Preston Bus Tridents at Cannock

[StourportSam]

Having said that, a solo could be OK on the 3 between Stourport and Kidderminster now that Whittle have taken all the passengers! :D

[Cedric]

Having said that, a solo could be OK on the 3 between Stourport and Kidderminster now that Whittle have taken all the passengers! :D

the solos you refered to that first tried in 20011/12  where only 21 seaters and the slimline version , diamond  and whittles   are about  the same in to number of seats provided  as whittles only mpd darts  mostly , on the 3  , whittles do use a bigger bus on the 192  which goes a slightly different route to the 3  and x3 If diamond  cut the birchen coppice housing estate out the  would get more passengers , as the two companies services run at the same time give or take a couple of mins , first always used a lance on this route

[winston]

In that case, do we know what is happening to these preston tridents? Possibly coming into west midlands fleet or sold on, as was the plan. Personally, I think ex lothian tridents at redditch would be nice

The ex Lothian Tridents are probably in much better condition than the ex First London ones.

Makes you wonder what Rotala/Diamond are planning to use in Redditch with the 3 x Enviro 300's & possibly all 10 x Trident Plaxton being for sale, that will be most if not all of the ex First larger capacity vehicles going with the Lances also due for withdrawal.

Anything from Lothian you're right Winston will be in good nick as they look after their buses-will ex london tridents that have since been battered around by first all over the place match up? Rotala are really going to have a bus shortage if all this is sold

They must be planning on replacing the Redditch Tridents with something, there have already been a number of complaints about overcrowding in Redditch posted on Diamonds Facebook page, some of the Pvr will be reduced by First de-registering their 57/58 without Diamond upping the frequency of their existing 57/58 services (unless I missed it?).

I thought I read somewhere that the refurb job/removal of centre doors done on those ex First London Tridents wasn't as good a quality as what First Rotherham unit are churning out

[winston]

I hate to say it but #i dont think Rotala have any idea what they have got them selves into with buying Redditch and Kidderminster. I say that as they seem to think Darts are better than 3 enviro 300's which is bonkers.

Unless Rotala have some new full size single deckers on order we don't know about or are planning on ordering some in the near future, I'm inclined to agree, if they are intending to run a fleet of second hand Darts & Solos in RH & KR with 12 x B7RLE , I think they are asking for trouble, in Redditch someone may seize the opportunity to start up a competing operation so Rotala will be back to square on and Whittle's will up the anti in Kidderminster 

[winston]

I hate to say it but #i dont think Rotala have any idea what they have got them selves into with buying Redditch and Kidderminster. I say that as they seem to think Darts are better than 3 enviro 300's which is bonkers.

Again I agree. Particularly the solos-darts are quite good but why on earth did they buy these solos. As has been pointed out before-solos are for tendered routes, not routes that need full size single decks. Yes, some may have 33 seats but they are minibuses, at the end of the day

It's made me cringe this week seeing the solos in Kidderminster! I seem to remember First trying them in 2011/12 and not being very popular at all...

Why on earth are rotala doing it??? If you have popular routes, put bigger buses on and make them more popular dont hamper their success by using small buses and driving people away

Pass, the Diamond operation just doesn't compare to their Wessex & Preston operations. how long before a KR Solo appears on the X3?

[Cedric]

I hate to say it but #i dont think Rotala have any idea what they have got them selves into with buying Redditch and Kidderminster. I say that as they seem to think Darts are better than 3 enviro 300's which is bonkers.

Again I agree. Particularly the solos-darts are quite good but why on earth did they buy these solos. As has been pointed out before-solos are for tendered routes, not routes that need full size single decks. Yes, some may have 33 seats but they are minibuses, at the end of the day

It's made me cringe this week seeing the solos in Kidderminster! I seem to remember First trying them in 2011/12 and not being very popular at all...

Why on earth are rotala doing it??? If you have popular routes, put bigger buses on and make them more popular dont hamper their success by using small buses and driving people away

Pass, the Diamond operation just doesn't compare to their Wessex & Preston operations. how long before a KR Solo appears on the X3?

well they already use them on the 303, 

[Bob]

Are Diamond making a pretty crap first impression then?

[PM]

Are Diamond making a pretty crap first impression then?

I would say that diamond have a slight mountain to climb. The basics are there: drivers, buses, successful routes and a solid customer base. However, improvements are needed: new buses-maybe rotala could wait to see if the mmc makea fuss. If not, sell the church road depot and long acre for redevelopment and then use the proceeds to buy new buses for the business. In the meantime, buying good second hand mid life darts and centros would seem to be a good idea. Apart from that, strategies to grow the business are required and thats pretty much it I would say

[tank90]

Diamond need a Dunn in Charge thats why Wessex and Preston have investment, or someone who is as strong as a Dunn and I don't think the Head of Diamond is. I mean the new livery is a joke it looks like a 2 year olds approach to a fleet colour or Biros attempt. Ok the blue is fair enough but if the had imposed the Signature swish on top it would have broken up the blue. Then if you have Diamnd in a white on the front with each area having there own colour diamond shaped O ie Black having a black one Worcestershire Red and birmingham Blue you keep the brands they ve worked so hard to build. Why there Marketing team have failed to see this is beyond me, Ok my marketing has come from Alex Polizzi on BBC 2 but you can work it out with out getting her flash friends involved, its not Rocket Science at the end of the day.

