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Primo for now as the initial contract is only 8 weeks. If and when it comes up for full tender we will submit a price based on Euro 6

New Enviro waiting to roll Monday a month before the due date. Congratulations to all at TfWM who manged to get everything together with such short notice

Will Kevs be operating the 39 from Monday too? And I assume it will be Primos on both routes, unless the MMC200s have arrived secretly  ;)

The Enviro's have arrived and are having livery fitted as I speak. They will be fully operational Monday.

What I've read
A12 NX bus
10 10h 10s NX bus
19  Walsall arriva
19 Northfield diamond
22 diamond  wednesbury end banga Wolverhampton end
25 arriva
36 NX bus
38 Green Bus
39 Kev's
42 (Green bus ?)
50
53 banga
57 diamond
69 Johnson's
80 diamond
89 diamond
96 withdrawn
99 NX bus
145
326 diamond
208  nx bus
530 banga
539
580
The others which only run 1 a day or 1 a week not sure wonder if a&m  might run them along with the Bedworth services

I can confirm that the 42 Hollymoor - West Heath will be operated from Monday by KEV'sbus

I was with WMSNT from 1993. The only large bus routes we had were operated by Mercedes 811 and they were operated on behalf of WMPTE and branded Easyrider but they were not open to the general public, they had to be booked in advance. Two of them operated in South Birmingham, one in Wolverhampton, one in Coventry and one in Walsall.

Guys we're losing sight of the fact several hundred people are about to lose their jobs. Our thoughts should be on those people at this time. I know a few people personally including Dave sterland. I wish them well for now & for their futures.

Bang on, my thoughts are with them all

No, it specifically referred to a local route operated by Igo/wmsnt, which commenced operation on that route sometime between April & July 2015*. If you still wish to misinterpret that, then:

- Igo (as a brand) came in by Autumn 2014
- 'Proper' wmsnt bus ops commenced by Feb 2012
- Pseudo-proper wmsnt routes were running by the mid 90's

Take your pick from those three, they all pre-date December 2015.

* I'd quote you the specific date, but, despite wmsnt holding a full op licence, it's apparently a section 19 registration, details not available online.

I am not going to enter into a Facebook type battle here so this is my last on the subject. Not sure what you mean by Pseudo proper means and we were not running registered bus routes in the 90's, perhaps you mean home to school routes which first appeared in 1992 on a very small scale. igo started as WMSNT buses and the name was changed after we held a competition to find a more suitable name, no services changed because of the name change. Local bus services cannot run under section 19, perhaps you are confused with section 22. Finally read your original comment again as not once did you mention a specific route or service number, your comment was a general one aimed at igo. That's me, I will now wait and see what happens this week.

I'll quantify my 'ill informed' comments:

The 'local service' (& its predecessor/s) referred to is familiar to me & was something I had responsibility for compliance monitoring for under a previous operator. My job necessitated me having a working understanding of what is required to be 'compliant'.

After the transfer to WMSNT (over 3 years ago, BTW), communication was made regarding 'problems' to the depot concerned, perception of which was they were oblivious to the problems (& requirements of a commercial operation), wished to remain so, & preferably weren't to be troubled with further contact. I've seen considerable evidence of 'non-compliance' in the intervening years on the route concerned, none of which I've since 'bothered' anyone with (I've made just one journey on the route in that time - which, anecdotally, was neither compliant time-wise, nor on two other counts...).

Yesterday (Friday), I went for a walk which gave cause to observe two journeys on the service involved, this was at a quiet period with no known traffic problems:

One was 14 minutes late.

The other was a no-show.

Oh, the CT Plus reference was a light-hearted response to the equally light-hearted suggestion that Hackney CT might become interested - with some spurious basis in truth, as there has been a CT+ vehicle parked amongst withdrawn Igo vehicles for the last few months.

Your original comment referred to when IGO started which was much more than 3 years ago. When it started it operated reliable and compliant services and as far as I am concerned did so until at least December 2015, what happened after that I have no idea as I was not there. Your reference to HCT may not be as far off the mark as some may think. ATG was formed based on the HCT model and both ATG and HCT are major organisations within the CTA. The majority of home to school drivers do not hold PSV, they are D1, so cannot drive for a commercial operation. Similarly vehicles are not PCV, they are S19, so for them to be operated short term by anyone other than a charity will be difficult. short to medium term I could only see local Councils taking the drivers and vehicles in house but they will certainly not want to do that long term

CT Plus are 'present' in the area ;-)

If Saturday is to be their last day, then my lasting memory of them will be of their local service performance today, going out the way they started - running with no relation to the timetable.

Sorry but that is a very misguided and ill informed comments which I think needs a response. Within only a few months of start up igo was seen to be one of the most reliable and punctual of all the small operators in the West Midlands. After only 2 years they were sat around the table with all of the larger operators discussing the long and short term future of local bus transport. What has happened over the last 3 years is to me a mystery, I wish I knew, but I am sure we will find out the real reason shortly

Several years ago I was involved with the start up of igo with the aim of providing much needed funds to the important and much used Ring and Ride service. From day one, due to the dedication of many many fine people, igo grew to be a much respected and responsible operator.

I retired in 2015 but have watched igo continue to grow but just wondered how they were able to fund new vehicles. It looks like just perhaps they tried too hard, only time will tell.

I was wondering if I should change my user name on this site but, unless anyone objects, I intend to retain it as I am proud of what the team and I managed to achieve with ATG and igo.

To all the staff who will be told today they are out of work I hope you all find work soon and that your families will not suffer because of today.

igogeneral (Des)

With respect Tony a non-for-profit company will always be in a position to be able to do that.

There is profit and there is contribution to overheads of the charity. igo was formed to fund the overheads of Ring and Ride which was the original charity and still is. Not much point in running anything if you do not have an ultimate aim.

A great many good and wonderful people took WMSNT forward to great heights serving many thousands of mobility impaired people around the West Midlands. My hat goes off to all the staff who helped make it such a wonderful and rewarding place to work, I wish them all well for the future whatever that is.

Congratulations to Kev's for gaining another tendered service and for entering the West Midlands area. What date will you start operations?

Thanks we start service on 28 April.

Happy to announce that KEV'Sbus will be operating the 39, 39A and 39S from April 28 2019. Three new Enviro 200 on order to arrive at depot around April 1 when forum members can come to the yard, by invitation, before they commence operation. This is our first route on behalf of TfWM and shows our commitment to bus services in the South Birmingham and Bromsgrove areas. Our workshops continue to expand and from April 1 we will commence large vehicle repairs and maintenance on behalf of other businesses.

I would think quality would not have come into any decision made on awarding this contract. However you need to give the man a chance as whatever the quality of service provision may be you can be assured he met all the criteria set out by TfWM