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West Midlands Buses in Discussion => National Express West Midlands => Topic started by: Liberator9 on November 16, 2013, 02:03:38 PM

Title: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: Liberator9 on November 16, 2013, 02:03:38 PM
Hi there

Maybe should be in Acocks Green garage thread; wasn't too sure. Does anyone know what the PVRs are for the 37, 71, 72 and 5 at Acocks Green garage. thanks in advance
Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: Stu on November 16, 2013, 02:19:24 PM
Based on my calculations (which may be incorrect of course), I estimate the PVR of the 37 to be 17/18 buses. And the 5 I estimate has a PVR of 6/7 buses.

I don't know how the 71 and 72 work now, as they all used to interchange at Solihull Station, but now the 71 is every 15 minutes, and the 72 every 30 minutes (from Solihull), alternate 71 journeys must go back out as 71, and then of course there are the short 72E journeys from City every 30 minutes, so I'm not sure how to work the PVR for these.
Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: winston on November 16, 2013, 05:24:50 PM
Quote from: Stu on November 16, 2013, 02:19:24 PM
Based on my calculations (which may be incorrect of course), I estimate the PVR of the 37 to be 17/18 buses. And the 5 I estimate has a PVR of 6/7 buses.

I don't know how the 71 and 72 work now, as they all used to interchange at Solihull Station, but now the 71 is every 15 minutes, and the 72 every 30 minutes (from Solihull), alternate 71 journeys must go back out as 71, and then of course there are the short 72E journeys from City every 30 minutes, so I'm not sure how to work the PVR for these.

Stu,

Isn't the Pvr for the 37 higher than that? 23 x Omnilink were delivered new to AG for the 37
Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: Stu on November 16, 2013, 05:32:00 PM
Like I said, I may have been wrong  ;)

When the 23 Omnilinks arrived for the 37, no doubt a couple would have counted as 'spares'.

Since then, the route has shortened a little with the city centre changes, that may have reduced the PVR by 1 at most. And I haven't really factored in lay-over time at Solihull station, where there's often two buses sat there. So add on another bus and that makes the PVR 19, which is probably near right. I'm happy to be corrected of course.
Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: winston on November 16, 2013, 05:44:19 PM
Quote from: Stu on November 16, 2013, 05:32:00 PM
Like I said, I may have been wrong  ;)

When the 23 Omnilinks arrived for the 37, no doubt a couple would have counted as 'spares'.

Since then, the route has shortened a little with the city centre changes, that may have reduced the PVR by 1 at most. And I haven't really factored in lay-over time at Solihull station, where there's often two buses sat there. So add on another bus and that makes the PVR 19, which is probably near right. I'm happy to be corrected of course.

Wasn't the frequency of the 37 also increased after the original 23 x Omnilinks were delivered? i.e. before Central Connect/Blue Diamond came off the route, which was why the extra two Omnilinks were originally required from Dundee?
Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: Liberator9 on November 16, 2013, 06:09:04 PM
19 would make sound sense; bearing in mind the fact that one or two of the scanias would be in maintenance, then not all 23 would be in service. Thanks for the replies and glad you have an idea, I have no clue
Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: Liverpool Street on November 16, 2013, 06:14:32 PM
Were all 23 branded?
Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: Stu on November 16, 2013, 06:22:22 PM
You may be right there, I can't really remember now, I do know that after Blue Diamond pulled out, the daytime frequency was increased to 5 minutes. But I'm sure it was stated that this only required 1 extra bus anyway.

Anyway, I just took a different approach to approximating the PVR: looking at the timetable on the Network West Midlands website, pick a time when a bus departs Birmingham, look at when it reaches its destination, then on the reverse journey see what time that arrives back in Birmingham for its return journey, then count the number of journeys listed on the timetable in-between. Using this method I counted 19 journeys, therefore 19 buses.

This crude method of course doesn't allow for extra buses being put on to fill in gaps, untimetabled of course.

Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: Stu on November 16, 2013, 06:27:46 PM
Quote from: Liverpool Street on November 16, 2013, 06:14:32 PM
Were all 23 branded?

They were never all branded for the 37. Even now, only 10 carry any branding.

There always seemed to be more than enough for the 37, as they'd often appear on other routes too, like the 30 and 42, and the 71/72.

Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: Liverpool Street on November 16, 2013, 07:03:18 PM
Quote from: Stu on November 16, 2013, 06:27:46 PM
Quote from: Liverpool Street on November 16, 2013, 06:14:32 PM
Were all 23 branded?

They were never all branded for the 37. Even now, only 10 carry any branding.

There always seemed to be more than enough for the 37, as they'd often appear on other routes too, like the 30 and 42, and the 71/72.



Thanks Stu, I hold no interest in AG so thank you :)
Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: John on November 16, 2013, 07:13:09 PM
Quote from: Stu on November 16, 2013, 06:27:46 PM
Quote from: Liverpool Street on November 16, 2013, 06:14:32 PM
Were all 23 branded?

They were never all branded for the 37. Even now, only 10 carry any branding.

There always seemed to be more than enough for the 37, as they'd often appear on other routes too, like the 30 and 42, and the 71/72.

In my fleetlist, I have 20 OmniLinks currently branded for the 37 (1934-53), unless some have been de-branded
Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: Stu on November 16, 2013, 07:20:31 PM
Quote from: John on November 16, 2013, 07:13:09 PM
Quote from: Stu on November 16, 2013, 06:27:46 PM
Quote from: Liverpool Street on November 16, 2013, 06:14:32 PM
Were all 23 branded?

They were never all branded for the 37. Even now, only 10 carry any branding.

There always seemed to be more than enough for the 37, as they'd often appear on other routes too, like the 30 and 42, and the 71/72.

In my fleetlist, I have 20 OmniLinks currently branded for the 37 (1934-53), unless some have been de-branded

The figure of 10 I got from Tony's own list:
http://wmbusphotos.com/NXWM/fleetlist/1750-1953.html

Thinking about it, there might be a couple more, but don't think there are as many as 10.
Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: John on November 16, 2013, 07:24:16 PM
1934 is the first
http://www.flickr.com/photos/john-s-91/9049316587/

Up to 1953
http://www.flickr.com/photos/john-s-91/8175928880/

Only ones I have not pictured branded are 1935/6 and 1940/41, searched on Flickr and found pictures of these 4 also branded.

Having 20 branded, this is probably why they appear on the 71/2 so often, with only 5 unbranded OmniLinks (1931-33, 7019 & 7020)



Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: Sh4318 on November 18, 2013, 07:07:04 PM
I'm sure the PVR of the 5 is 8. Can't help you with any of the others
Title: Re: PVRs of 37, 71, 72, 5
Post by: Liberator9 on November 18, 2013, 08:39:52 PM
Thanks! 8 sounds a sensible number for the 5 looking at the timetable.