Messages

Yes, I'm 6'2" so no bus will be totally comfortable, as you say. However the unit being run on the 9 route is beyond a joke! As for the rattle - no, it's bad. However the rattle must be due to poorly designed engine mounts because the NVH gets transferred directly to the passenger compartment and it's not pleasant. Especially if you're sitting at the back.  :o

[ADL Enviro 400]

Sorry for the late reply guys.. trying to type stuff on a mobile phone is no fun. Back on a computer now..

So what I was getting at (I got my bus names and numbers totally confused)


ADL Enviro 400


Wrightbus Gemini3

As a passenger, and an advocate of the use of buses in Brum, to suddenly go from a smooth E400 to one of these awful sardine cans on wheels it's really put me off travelling by bus in this area. In some cases, when I wait at Lloyd House for a bus back home, I try to wait for another bus if a Gemini3 turns up, simply because it's just far too uncomfortable, cramped and feels like I'm riding on a cement mixer. I'm 6'2" and after a long physically demanding shift at work every weekday, the bus is usually a chance to sit and relax on the way home. Not on these. And as I've mentioned before, looking at the space the driver has to operate the bus with, it looks like they might run into the same problems London Taxi drivers end up after they've been at the job for a number of years. I only have to put up with it for a short while.. these drivers have hours. Every day... It's truly terrible.

Even these are preferable (at least in the summer - in the winter they seem to forget to open the heat flap at the start of the day)


ALX400

As for losing these to the Scania Omnilink:

Vovlo B7RLE Eclipse(?)

Well I get it, fully, if it's for legal reasons such as exhaust emissions - that cannot be helped. However, my reasoning for not liking them is, again, a lot of legroom gets lost and in general the layout is pretty poorly thought out. The previous bus was very, very well laid out and there was good space to be able to be properly seated in all seat, and even the red tap disc was in a sensible place as you boarded the bus. I hate bad design and the idea that you need to redesign the man fit on the bus.. I mean this is the 21st century now, so I don't get why the badly designed and generally poor quality ride of the Gemini3 actually exists.

One thing I praise the newest ADL E400's MMC on his how they manage to re-engineer the original in order to make it easier for bus operating companies and their drivers to use. In fact there was a promo video demonstrating how they actually asked the drivers what they want (novel concept), maintenance guys what they wanted (again novel), and bus operators how they can make them cheaper and easier to run. I wonder what the drivers at NXWM make of these.

Here's a video that was uploaded to YouTube on the E400 MMC development. Some good design and engineering here...

Anyway, again I do apologise for the confusion guys, the bus types/chassis types, names and numbers do get get a bit mixed up here. Hope this clears things up!  :)

Hang on, I might be getting the names and numbers confused here.

Gemini 3? - looks like. (Double deck on the 9 route) bad
OmniLink bad.
Eclipse (single deck?) Good
Enviro 400 and the lastest one Good.

When are you ever sat on a cramped B7?

I might have to take a photo to prove that lol

Hang on, why am I always sat on a cramped B7, certainly of evening/night time? And why even use these god awful buses on such a high density route in any case? Are the on evaluation? I'm sure the drivers must also hate being cooped up in them.

And why use a mix.of buses? Sure it makes economic sense to reduce bus types in order to keep parts costs low (economies of scale) and maintenance training simple?

Couple of things to tidy up.

Broad Street and Bridge Street are going through modofcations to prevent cars from heading west bound from.the Hyatt, pushing more vehicles onto the ringroad. That will have it's own set of problems up at Fiveways as the underpass is in the wrong orientation ( up until recently it served cars into and out of Brum, not the ringroad which should really have been priority).

Sprint buses construction was offered to Van Hool.

Trams leave the road after Fiveways, and are planned to stay off road at least past Bearwood. The orginal route was to Dudley South via Wolverhampton road but may be shortened to a park and ride by the M5 junction. The whole of the lefthand side of Hagley Road are commercial business car parks which are eith owned be the council or can easily be CPO'd to run the route down (this plan has been ready for a couple of decades!) - off topic, another discussion, blame Mike 'Bumbling Idiot' Whitby and then the recession.

