Pensnett Garage

[winston]

From working at NX I haven't heard any plans to move routes or vehicles into Penenstt in the near future.

But perhaps the Sandwelll review may well have some knock on effect on other garages than WB in the Autumn

If you look at the pdf site plan, the extra land is a fair old size adding 77,155 sq ft of additional parking space, although it's a narrower plot, it's long and it may not be that far off the current area of parking space, therefore doubling the size of the parking area. However, I suspect some of the additional land will be required to provide additional staff parking, as that's already an issue with the current allocation 

[Ash]

It wouldnt suprise me if the outer parking area down the road from WB garage goes, reducing the number of buses WB can accomodate as the land is being all revamped and rebuilt on around the actual site. So with the extra space at Pensnett a service such as the 74 could transfer to Pensnett and likely a service like a 238 returns to WB wouldnt this mean drivers having to move from West Brom garage to Pensnett as there will be less drivers needed.

[winston]

TBH i've never seen anything to suggest the parking area was going to be used in the plans to redevelop West Bromwich town centre, although it could be useful for extra parking for the police station or as a small Park and Ride site for Lodge Road Metro stop.

How many vehicles does the former Stevensons garage hold these days?

I'd be very surprised if the Sandwell Review led to any significant increases in pvr at WB, thus WB would have to loose a route to Pensnett etc

[Ash]

TBH i've never seen anything to suggest the parking area was going to be used in the plans to redevelop West Bromwich town centre, although it could be useful for extra parking for the police station or as a small Park and Ride site for Lodge Road Metro stop.

Im not saying that it is going to be lost just that with all the redevelopment going on around West Bromwich and the surrounding areas around the bus garage and the parking area, it wouldnt suprise me if the parking area would be used for redevelopment like you said as a car park for the police station etc

[richie]

dudley services or merry hill/stourbridge services theres a clue

Maybe the 87/82, 255/255E and 257 ?

[winston]

dudley services or merry hill/stourbridge services theres a clue

Maybe the 87/82, 255/255E and 257 ?

Richie, would the 256 not be included in those as that is interworked with the above.

That would then beg the question as to what double deckers could be transferred in to Pensnett, 82/87 is currently Volvo B7TL/Wright Gemini while the 255/6 & 257 are Trident/ALX400, all of which are currently non standard to Pensnett. Surely you wouldn't want to consider introducing two additional types of double deckers due to having to carry spares/train the fitters etc

I can understand WB loosing routes if they decide to close the former Stevensons overflow bus park, but WN's fleet strength is already quite a bit below what is has been in the past, what we be the benefit of WN loosing further Pvr/routes?

[karl724223]

maybe 82 87 74 688 from wb to pn
255 256 257 from wn to pn
work from wa to wn
451 from wb to pb
other brum work from wb to bc
and wa to opperate all wb local routes
thats my guess for the night

[winston]

maybe 82 87 74 688 from wb to pn
255 256 257 from wn to pn
work from wa to wn
451 from wb to pb
other brum work from wb to bc
and wa to opperate all wb local routes
thats my guess for the night

Karl, based on your proposals, your suggesting the whole of WB garage would be closed. I believe Richie confirmed WB garage was having a complete new roof, so I would have thought that being unlikely.

Also PB is already at capacity, PB couldn't take delivery of their Enviro's for the 33 due to lack of space, which was why they were prepared for service elsewhere & effectively swapped.

Either way sounds like the PE allocation is going to get more varied, hopefully they'll gain additional spare double deckers to be to allocate them on to existing PE boards that require the additional capacity in the peaks

[MW]

I can't see WB being so keen on losing key routes like the Soho Road and Dudley Road routes though. If it was to lose them, the recent complaints of a lack of investment in West Bromwich will be worse as many core routes into Birmingham, I can't see their revenue justifying new vehicles.

I think they'd lose something like the 127, 128, 238.

That'd mean the loss of around 15 double deck and 4 single deck. So say 20 vehicles lost to Dudley. Based on today's allocation, if they lose 20 ALX400 to Dudley, and transferred the remaining 11 to Perry Barr in exchange for Geminis. That'd cancel out a vehicle type at West Bromwich.

