Messages

What's wrong with 6812? I haven't seen it since November

Ive seen more of a fuss for the X8/529 than 82/87 brandings

I haven't really seen a fuss about either of them to be honest. I'm more disappointed to see the old platinum branding fazed out as I thought it was brilliant

The full details of the changes haven't even been announced yet. Might be good to wait and see before rushing ahead.

It could even be possible another service in that area will be rerouted to cover. 14?

Unless the 14 stops serving Portway Hill, diverting it down Tower Road would make the route convoluted 

13 going means that anyone wanting an alternate service in warley will have to walk 10 to 15mins extra. this isnt too big of a problem for the young but what about the elderly???

12A going means that people would have to walk downhill/uphill. a minor inconvenience for the youth but a major problem for the elderly and those with poorer mobillity

going from having effectively no walking to do to walking 15mins for the same bus is a good incentive to buy a car!

I'm as disappointed as you. The 128 is older than I am, it's a route that I thought would outlive me. But with the cuts we've seen to the 15, 17, 126 - among several others, I can't say I'm too surprised

 I'm very interested in how the 13(A) will be changed between Hurst Road and Bleakhouse Road, the Plough - Bristnall Hall - Moat Farm section of the route will be affected by this withdrawal. Langley - Oldbury less so with the 12.

I wonder if Joinings Bank and Causeway Green Road are about to receive a bus service to Birmingham after 15 years 

[train]

As far as I'm aware, the nationalisation of the train operating companies (TOCs) was technically a policy of the previous government, where we saw ScotRail, Transpennine Express and Northern taken over by the operator of last resort (the government), the government are going to be taking over TOCs when their contracts expire.

But yeah, as mentioned, while welcome, this won't bring any groundbreaking change as the rolling stock will still be privately owned. 

In terms of buses, given the success of the bee network, and the shrinking of bus services in the midlands, I more than welcome this

So many longer distance bus services that went into the city centre, such as the 144, X20, 145, 146, 150, 192 etc. have been withdrawn or curtailed away from the city centre

Several long established connections, e.g. Birmingham and Cape Hill to Uplands, Hales Lane, Wolverhampton to Merry Hill, Bearwood to Smethwick have been severed in the last 20 or so years. I went from having 8 buses per hour to West Bromwich on my doorstep to 5 in the last 10 years alone

My hopes are high, but even a return to the service provision of 10 years ago would be welcome as we stand currently

[E]

760 is rubbing a 89E to Victoria Park (from West Bromwich), just seen at Blue Gates

Ive noticed that on the 87 it said
This journey will terminate at colmore row before commencing the outbound journey

This is usually followed closely by

 "82, to, Bearwood"

Lots of angry people around Kingstanding, Pheasey and Streetly kicking off about the changes.

Also nice to see in true TfWM that hardly any flags in the areas mentioned have been changed for tomorrow, or timetables at some stops! Going to be alot of confused and angry people on Monday!

I look forward to local complaints tomorrow when the 48A doesn't arrive. I haven't seen any of the bud flags or timetables updated as of yet

Most likely 7535,7536,7537,7538 as I'd imagine Tony would want to keep it linear

saying this, we have 6995 and 6997 at BC

I'm not sure how the 12's and 13's are more high profile than the 74, these services are all every 30 minutes without their combined frequencies. The 74, 80, 82/87 as well as the (4)5(1) have always been WB's core services.

The 12s/13s have never had the highest priority. It's frequently allocated the oldest single decks in the fleet, more doubles are needed for the Portland Road section of the route, but other routes need deckers on every part of the route

The Soho Road and Dudley Road are particular busy and important corridors, the later got new buses 6 years ago and prior to that, refurbished (at the time) 8 year old buses were branded for it

The influx of platinums onto the 80 suggests that this route isn't too far behind the main two

[1887]

One of 1887's doors - the one closer to the side destination display - doesn't fully close when the doors are shut

On the lower saloon of 6975, one of the seats, opposite the driver side has had the casing for the usb ports ripped out

X39 could be confusing for passengers who aren't the brightest thinking it is an an express version of the 39 Walsall - Stowlawn Bus emitting the Manor Hospital and skipping Herberts Park for example it does now mean the 997 has lost it's highest route number in the country to another NX service the new 998.

Whilst I agree. Aren't there two 36 routes in Walsall that are entirely different services?

Plus passengers will still have the 13 at the top end on Bristnall Hall Rd which goes the exact same way as the 48A from Bearwood up until that point and the 48 at the bottom on Hurst Rd for both Bearwood and West Bromwich, can't see much that is being lost really except that small section of Salop Rd.

As a local of both routes, the only occasions I used the 48A were if the 48 was late. The 48 is quicker and more direct to Bearwood, with the additional benefit of the direct service to Harborne and QE/Uni.

It does cut off a direct link between Londonderry/West Smethwick and Warley, that NX have been keen to hold onto (through the 129, 50A/C then 48). But the 54 is only a slightly longer walk, so it's not the end of the world.

I just hope the 48 frequency is increased to compensate, otherwise Hurst Road to West Bromwich - arguably the busiest part of the route will go half hourly from a bus every 15 minutes

The X20's registration doesn't mention Rednal/Cofton Hackett at all, so will there be something replacing that section?

I kinda feel for the people living in Cofton Hackett, they've gone from having a regular service into the city centre via the Pershore Road, to an express service connecting all major stops between Cofton Hackett & the city centre, to less frequent services only going as far as the university, hopefully whatever replaces the 20A works for the area

The 197s are ok. The seats are pretty good and the layout (at least in the carriages without the galleys), they suffer from the same awful ride quality as the 195s though. Not the worst new train on the market, but not groundbreaking either

I, for one, will miss the 158s when they're fully replaced

Since it seems likely WA will be the last NX depot to operate Tridents. Wonder which one will be the last garage to operate the B7TL Gemini? West Brom maybe as I think they have more?

I'd be surprised if it wasn't WB, given they have most of the remaining 44**s, the ex-Coventry Voith examples, alongside 4523 and 4679