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From what I've read it'll apply to all

It's every route that is greater than a 30 minute frequency, which begs the question on say if a company currently operates a route at a 10 minute frequency. Couldn't they just make variants of it i.e. 37 becomes 37A to Solihull Hospital, 37B to Solihull Town, 37C to Solihulll Station, all at 30 minute frequency each, making a 10 minute joint frequency between all 3 routes.

Strictly speaking, they are separate routes, so I'm not sure on how it works.

Didnt WA originally have them buses to start off with ?? & I wouldnt be surprised if one ended up on the 997 on A sunday as they are single decker operated now on Sundays & Evenings

On the other hand, I would be surprised if they end up on the 997, simply because of the fine they'd pay for entering the city soon. The B10Ls would have to be strictly for non Birmingham routes at Walsall.

4112 was definitely out in service today!  8)

It's been in service for a while. I think it was only off for one day when you saw it.

Spring Road station, in Acocks Green, is a bit of an odd one! Literally just two walkways from the road bridge down to the platforms, with what can only be described as a 'shed' for the ticket office!

Spring Road shouldn't even be a station! It's just the bit of the rail track that doesn't have a bridge over it, and they've got a plastic wendy house as the office!

Because there are several B10's that run the 37 alongside the omnilinks aswell as the the 5 and S1 so even though they are getting the new urban eclipses, which will mainly be used on the 71/72 will that leave enough buses for the routes that are currently B10 operated. It's why I wondered if they would transfer all the B10's as it would be ashame if they all left as they are the best SD in the fleet (in my opinion)!

There isn't 'several' B10s that run alongside the 37. There is one or two, which can easily be replaced by two more Presidents or two more Scanias. There are also 7019/20 which often venture on to the 71/72 along with other OmniLinks, so the 37 can be operated solely by Scanias, if AG allocated them all to it.

Like I said previously, it is unlikely that AG will keep one or two B10Ls. There are 23 new vehicles to replace 25 older vehicles. They will either gain two buses from somewhere else, or lower the spare ratio.

Surely AG won't be losing all B10's, the 37 still uses B10's along with 1 bus that runs the S1 plus the occassional one that runs on the 5.

Why would AG keep one or two B10Ls? More than likely, 2 more Presidents from BC to replace the 2 B10Ls left when all Eclipse2s are in service.

Just thought I'd get the ball rolling in this area of the forum and see what depot is the 'favourite.'

Feel free to answer everyone:

My local depot: Acocks Green
My favourite depot: Acocks Green - simply because of the Wright Eclipses that are (or were) as close as unique, with only Perry Barr and West Bromwich operating them in the area.

What is yours? :)

AG will be losing all B10Ls (25?) and all of them are in immaculate condition (surprisingly), so they'll probably be heading to other depots such as WA & PB replacing the B6LEs, and the poorly maintained examples.

Whether these will be used to see off the Spectra's who know's

Would have though so, with there being 21 Spectras too.

Michael:

AG have only 10 45** left (4513, 4517, 4518, 4519, 4520, 4521, 4522, 4529, 4530 and 4532).

If you gave 13 Geminis (by including 3 extra 46**) to WB they would have 79 ALX400 and Geminis.

The total PVR of the 74/75/80/82/87/127/128 is 75, leaving 4 spare in this case.

This isn't enough. It would leave spare capacity at 5.33%. They would need 9 spare to be at the usual level of 12%.

I'm going on Mr Hunters fleet list. Lets just say my changes apply a few weeks ago in the past then, when there was 13 Geminis at AG.

And don't forget they also operate the double-deck 966 (Solihull - Erdington, via Airport), which can use Presidents as this route doesn't serve the city centre.

Yes, but Presidents on the 966 are kinda s*** :)

You can use them on the 966 yeah, if they don't blow up on the way as it's a pretty long route, with long roads to drive at speed unlike the 11 which is mainly stop start traffic.

72 is in the process of receiving Eclipse2s

AG haven't used double-decks on the 72 for sometime, and would be impossible I believe because of a low-bridge.

And don't forget they also operate the double-deck 966 (Solihull - Erdington, via Airport), which can use Presidents as this route doesn't serve the city centre.

Otherwise I like your plan, its not far off embellishing what I suggested previously.  ;)

Yes they have used them on the 72, on rare occasions. They can fit on the 72, but because it interworks the 71, they don't use them. Some peak journeys don't interwork the 71, and those are the ones that can be operated with deckers. (According to Mr T)

I read from the link that current route 649 is to be cancelled and route 69 introduced and operated by Johnsons...

Does anyone have any further information on this i.e. route, frequencies etc?

Thanks.

Looks like the dead 69 is about to make a comeback, in a shortened form. It was killed ever since it was axed from entering Solihull I believe, and then nobody used it and they finally killed it.

Would you mind doing your plan Michael? I just can't visualise the moves you want to make.

Right, first of all, the only service WN run into Birmingham is the 126. This requires roughly 25 vehicles at most.

Birmingham Central Presidents:
33 President - BC to WN
33 Trident - WN to BC

That solves BC.

Acocks Green:
All currently allocated Presidents used on route 1 & 11 with Geminis filling in the gaps.
All remaining Geminis allocated to the 5, 31, 73. (72 is in the process of receiving Eclipse2s)
13 Presidents gained from West Bromwich, 13 45** batch Geminis to West Bromwich

West Bromwich:
13 Presidents move to Acocks Green in exchange for 13 Geminis.

To conclude, here's the outcome. Correct me if I've made any mistakes guys.

• WB now operate 4511-4514 & 4517-4534, leaving 14 Presidents to operate service 451, and occasionally one appears on local West Bromwich routes.
• AG now operate 52 Presidents (13 more) for use on the 1 & 11(obviously 52 isn't enough so Geminis are used on top
• AG use 4635 to 4679 to operate services 5, 31, 31A, 73 & 966, and covering insufficient Presidents on the 1/11
• BC exchange 33 Presidents for 33 Tridents at WN (no set allocated routes)

Nothing wrong with Presidents at YW considering they have operated them in the past and have several non City Centre routes to use them on.

It's not practical because it'd be splitting up Presidents into smaller batches than they currently are. What with them being older vehicles, it's easier to keep them together. My original suggestion of Wolverhampton gaining a large amount of Presidents would be much better. They'd continue their final days on easy local services, and passengers would benefit from better interiors than Tridents already based at WN. It would also be practical for BC to gain further Tridents, in the interest of vehicle maintenance and spares.

Having Presidents on the Outer Circle is another good alternative, however as the flagship route of NXWM, and one of Europe's famous bus routes, it would have to be a temporary measure. The Outer Circle is already due newer vehicles!

Time will tell what happens of course.