Oft inviting comment on Diamonds RH & KR acqusition

[winston]

After alittle more playing around there is 37 seperate boards if you like, out of those 22 are a Diamond service the pertage that is NOT Diamond is 40.54% so its still far less than NXWM. The sad thing is if you look at PVRs than thats where it goes to pot as Diamond rocket out ahead, but in terms of services its still a fraction of the services in Redditch.

Fair enough, I guess it all depends on how the market share percentages are measured. I would have thought that it would be more likely based on percentage of revenue derived from Redditch. Although there are more services/operators than I had appreciated, Diamond take the lion's share of revenue with the high frequency town services

[tank90]

To be honest the number of operators makes for a short list Stagecoach Midland Red South, The Green Bus, Diamond, RBC Community Travel (aka dial-a-ride Redditch), Whoosh, Johnsons, NN Creswell, A&G Group and Dudleys.
I think there has been mail dropping on the OFTs mat at Worcester and they are looking into it now.

[winston]

To be honest the number of operators makes for a short list Stagecoach Midland Red South, The Green Bus, Diamond, RBC Community Travel (aka dial-a-ride Redditch), Whoosh, Johnsons, NN Creswell, A&G Group and Dudleys.
I think there has been mail dropping on the OFTs mat at Worcester and they are looking into it now.

To be honest, the fact the Oft hadn't piped up & Rotala had proceeded to merge the two operations in to Plymouth Rd, I'd thought they had got away it. Especially as Diamond has de-registered their own 51 on the day/day prior to the First RH takeover. Had the transfer from First to Diamond gone more smoothly with fewer complaints they may well have done.

[tank90]

I agree, if rotala had got the buses it has got now back when they Launched the new Redditch network this wouldnt oof happened, by that I include all the 7Blres they've got, I know that sounds selfish of Redditch but Midi buses dont really work here unless you have a few and a high frequency timetable and more importantly drivers which is something that plagded First in Redditch and will do so for Rotala.

[winston]

I agree, if rotala had got the buses it has got now back when they Launched the new Redditch network this wouldnt oof happened, by that I include all the 7Blres they've got, I know that sounds selfish of Redditch but Midi buses dont really work here unless you have a few and a high frequency timetable and more importantly drivers which is something that plagded First in Redditch and will do so for Rotala.

Diamond have the same problem in the West Midlands with poor vehicle allocations & too high a proportion on Midis at Tividale, with Solos & MPD's getting used on busy competing services such as the 4, 4H & 4M. they have been known to appear of the 56 as well. Hopefully the arrival of 10 x full size B7RLE at Tividale will help to start & rectify the imbalance.

You'd have thought with 15 x Trident/Presidents (10 x ex First & 5 ex Preston) that they should be able to use those efficiently to shift any crowds at peak times, maybe they need to have a couple of buses on standby to fill large gaps in service when they form or to act as duplicates to relieve overcrowding, even if management/inspectors have to muck in & drive them to provide a better service. They have now had 7 weeks, you'd have thought by now Rotala would know which routes/duties are likely to have capacity issues and allocated the bases they accordingly

[tank90]

you know what thought did, naffer all.

yes they may have 15 DDs but peak times are wierd in the ditch, school chucking out time every route with a school gets busy then you have school buses which DDs are used and you begin to see 15 isnt that much.

[winston]

you know what thought did, naffer all.

yes they may have 15 DDs but peak times are wierd in the ditch, school chucking out time every route with a school gets busy then you have school buses which DDs are used and you begin to see 15 isnt that much.

So how come First didn't have the overcrowding issues then, especially as Diamond have 5 more deckers? As I understand if the only Red Diamond Pvr reduction has been the withdrawal of the 51, all other services have the same number of buses operating as when Diamond & First were completing head to head. I know First had more full size single deckers, but that shouldn't have made that much difference

[tank90]

Sadly yes it does make that much of a difference as First had more Full size singles. There was over crowding on the Singles as well at somepoints with a full FMR DD an over crowded FMR SD and an over crowded Red Diamond SD, so if you try and put them onto the current buses you'll have a job. Also the three step DDs were used as well so Diamond have 2 extra as I havent seen the 3 step DDs for awhile.

The point is the people moaned about First being late and over crowded but never sad it to loudly, poor Diamond have had the full brunt of it all and seem to not be able to right for wrong. As far as the 57 and 58 go you need i hate to say it bendi buses again, and people will have to put up with standing or tram it but it would be fully street trams.

[Ash]

I have saw some photos lately of the 57/58 services been operated by a mixture of buses darts, presidents, mcv evolution, centro's. Are the b7rle's still the common vehicle type on this service or is it a mixture.

[tank90]

Every thing goes on the 57 58 Solo Midi Dart Dart Centro MCV E300 7BLre Presidents.
The problem is you have to have DDs for most if not all the time as you have 2 sets of 57 and 58 s running into 1 set which will course some problems.

[winston]

Sadly yes it does make that much of a difference as First had more Full size singles. There was over crowding on the Singles as well at somepoints with a full FMR DD an over crowded FMR SD and an over crowded Red Diamond SD, so if you try and put them onto the current buses you'll have a job. Also the three step DDs were used as well so Diamond have 2 extra as I havent seen the 3 step DDs for awhile.

The point is the people moaned about First being late and over crowded but never sad it to loudly, poor Diamond have had the full brunt of it all and seem to not be able to right for wrong. As far as the 57 and 58 go you need i hate to say it bendi buses again, and people will have to put up with standing or tram it but it would be fully street trams.

If the Redditch services can be that busy, how come First were making a loss? Was it KR that turned the two garages loss making.

Unfortunately for bus operators that have Facebook pages, it's a lot easier for people to publically complain, with others jumping on the bandwagon.......

I went on one of those MAN/D.A.B Bendibuses Midland Red @ Redditch when I was on kid on the Matchborough Circulars:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55074400@N05/5227292316

There are plenty of former London Merc Citaro artics laying around gathering dust

[winston]

The problem is you have to have DDs for most if not all the time as you have 2 sets of 57 and 58 s running into 1 set which will course some problems.

So have Diamond also reduced the number of buses operating the 57/58?

I.e. First & Red Diamond both used to provide a 10min frequency, have Diamond now done away with one of the set of workings so that the 57/58 is still only 10 min frequency with one set of buses less? If that is the case effectively Red Diamond with its 51, 57 & 58 no longer exists

If that's the case, no wander they are having problems, wouldn't the simplest solution be increase the frequencies of the one remaining set of 57/58's too run every 7/8 mins, that would help solve some capacity issues & you still make a saving on the number of buses required compared to when both operators competed head to head

[tank90]

Diamond have had the problem of loosing drivers so there has been service cuts because not all the First drivers transfered and also some just left on hand over day then hence Diamond have advertised for drivers, there has been some tividale drivers move to redditch and some long acre too. The problem is if thats happened a bigger bus is needed, and a bendi is bigger so if you have less drivers then a bigger bus is better.

[Ash]

I suppose until diamond get the all clear about their operations in Redditch and Kidderminster it will remain like this until the timetables can be changed and amended to resolve the issues that I'm 100% sure diamond know about but at the moment have little choice in terms of investment in double deckers or increasing the number of vehicles on services until the go ahead is given.

[tank90]

I suppose until diamond get the all clear about their operations in Redditch and Kidderminster it will remain like this until the timetables can be changed and amended to resolve the issues that I'm 100% sure diamond know about but at the moment have little choice in terms of investment in double deckers or increasing the number of vehicles on services until the go ahead is given.

I couldnt agree more poor Diamond cant do right for doing wrong which is unfair.