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Saw a 002 at about 11:30 today at the bottom of Drews Holloway and you literally couldn't get any more passengers on, it was absolutely rammed. If Diamond were ever to re-invest in some Double Deckers this route would surely be in the running, also taking into account that we are now in the middle of the summer holidays and the 002 serves a good number of schools and universities along its route

The 002 is my local route and is a very popular one and has been extremely busy lately due to the summer holidays and as it is popular they gave the 15 minute frequency. Imagine if it was still every 30 minutes and the branding of the 002 was very successful to as you can easily tell your bus is coming. Double Deckers may be a good idea. I wonder what others will think. Also was it one of the branded buses that you saw full?

And bring back 404H and maybe extend 002 to Northfield

Agreed!

I think I will contact Diamond and suggest they do a 002 service on a Sunday and this would be good for shopping in Merry Hill and would surely get a lot of passengers even if it was a 002E Halesowen to Merry Hill and they did a special return price. I certainly would use it to get to Merry Hill.

If 8 buses are needed for the 404E then Hybrid Versa's should be used on this route and the 56 should have the Royale Centro's put back on it.
Then the 417 should have the Wright Crusaders back on like they used to because those are certainly fine for capacity and once the diversion has finished so they're not going up Mucklow Hill.

The 404E lately is not even seeing the crusaders on the service any more today there were red diamond darts, a swift branded dart, solos and an all over white diamond dart as well as a couple of newly repainted black diamond pointers. The black diamond network in West Bromwich is very popular services like 401/2/404E and 410 are very well used not so much the 417 although uses the centro's. The 301 is very popular in Walsall along with the 401E. Diamond need new investment but will this come when the sandwell bus review happens.

Most of the commerical services diamond run have been ran by companies that diamond brought up for years as petes travel ran the 404E as their first commerical route and soon after the 401/2 and 401E and the 410 was ran by the birmingham coach company from early 1990's and ludlows with the 002/417 and similar with the other services by diamond like the 16/50/301 and blue diamonds 97 which was petes travel before

So what routes have the Wright Crusaders on as I only saw one on the 404E today and the 417 did have one that struggled terribly up Mucklow Hill and only had myself and 2 other people on it and and when catching another 417 back all the way from West Brom to Halesowen it on it ran virtually empty with 1 other person on it to Blackheath and then 3 people to Halesowen so it could be reduced to every 30 minutes. It is meant to arrive in Halesowen at 2:45 but got to 2 stops before at 2.36 so waited at least 7-8 minutes at a bus stop which was rather annoying.
Also on the 417 was 3 Royales and a Hybrid Versa.
They certainly shouldn't put optare solo's on the 404E route which can get really busy as I was on one today that had a few people standing (20540).

The PVR of the 417 is 5 which I know.

I meant routes so I should have made myself more clear.
I agree Blue Diamond is pretty rubbish with buses running late and tatty ones and getting rid of tendered routes would be OK so they could concentrate on making commercial routes successful and really they should have on entire network with one branding black diamond.

What do people think is the most successful and least successful of the Black Diamond network?

I think Diamond should increase the frequency of the 202 service to every 30 minutes with the 007 withdrawal and possibly extend it from Bromsgrove to Redditch.
I find Black Diamond Services very good and most are well used, the 404E, 002, 202, 16, 56 and 50 are routes which they are more successful at and should concentrate there newer, better buses on these routes which the 404E and 16 need.

30825 on the 37 so must be on loan to Blue Diamond. That's why I haven't seen it for a while. Also does anyone know if 30801 has been repaired and seen it.

2135 on the 61

30130 on the 16.
31481 on the 50.
20539 on the 50.

Ive been on the 004 a total of 15 times since the launch and there have never been more than 4 ppl on the bus at any one given time

I agree as when I've seen or been on the 004 not many people are on it. I have boarded the bus from Harborne to Halesowen and have seen no more than 6 people on it with it usually only 3-4 and they usually get off in Quinton and don't travel to Halesowen as I've been to Halesowen on two occasions where I've been the only person on board from four dwellings school. I don't know how popular it is from Halesowen and Merry Hill.

I think they were running a decent service usually with YD02PZL 30214 I think. But if there was ever a breakdown forget it as they come all the way from tividale to repair it the service just goes to pot!

Yes YD02PZO 30214 seem to always work the 007 but has been seen quite a bit on the 404E as of late and not sounded too good. 007 may be because diamond are leaving the service has seen the red and white darts and small mpd (red diamond ones). The 202 can be caught from Halesowen to Bromesgrove not sure how frequent these are now and wether the leather centro's still get used

The 202 still runs every hour to and from Halesowen and Bromsgrove and it always sees 2 royale centro's on it, so people have this option. Maybe with the 007 being withdrawn the 202 could be increased to every 30 minutes as it is quite busy especially Saturdays and I've heard others saying it would be good to increase it but at the moment it never seems to run to it's timetable exactly and is always running around 5 minutes late when I see it and when it gets into Halesowen before time, it pulls out late so I think the timetable needs adjusting.

Red Diamond livery bus 20502 was on the 007 today and the 202 bus today I was waiting for was running 25 minutes late today and regularly leaves Halesowen bus station later that 25 past, usually half past or longer. Also I heard some people saying they should make the 202 service more frequent about half hourly which can be busy at times.

I know Diamond drivers seem to do lots of different routes and not stick to one like in the past. Must be hard remembering all the different routes as some buses I've been on in the last few weeks a few drivers have had to ask for directions.