Hagley Road will be modified in layout (various areas) and the buses will have traffic control system onboard (for the traffic lights.) A Sprint Lane looks likely over Monument Road on the Ivy Bush doorstep, so no more parked cars and fighting for lanes.

There is word  of Sprint terminating at Centenary Square, which makes me wonder if the Sprints will be double-ended. I know Volvo does these but I'm pretty sure TfWM is not going with that idea.

Yes, I do think this will be a waste of time when they can ask NXBus to run a limited stop bendy bus and use bus lanes OR just build the bloody tram route.

I used to enjoy travelling in the bus on the 9, 120, 127, 128, 129 because of the space and the relative comfort of those vehicles, and because there was always a level of consistency. You knew what you were going to flag down most of the time.

Recently though, things have gone really bad. On the 127/128/129 they replaced the comfy Wrightbus Eclipse with bloody awful Scania Ominlinks with their cramped seating (no joke I have to sit sideways taking up two seats as I'm 6'2" tall!) and occasionally some age old ADL envro 200's have been doing the route - almost as uncomfortable. Sometimes you get lucky and an Enviro400 or a B10 appears but those Ominlinks are terrible.

On the 9 something weird was going on. Initially we were settled with Enviro400 for a while. It was comfortable, pretty smooth, with plenty of space, and it made my bus journey's enjoyable - and made me an advocate for the buses in Brum.

Then no sooner had they introduced that fleet, new Enviro400 mk2(?) models appeared. Great, they update the fleet - I thought.

Then as soon as they switched to Platinum services, the 9 got these bloody awful Volvo Wrightbus(? - double deckers.) These are so shockingly bad for a high density showcase route. Worse than the OminLinks, they are cramped, always dangerously packed if put on in the morning and to top it off it seems to be powered by a engine out of a turbocharged cement mixer. Absolutely shocking. Vibration is terrible, and the chap(ess) I feel sorry for the most is the driver! It looks like they've got less space in there than a London taxi!

It's so shockingly bad that I've had to return to using my car for some journeys because of the level of discomfort. But I only have to endure it for 20 minutes twice a day... I feel sorry for the driver who has 8-9 hours of it at least 5 days a week!

Comment?

Or it does come but then gets wiped out by NXWM (a la number 9)...

I give it 3 months before the WiFi burns itself out.

Can anyone please explain to me why whilst the rest of the NXWM fleet seems to be getting upgraded, the 126 buses remain absolutely crud - well, not as bad as some of the tut found on the 11 but still, it's a long route and you would have thought they get some ADL Enviro 400s on that route by now.

Can I ask, why do the Enviro400's (standard ones) get slated so much.. are they really that bad?

[my post]

As of today....... (Grrrr!! - See my post)

126 will follow the same route as before but may get diverted slightly to Smallbrook Queens way then up Hill Street, then taking a right and right again heading to Upper Dean Street Markets.

127,128,129, won't. They share a bus stop with 9, 120, 141, and 140. All 7 of them.

[the 120 can be strangely unpunctual during the evening.]

48 & 129 tend to run in pairs and the 120 can be strangely unpunctual during the evening. I'm sure the timetable amendments commencing will sort that out. Generally never had any problems with the 80 or 87

Yeh, it's a massive pain in the backside and sometimes you won't actually get to see one for around 35-40 minutes during the rush hours. And that's just for one bus as you rarely seem to get any bunching on this line.

11 can be a ball ache in both directions though.

[but I think to enhance its growth we need a network of night routes along key corridors to boost growth and really give people the option of being able to use the bus at anytime]

I would also think it would make more sense to use a small bus at nigut enviro 200 ideal with its smaller engine tyres etc would have lower running costs. And the service isnt going to be a kassive boom of night travellers it will build gradually but I think to enhance its growth we need a network of night routes along key corridors to boost growth and really give people the option of being able to use the bus at anytime

I agree with this: a 9 and 97 double act would be great for linking east with west- although the 9 should stop up by the 97 stop after 1am.

97 doesn't just provide jobs to the airports, it's a lifeline to those that work in the bars and clubs in town late at night. I just hope the drivers are properly protected out there and any anti-social behaviour on the buses is stamped out by the police either by response or by information. It'd be great if this ended up being successful after 3 years

120 during rush hour  ;D