50 Birmingham to Druids Heath

[Ash]

Do people think it would make more sense for the 50 to be operated from long acre under blue diamond due to the dead mileage it has returning all the way back to tividale then for example services like the 22 in Walsall and 679 in Wedensbury could be operated by black diamond

[4504]

Do people think it would make more sense for the 50 to be operated from long acre under blue diamond due to the dead mileage it has returning all the way back to tividale then for example services like the 22 in Walsall and 679 in Wedensbury could be operated by black diamond

I think this sounds senisble, but the drawback is. What would vehicles would blue diamond use to operate the 50? I'm sure passengers would rather have centros than clapped out darts  :)

[Ash]

I would think if anything like this happened the centro's would get transferred to blue diamond as they have operated them in the past on the X30 and the ex black diamond ones with black diamond recieving a couple of solo's to cover for the exchanged routes

[Mike360]

Found this photo on Facebook of Nifty 50 30801 - does anyone know about it? As this is why it must have been off for a while.
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/526265_306917212729590_2132040725_n.jpg

[PM]

Cheers for finding it Mike360! Ill applaud u for that cos Ive been wondering where it had gone for ages!! Wow-that is one fairly major smash up. Lets hope it is repaired-either at Preston or at Volant PSV who did a good job with a cadet. Id have thought it was worth repairing tho.

[PM]

Tho what does V.O.R mean cos I see it everywhere.

[PM]

Oh right cos they have V.O.R sheets on the diamond buses I think where the drivers have to give a report on vehicle condition etc.

[PM]

cheers for the info tho thetruth and I just hope that it gets repaired and is out again soon. Do we know when this happened or what are the chances of it being repaired-fairly high I would have thought??

[Ash]

Im sure it will come back into service but whats the chances of it returning in black diamond livery rather than the yellow nifty fifty pretty high i suspect

[PM]

Yep, thats true Ash I hadnt thought of that. Hopefully theyll ditch those ghastly seats while theyre at it-unlikely I suppose but it would be nice if it could be made a bit more royale-better flooring, better seats and a good deep clean while theyre at it!! I hope it is repainted in nifty 50 livery because I imagine that there are noticeable dips in revenue when these iconic yellow buses that are well known and recognised are substituted by ordinary black/red/white diamond buses. Tbh Id have thought the nifty fifty livery would be easy to reapply. Just spray yellow and put a few vinyls on.....

[Ash]

If it was still petes travel then it would definitely return back yellow in nifty livery, i really liked the purple on the black country connection mcv's for me it was the best livery out the services they chose to rename but still then most people called them the diamond buses or the black diamond buses the problem i have like i mentioned before is when a red diamond bus turns up all over white and people do mistake them for NXWM buses especially the red diamond ones. The urban 90 seats are awful my favourite seats apart from the leather are the ones on 30807 and 30810-11 and the 02 cadets.

[PM]

Surely its good if people mistake them for NXWM-isnt this what they would like cos it would bring more passengers. Diamond need to buy some new buses and brand them up for services and rationalise their network. Long Acre-lots of natex work and Flights Hallmark along with Tividale. they should run 56, 002, 301, 404E, 10H, 007, 142, 226, 417, Signature services and that way they would make a lot of money!!

[Mike360]

I know it's confusing for people having different coloured buses turning up on a route, it would be good if they did the entire company in one coloured livery for red/black and blue diamond or re-paint the buses in red diamond and red and white into black diamond. The urban 90 seats are horrible and so uncomfortable to sit on. The seats on 30808 and 30809 are really comfy. I do like their branding on buses which is good for the routes. Do they have any other route branding apart from Nifty 50 and Double O2 currently?

[PM]

It is confusing and I think they should brand a rationalised route network and the swift 226 is also branded...

[Ash]

The negative of the mistake is that people have NXWM passes and then when the red diamond bus pulls up they cant bored as they dont want to pay the full fare which you cant blame them for. The services they operate around West Brom can get really busy the 401/402/404E/410 get really busy at times cant say the same for the 417, A suggestion would be extend the 404E from West bromwich to Oldbury as this part of the route can get quite busy as most people boarding at West brom towards blackheath leave the bus either at Oldbury or just before