So 15, roughly, would work the 127/128 (if I've got my PVR figures right). The remaining 5 could work single deck workings of routes that need double deckers at PE, leaving some Mercs to operate the 238.

[MW]

238 already at Pensnett.

It's switched so many times I've lost track!

[wbdriver]

Looking on Google Earth there is a pic of the overflow with 47 buses parked up.

off the top of my head, i think the gaffer only wants so many up "Oak Road" as it's called at the garage, i think 35 at most.

services used to book on up there in the mornings and was a pain if your bus was back at "Oak Lane" (main garage), meaning parking the car at the garage, walking or catching a lift up to Oak Road and then going back down to Oak Lane to get your bus ready.

Many a bus left garage late due to this so all morning book ons are down at Oak Lane now.

but i can't see Oak Road going yet as people are pointing out thats where withdrawn vehicles are being parked at the minute.

also, i hope this sandwell review will give us some new buses to replace the B6 and Mercs (but i can dream lol)

[winston]

238 already at Pensnett.

And is already operated by Mercs since the B7RLE's arrived at PE

[winston]

Looking on Google Earth there is a pic of the overflow with 47 buses parked up.

off the top of my head, i think the gaffer only wants so many up "Oak Road" as it's called at the garage, i think 35 at most.

services used to book on up there in the mornings and was a pain if your bus was back at "Oak Lane" (main garage), meaning parking the car at the garage, walking or catching a lift up to Oak Road and then going back down to Oak Lane to get your bus ready.

Many a bus left garage late due to this so all morning book ons are down at Oak Lane now.

but i can't see Oak Road going yet as people are pointing out thats where withdrawn vehicles are being parked at the minute.

also, i hope this sandwell review will give us some new buses to replace the B6 and Mercs (but i can dream lol)

I'd be surprised if the Sandwell Review led to any significant Pvr increases at WB, so it does make you wonder what the plan is behind the Pensnett expansion, or could just be to increase capacity and allow for potential future expansion in the Dudley area. There is the Brierley Hill bus network improvements to consider, which could lead to increased frequencies / possible new routes in time. Also whether the Oak Road site will remain as an overflow bus park or just to store withdrawn vehicles etc

[Ash]

Looking on Google Earth there is a pic of the overflow with 47 buses parked up.

off the top of my head, i think the gaffer only wants so many up "Oak Road" as it's called at the garage, i think 35 at most.

services used to book on up there in the mornings and was a pain if your bus was back at "Oak Lane" (main garage), meaning parking the car at the garage, walking or catching a lift up to Oak Road and then going back down to Oak Lane to get your bus ready.

Many a bus left garage late due to this so all morning book ons are down at Oak Lane now.

but i can't see Oak Road going yet as people are pointing out thats where withdrawn vehicles are being parked at the minute.

also, i hope this sandwell review will give us some new buses to replace the B6 and Mercs (but i can dream lol)

I'd be surprised if the Sandwell Review led to any significant Pvr increases at WB, so it does make you wonder what the plan is behind the Pensnett expansion, or could just be to increase capacity and allow for potential future expansion in the Dudley area. There is the Brierley Hill bus network improvements to consider, which could lead to increased frequencies / possible new routes in time. Also whether the Oak Road site will remain as an overflow bus park or just to store withdrawn vehicles etc

I agree look how many buses were withdrawn with the Coventry network review in Feb, apart from the solo's im struggling to think of any as the merc 0405NG were withdrawn due to the introduction of the enviro400 not the review and also introduced before the review anyway even the b6le's remained in service.

[Roy]

If you look at the pdf site plan, the extra land is a fair old size adding 77,155 sq ft of additional parking space, although it's a narrower plot, it's long and it may not be that far off the current area of parking space, therefore doubling the size of the parking area. However, I suspect some of the additional land will be required to provide additional staff parking, as that's already an issue with the current allocation 

Using the ruler function of Google Earth, the current site is about 99,500 sq ft, with the current yard about 82,500 sq ft.  Therefore, the extra land will increase the current area by over 90%.  The current allocation at Pensnett is about 111.