I know its hard to run a team but, when we look at Wessex with Wessex RED and Royal Bath and Preston Buses Livery compaird to Diamond new Livery it looks a complete shambles, but then you look at Diamond Signature and you think what the why the * are you messing around with solid Blue for.

[Bob]

I thought Diamond seemed an operation in decline... but now theyve gone and expanded

[Ash]

Diamond may be waiting to get the all clear from the mmc or whatever its called before making an investment. When rotala brought ludlows there 3 newest buses were sold straight away being the 3 omnicity's other buses followed including the 2 scania flolines which where great buses to travel on and could hold a high capacity of passengers but were sold to midland classic. I think diamond maybe getting rid of the 3 enviro 300 and presidents to try and reduce the number of vehicle types being used and standardise the fleet. At the moment the 8 hybrid versa's seem a waste on the 16 with blue diamond that service these days could easily cope with solo's or mpd's therefore moving the hybrids to Redditch or Kidderminster to improve the fleet or even back to Tividale and use them on the 4/4H/4M. I think it would be good if Rotala could acquire some more centro's from some dealers as they operate quite a few already and seem reliable, high capacity buses.

[StourportSam]

Having said that, a solo could be OK on the 3 between Stourport and Kidderminster now that Whittle have taken all the passengers! :D

the solos you refered to that first tried in 20011/12  where only 21 seaters and the slimline version , diamond  and whittles   are about  the same in to number of seats provided  as whittles only mpd darts  mostly , on the 3  , whittles do use a bigger bus on the 192  which goes a slightly different route to the 3  and x3 If diamond  cut the birchen coppice housing estate out the  would get more passengers , as the two companies services run at the same time give or take a couple of mins , first always used a lance on this route

Living in Areley Kings I would say that I see more use by Whittles of the larger darts, Enviro 200s and the Mercedes V428 DNB than the Mini Pointer Darts, which seem to be used on the 3 when there's nothing else, mainly Saturdays? For example today they had the above Mercedes, a YX03 dart and an Enviro 200. The 192 sees MPDs as well though! Yes First always used a Lance which in my view was (apart from someone having to fold down a buggy every time I was on one) the best vehicle for the service, especially the X3. Enviro 300s were even better on Sundays!

Arguably, if Birchen Coppice were cut out then revenue would be lost? For the extra 3/4 minutes or so it takes?

[winston]

Are Diamond making a pretty crap first impression then?

I don't think they've got off to a great start judging by some of the Facebook comments, they've suffered with ticketing problems particularly with ex First staff, missing buses, buses turning up 20 mins late and when they turn up they're packed, if the all full size single deckers & double deckers are going this will only exaggerate the capacity problems. Hopefully they are only teething troubles and things should start to improve over the coming weeks.... Diamond have an opportunity in Redditch to make some good money, they have a virtual monopoly over all the main town services, its good bus operating territory, if they run a good quality operation & invest in the fleet, there is no reason it shouldn't prove to be a good purchase.

One worrying thing, I've just noticed Diamond are advertising for drivers in Redditch, surely there should be an excess? as they shouldn't require all the ex First drivers due to some services duplications being removed

http://www.diamondbuses.com/news/DriverJobOpportunities-RedditchPlymouthRoad_77.html

[richie]

I hate to say it but #i dont think Rotala have any idea what they have got them selves into with buying Redditch and Kidderminster. I say that as they seem to think Darts are better than 3 enviro 300's which is bonkers.

Unless Rotala have some new full size single deckers on order we don't know about or are planning on ordering some in the near future, I'm inclined to agree, if they are intending to run a fleet of second hand Darts & Solos in RH & KR with 12 x B7RLE , I think they are asking for trouble, in Redditch someone may seize the opportunity to start up a competing operation so Rotala will be back to square on and Whittle's will up the anti in Kidderminster

If NX were ever serious about the Worcestershire area now would be a good time to consider competing with diamond

[winston]

Are Diamond making a pretty crap first impression then?

I would say that diamond have a slight mountain to climb. The basics are there: drivers, buses, successful routes and a solid customer base. However, improvements are needed: new buses-maybe rotala could wait to see if the mmc makea fuss. If not, sell the church road depot and long acre for redevelopment and then use the proceeds to buy new buses for the business. In the meantime, buying good second hand mid life darts and centros would seem to be a good idea. Apart from that, strategies to grow the business are required and thats pretty much it I would say

Peter123, I agree. However, Rotala don't own Church Road depot its only leased. If they do decide to vacate Church Road and don't 'climb the mountain', its potentially leaves the door open for a new entrant to step-up in the town operating from a purpose built depot. Rotala will then be in the same position First were in with competition on its main / high frequency profitable routes....