Bordesley GarageC

[arrifirststage]

Can anyone (perhaps Tony ) tell me if Bordesley is a fully fledged garage with traffic and engineering staff etc or is it an outstation or overflow of Birmingham Central,similarly Pensnett of West Bromwich.

[winston]

Bordesley can only undertake minor servicing work engineering wise, the rest is currently dealt with by Birmingham Central, hence why you see vehicle loans between the two garages. I believe Bordesley is classed as a garage, as it has its own fleet allocation. Bordesley will soon be transferred to be jointly managed along with Perry Barr garage, so I can only assume that the heavier engineering work will also move from BC to PB along with it. I've personally never quite seen the point of having a small garage with a maximum allocation of 50 vehicles being able to be garaged there. I'm assuming NXWM head office it still there, but it was suggested that would move to Digbeth Coach Station along with the rest of the National Express Group functions to be all under one roof. Originally Bordesley Garage was also going to be used to house the reserve fleet rather than an operations garage.

Pensnett is a full garage with its own full engineering / traffic staff; some of the office functions / stores are bursting out the premises and are currently housed in port cabins. The garage was never designed to have such a large allocation as was originally built for Travel Merry Hill which was a low cost subsidiary. Pensnett & West Bromwich is jointly managed & do loan vehicles between each other if operational needs dictate.

Can anyone (perhaps Tony ) tell me if Bordesley is a fully fledged garage with traffic and engineering staff etc or is it an outstation or overflow of Birmingham Central,similarly Pensnett of West Bromwich.

[monkeyjoe]

I read that orginally they were going to close Bordesley instead of Lea Hall. Does anyone know why the decision was reversed?

[winston]

That was meant to be the case, I can only assume that LH cost more to run being a full garage and the fact it is/was up for sale the premises would have raised more if a buyer could have been found, this was around the time that National Express Group were still struggling for cash with huge debts

I read that orginally they were going to close Bordesley instead of Lea Hall. Does anyone know why the decision was reversed?

[monkeyjoe]

That makes sense, can't see them selling it that quickly. I remember it took them ages to sell off Washwood heath from memory.

[winston]

Tbh, they would struggle to house the reserve feet at present without it, I guess they could also find additional storage if the need arose. I don't know why they don't keep it now NX group are in a much better financial position, if/when the economy does pick up they could re-open it to offer additional capacity for growth etc

That makes sense, can't see them selling it that quickly. I remember it took them ages to sell off Washwood heath from memory.

[D10]

Lea Hall is currently under offer to be sold on, and an Engineering Firm are planning to move in if all goes to plan.

[richie]

Bordsesly has no Traffic Manager and their traffic office closes during the day from what ive been told.

[winston]

If that goes through, sounds like there will need to be a big clear out of the reserve/withdrawn fleet or may be even find a replacement storage site

Lea Hall is currently under offer to be sold on, and an Engineering Firm are planning to move in if all goes to plan.

[nx4737]

Don't quite understand why BY is to be managed by PB, surely BC is the better option, just because it's closer, meaning less dead mileage involved in moving buses?

[John]

Don't quite understand why BY is to be managed by PB, surely BC is the better option, just because it's closer, meaning less dead mileage involved in moving buses?

I would think that it is something to do with what buses BY operate, as PB have OmniLinks and BC won't soon, in terms of borrowing buses and for the repairs of OmniLinks. BY will be losing a number of 0405Ns soon, and have more OmniLinks.

[Nathan4775]

Therfore BY will be a 1 type garage  ;D

[Stu]

Probably it will, eventually, but a number of Mercs will remain there for now, for use on the 8A/C services.

[nx4737]

Omni's on the 8... Imagine it, what a waste.  :'(

[MW]

Omni's on the 8... Imagine it, what a waste.  :'(

How is that a waste?

I think the 8 deserves to be converted to a double deck route as it gets very very busy at peaks, but I think there is a low bridge near Saltley Gate, but then there was a President on it once, so it may be fine. Too much for the Mercs, but they still cope with it.