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An interesting read:

https://www.route-one.net/bus/fuel-supply-brings-challenges-for-more-hydrogen-bus-deployment/

I can't say I'm surprised, NX must have been so frustrated having 20 buses sitting idle for want of fuel.

So what of the WMCA's grand plans to generate hydrogen from canal water in Walsall I wonder?

The ZEBRA funding aspect is interesting, will the government allow that phase one funding to be re-specified as electric vehicles like they did for the Sprint bendis? I think the total grant was £30 million for 124 buses.

Yes, that was an interesting read indeed. It would seem to me that based on the current experience, NX have little to no desire to pursue the hydrogen route at this time, which is understandable as it seems that the electric buses are performing better than expected.

Of course, being out in service all day every day for most of the day, carrying passengers and earning revenue, comes in very handy.

I suppose that while NX do not intend to invest in further hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, they will still make what use they can of these 20 examples they already have. 

Great news that they can be used again from next week, if the refuelling facility is available again, but then I guess the question is how long until it breaks down again? 

I would anticipate that NX will keep hold of these hydrogens for the short-term, at least until a lot more brand-new electric buses are delivered, then at some point, maybe next year, NX will hand them back to Birmingham City Council, as I presume NX only have them under some kind of lease arrangement. What BCC do with them next is anyone's guess, but it is no longer a problem for NX to deal with!

It as nothing to do with the car speeding the car was actually going very slowly

Oh I didn't want to acuse the Bus Driver of Speeding either I know the car pulled out. There could ne numerous factors, Driver might not have seen the car reacted late as wba lad said, bus driver might have had his/her sight obstructed by something or someone. Could have been distracted by a Passenger. I also didn't want to blame the Car Driver but based on the way i interpreted it flew out the junction obviously it didn't. All that we do is 1846 is a write off further why I gathered speeding was a factor. Although the bus must have hit the car quite hard to be a write off unless it hit a Range Rover or something.

I see far too many 'near-misses' where drivers fail to 'give-way' at junctions or roundabouts.

Most drivers do get away with it (just about) by racing out of a junction, but it only takes a slow-moving car to protrude too far across the give-way lines to cause an accident and collision.

You only have to look at the damage caused to that electric bus when a car pulled out into the bus lane on Small Heath Highway in front of it.

Any chances the 11A/11C will get announcements any time soon?

Probably not for a while. The current vehicles being used don't have the equipment installed.

Those E400MMCs were first used in March 2015, therefore they are not expected to be compliant with the new Accessible Information Regulations until October 2025.

The Platinum E400s do have the necessary equipment, but they too don't need to be compliant until next year. NX will likely at some point want to get all the stop announcements recorded.

https://wmbu.org.uk/2024/05/the-next-stop-is-new-accessible-information-regulations-effective-from-october-2024/

Why have all the long term out of use vehicles suddenly lost the last tracing data i.e.
Chaserider 62 & 630
Centrebus 324
First Worcester 35152

Because its only retained for a certain period.

It's so common on Facebook to see all of these low functioning doom and gloom people commenting nonsense about electric buses blowing up. They are everywhere and have nothing better to do. Your article was amazing, don't let them hinder your work.

Thanks, I don't do this for kudos or recognition, just to try and inform bus users about what is going on. I wouldn't say that article was 'amazing' though, just concise and to the point.

The Facebook post has definitely attracted the Daily Mail-reading anti-electric bus mob now though. What also disappoints me is how many people are commenting who clearly haven't read the article I wrote.

Here's some stats which are correct at the time of posting this.
The website article currently shows 491 views.

According to Facebook, that particular post has 22k impressions/reach, and 1.6k 'engagement'. While the link to the article only has 378 clicks.

So far only one person has actually commented on the website.

@Tony that article I posted on my Facebook page yesterday has definitely attracted a lot of negative/ignorant comments for some reason!

I wouldn't be surprised if AG gets some platinums to make the 4/A double decker moving some of the e200mmc to West Bromwich. But that's all speculation.

The priority at AG is going to be getting rid of the older non-Euro6 Geminis, before they even think about moving out their E200s.

I shall be very interested to see how you deal with AG's allocation of non Euro 6 Geminis in the short term - although they don't necessarily need to replaced based on non B'ham city centre routes, I guess, if really necessary, there are enough Euro 6 ones at WB to move across if they get some more E400s (noting the next fleet number, leap frogging the 5 Omnidekkas is 4799).....

Anyway, a very interesting period, fleet wise approaches!!

There aren't any Omnidekkas, you must mean the Omnicities.

As AG has never operated Enviro400s, I would hazard a guess that they will end up with some of the Platinum E400MMCs to replace their non-Euro6 Geminis.

It is strange as usually that sort of thing gets reported locally and in the news there was nothing especially considering it must have been serious to write the bus off

If there isn't a 'tweet' then the media don't know about these events.

Richard Parker seems to think he'll have bus franchising up & running in the WM within 2 years... We'll see! 🤔

I thought I saw in another article - possibly on the Birmingham Mail - that he had said within 3 years.

This has been mooted for some time though, I wouldn't be surprised if TfWM already have plans at a very advanced stage, hence the recent purchase of NX's Walsall garage by the WMCA.

I still also believe that this would be going ahead even if Andy Street was voted back in.

[Back on topic now please, there are other threads to ask questions about NX tickets!]

Back on topic now please, there are other threads to ask questions about NX tickets!

Would Chaserider accept Nbus between Walsall and Lichfield if I have it issued on an NXWM bus If not how much would an Adult Daysaver or Return from Walsall to Lichfield be

nBus is only valid within the TfWM travel area, which Lichfield is not part of.

Single fares are still capped at £2, so you could make a return journey on a Chaserider service for £4.

On Saturday I will be travelling to Lichfield getting the bus there is fine 12:00 8 to Lichfield, coming back 17:42 or 18:17 I know the 8 takes an hour is there any quicker Buses that I could get on that meet the number 8 does the 10 meet if so is there much difference. I would check Bustimes but I don't know if the Number 10 does meet the Number 8 at all.

Just use the TfWM Journey Planner or Google Maps, that will show you the best way to get back.

E014 and E016, both in the 50.

They (E400EVs, not just those particular two) often appear on most YW routes now (with the obvious exception of the 27 of course).

I think both candidates for Labour and the Conservatives make good points.  I would prefer Andy Streets method of capping fares, because a franchise method you still going to have delays to service during the day.

But no one as considered that first thing we you need to look at getting people out of private vehicles first and onto public transport and keeping them using it, but how do you do that and at what cost to the local authority or transport operator/s. 

Bus franchising and "taking back control" of bus services won't magically make them run on time, despite what many people seem to believe.

As I've commented elsewhere, unless someone recognises and gets a grip on the issue of traffic congestion and delays caused by poorly scheduled roadworks programmes, buses will struggle to run punctually.