passengers. I bet from experience you could probably fill a 12m single decker (45 seater or so), if not a 10.3 meter platinum. Every time i go on the x1 it is packed and seriously needs more frequency.

[TheMidlandsTrident]

The X1 itself isn't a money spinner, en express one would lose a fortune, very few people actually want to go from Birmingham to Coventry or vice versa, and those that do use the train (20 minutes) as opposed to nearly an hour an express bus would take

But a lot of people are people who work in --lower paid-- jobs and just want the cheapest way home. In peak times £2 compared to £5.40 is a fair difference. In non peak £2 compared to £2.70 is not that big of a difference.

[Tony]

I ride the x1 around once or twice a week, since september so these are just my thoughts. I always do the full run from coventry to birmingham and while some people do get off at BHX (15 at a guess) id say most people do the full run cov to bham.

I don't know where you get that impression from. When the bus leaves Birmingham full nearly everyone gets off before the Airport. It is an excellent 'commuter bus' from Sheldon & Yardley which is where most of its passengers come from, at the Coventry end it is the main bus for Holyhead Road people, but from personal experience of driving it going through Meriden passengers on board are quite sparse.

[TheMidlandsTrident]

I don't know where you get that impression from. When the bus leaves Birmingham full nearly everyone gets off before the Airport. It is an excellent 'commuter bus' from Sheldon & Yardley which is where most of its passengers come from, at the Coventry end it is the main bus for Holyhead Road people, but from personal experience of driving it going through Meriden passengers on board are quite sparse.

I generally ride the 13:25 departure, idk if you have ever driven that. 

Every time i am onboard the bus is packed until pool meadow.

I suppose my impression is likely quite limited as i only ride one journey.

[Jack]

I will agree to an extent that the X1 needs a better frequency, I myself am sick of getting on or fighting to get rammed Deckers with rude drivers. Much preferred BC on the X1.

I'm not sure why they ever took off the Brum to Airport shorts they was very much useful, the Brum to Airport section needs a frequency increase as does a lot of the routes in the West Mids but yet nothing has been done about that.

[Jay71]

I'd like to see Diamond or NX run a express from Birmingham to Wolverhampton.

[ellspurs]

I don't know where you get that impression from. When the bus leaves Birmingham full nearly everyone gets off before the Airport. It is an excellent 'commuter bus' from Sheldon & Yardley which is where most of its passengers come from, at the Coventry end it is the main bus for Holyhead Road people, but from personal experience of driving it going through Meriden passengers on board are quite sparse.

The first journey from Birmingham to Coventry that reached Meriden at 0930 used to fill up very quickly in Meriden when I was using it to commute.

[Tony]

The first journey from Birmingham to Coventry that reached Meriden at 0930 used to fill up very quickly in Meriden when I was using it to commute.

Yes, but as you say from Meriden, not people passing through

[Tony]

I'd like to see Diamond or NX run a express from Birmingham to Wolverhampton.

Why? Again it would take close on an hour against 20 minutes on the train or 40 on the tram.

It amazes me how many people on this thread just suggest services that have already been tried & failed (979)

[MasterPlan]

Just out of curiosity, was the option of splitting the X1 at the Airport ever considered? Two routes, Cov-Airport and Airport-Birmingham?

[Tony]

Just out of curiosity, was the option of splitting the X1 at the Airport ever considered? Two routes, Cov-Airport and Airport-Birmingham?

What benefit would that have? wouldn't gain any extra passengers but would lose passengers that do pass through the airport, Meriden to Birmingham for example.

Express Birmingham to Coventry was another suggestion log lost to being unviable. The X6 Coventry to Leicester is a left over of the X66 Birmingham to Leicester route, see link  Timetable Search: Service x66 (midlandred.net)

To give you an example of why it wouldn't work now at the current fares, the average take per passenger in the West Midlands is around £1.20 it costs around £50 per hour to run a bus, so every journey would need 40 passengers just to get to break even point. To make it viable you would be charging fares similar to what the trains charge, and then the train becomes even more attractive.

[Ronnoc]

It amazes me how many people on this thread just suggest services that have already been tried & failed (979)

That's the fun of the thread I guess.

I would really love to see just a small indication of which NX routes are profitable/unprofitable (and by what margin). I know there's the high frequency routes that would obviously be the most profitable (50, 74, etc). However, it would be interesting to see some form of statistics.