Recent posts

#21

National Express West Midlands / Re: Oddities, defects, faults ...

Last post by Jay71 - Yesterday at 10:04:53 PM

4746. The inside.lights on the left hand side of the downstairs deck are not working

#22

National Express West Midlands / Re: Newest Named Buses

Last post by jasmine - Yesterday at 09:57:35 PM

But Trains aren't named Jessica Grace there either named after a City so City Of Birmingham which the operator serves, A Railway person who has given service for so long, someone killed in an accident, Charity ie Steven Sutton or something to do with the Railway. Buses should be named after maybe local people or legends for that area. So a West Brom bus should be named after Cyrllie Regis or one of the Three Degrees or Jeff Astle. You could also name after a long serving or former Member of staff or a local charity so for example the Albion Foundation or Good Sheppard in Wolverhampton or maybe Birmingham Children's Hospital. A link to the local area NX Serve. Names like Jessica Grace might be picked by say a driver called Steve who only drives that bus maybe once every few months but most drivers won't care. It works for Trucks as usually the Driver has to drive that same Truck for a few days and if it is named after his family he might be reminded of them. Buses Don't work like that

i dont know if this is true or not but i remember reading somewhere that the buses are named after female relatives of the employees. dont quote me on that though https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1088838771367219243/1239683460537389108/image.png?ex=6643d0b1&is=66427f31&hm=e2fe26444c111d17b5fc932827d076fbebba1bef6344c45b81ce89357ad7cd04&=&format=webp&quality=lossless

#23

General Discussion, Questions & Route Suggestions / Re: Bus Accidents/Incidents.

Last post by 2900 - Yesterday at 09:23:31 PM

In oldbury town centre tonite a electric van has gone into a stationary platinum 6987 the force of the crash shunted it into the back of single deck scania .
The rear of 6987 has gone in quite far suspect engine components to be damaged.

#24

Garage threads / Re: West Bromwich Garage

Last post by 2900 - Yesterday at 08:57:23 PM

Well where do i start the state of things at WB, the platinums proving to be very unreliable quite easily the worst buses i've  ever experienced for reliability, its adding to the bus shortage problems here, there's that air of doing the minimum to keep buses going that are due for withdrawal going, the Gemnis still doing a sterling job at over 20 years old.
1887 wot a turd struggles to 20 mph, like driving bouncy castle while stuck in sauna.

WB platinum's issues are electrical , Red STOP light plus 1 or 2 red battery symbols common. 
All the dash lights up like a xmas tree followed by limp mode . 

#25

Other Operators / Re: Farm Workers Transport Sta...

Last post by mikestone - Yesterday at 08:56:54 PM

A Red d/d seen at teatime n Stafford coming off the Newport Road - still had a yellow line on the skirt. I don't think any of Select's do?

#26

National Express West Midlands / Re: Drivers - Bus Reviews & Op...

Last post by 2900 - Yesterday at 08:43:15 PM

4687 Wrightbus Gemni Volvo B7TL 
Great solid  all round bus just effortless to drive lovely imo. No nonsense  no stop start malarkey , press umpteen things to get going.

4954 ADL ENVIRO 400 E40D 
Great all rounder nice to drive really goes some all good in my book. its had a refurb they could of cleaned the floors while it was parked at wb while waiting for parts.
New seats grubby floors honestly

#27

National Express West Midlands / Re: Drivers - Bus Reviews & Op...

Last post by 2900 - Yesterday at 08:34:21 PM

I'm glad to know that the the 82/87 is so incredibly reliable and frequent that your passengers have the luxury of letting a bus they 'don't like the look of' go past them for the one behind.

Each to there own eh,  I love getting old buses on main corridors, it's like you have some sort of disease when you turn up, the facial expressions just priceless.
I bet Gemini in platinum livery would look ace though, shame will never see one .

#28

National Express West Midlands / Re: Hydrogen vehicles

Last post by Stu - Yesterday at 08:25:04 PM

An interesting read:

https://www.route-one.net/bus/fuel-supply-brings-challenges-for-more-hydrogen-bus-deployment/

I can't say I'm surprised, NX must have been so frustrated having 20 buses sitting idle for want of fuel.

So what of the WMCA's grand plans to generate hydrogen from canal water in Walsall I wonder?

The ZEBRA funding aspect is interesting, will the government allow that phase one funding to be re-specified as electric vehicles like they did for the Sprint bendis? I think the total grant was £30 million for 124 buses.

Yes, that was an interesting read indeed. It would seem to me that based on the current experience, NX have little to no desire to pursue the hydrogen route at this time, which is understandable as it seems that the electric buses are performing better than expected.

Of course, being out in service all day every day for most of the day, carrying passengers and earning revenue, comes in very handy.

I suppose that while NX do not intend to invest in further hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, they will still make what use they can of these 20 examples they already have. 

Great news that they can be used again from next week, if the refuelling facility is available again, but then I guess the question is how long until it breaks down again? 

I would anticipate that NX will keep hold of these hydrogens for the short-term, at least until a lot more brand-new electric buses are delivered, then at some point, maybe next year, NX will hand them back to Birmingham City Council, as I presume NX only have them under some kind of lease arrangement. What BCC do with them next is anyone's guess, but it is no longer a problem for NX to deal with!

#29

Garage threads / Re: Walsall Garage

Last post by Stu - Yesterday at 07:53:11 PM

It as nothing to do with the car speeding the car was actually going very slowly

Oh I didn't want to acuse the Bus Driver of Speeding either I know the car pulled out. There could ne numerous factors, Driver might not have seen the car reacted late as wba lad said, bus driver might have had his/her sight obstructed by something or someone. Could have been distracted by a Passenger. I also didn't want to blame the Car Driver but based on the way i interpreted it flew out the junction obviously it didn't. All that we do is 1846 is a write off further why I gathered speeding was a factor. Although the bus must have hit the car quite hard to be a write off unless it hit a Range Rover or something.

I see far too many 'near-misses' where drivers fail to 'give-way' at junctions or roundabouts.

Most drivers do get away with it (just about) by racing out of a junction, but it only takes a slow-moving car to protrude too far across the give-way lines to cause an accident and collision.

You only have to look at the damage caused to that electric bus when a car pulled out into the bus lane on Small Heath Highway in front of it.

#30

Garage threads / Re: Walsall Garage

Last post by BlackCountryBusSpotter - Yesterday at 07:38:02 PM

It as nothing to do with the car speeding the car was actually going very slowly

Oh I didn't want to acuse the Bus Driver of Speeding either I know the car pulled out. There could ne numerous factors, Driver might not have seen the car reacted late as wba lad said, bus driver might have had his/her sight obstructed by something or someone. Could have been distracted by a Passenger. I also didn't want to blame the Car Driver but based on the way i interpreted it flew out the junction obviously it didn't. All that we do is 1846 is a write off further why I gathered speeding was a factor. Although the bus must have hit the car quite hard to be a write off unless it hit a Range Rover or something.