Messages

Announced today that funding has been secured for the East Birmingham extension, through to the proposed 'Sports Quarter' including Birmingham City's new ground.

https://www.wmca.org.uk/what-we-do/transport/east-birmingham-to-solihull-west-midlands-metro-extension/

The MCV Volvo's would seem a solid option but probably would be E200's to match his Fleet plus none of the routes mentioned scream Heavyweight Bus

MCV do offer a 10.8m eVoRa, but still more of a 'heavyweight' bus compared to an E200. I agree that keeping a standardised fleet would have it's benefits, but you also run the risk of the whole fleet being grounded, should an issue arise.

Bit of a technical question but does anyone know why Helen messes with the font proportions on Windows 11?

I believe Helen disables Clear Type on Windows, as otherwise, importing fonts doesn't work. Someone has made a fix for this, but I've not personally tried it, so use at your own risk - https://github.com/sjain882/HELEN-ClearType-Toggle

2094 not tracking, currently on PN 11A towards Walsall.

As said above, Plaxton are not building any coaches

Ah, I must've missed that. It seems Beulas might be the only option for an overdeck style coach then, as of right now.

Any sort of higher capacity vehicle would need to be a double decker or overdecker style vehicle. For the UK/Ireland, other than VanHool, I can't seem to find any overdecker vehicles. Double deckers are VDLs Futura, Neoplan Skyliner and the Volvo 9700DD but I am going to guess all double deckers would have the same issues as the Boa Vistas.

Are there any other examples of anyone building overdecker/double decker coaches? I've found Ayats and Beulas building an overdecker for Europe and both have done buses for the UK/Ireland but they don't seem to be in very big numbers in the UK, not sure if there is a specific reason why though.

Plaxton offered the Elite i on a Volvo B11RT chassis, mostly taken up by Stagecoach for Megabus, but some were also purchased by other operators, although I believe it's no longer being produced. Beulas also offer the Glory which has overdecker bodywork.

As for double deckers, Plaxton also have the Panorama, Volvo have their 9700 DD, and Beulas also have the Jewel. I'm not sure if any others are still offered, but VDL also made one for a while.

The first of Stagecoach's new Volvo 9700 DD's has entered service tonight, with 50502 operating an overnight M11 from Glasgow to London. It'll be the 10:20 departure from Birmingham tomorrow morning back up to Glasgow, if anyone's interested.

Prospect have taken delivery of two brand-new Scania K410C coaches with Higer Touring bodywork, with a third on the way, branded for their Megabus operations. The two that have entered service are PR73 EMA, carrying the name Philebus Fogg, and PR73 KNG, carrying the name King Toot-ankhamun.

In addition, they took delivery of three similar second-hand examples earlier in the year.

https://twitter.com/ScaniaUK/status/1684126472553005056

<cite><a href="https://wmbusphotos.com/forum/index.php?msg=313556">Quote from: 4369Beast</a> on 01/06/2023, 20:56:02</cite><br>YW 1912 was involved in a minor RTC with a Megabus coach yesterday. <br><br>

YW 1912 was involved in a minor RTC with a Megabus coach yesterday.

North Bristol based 54283, ended up getting towed all the way home down the M5!

It looks like Parks are operating the M17 Glasgow - Southampton, I believe one of their new Volvo 9700s is operating it today, although the return trip bypasses Birmingham.

Rotala have on order 3 x Custom Denning 10.2m single decker electric buses from Australia, they have been ordered for the Bedfont Lakes contract & will be allocated to Stanwell Depot. They should be 24 seaters & will be numbered 39001-3 (due Feb 2024 onwards)

Interesting development, ableit one I predicted a few years ago when the model was unveiled, and did a quick mock up of!

There's further timetable changes coming soon, including the return of overnight services between Birmingham and Glasgow, with the introduction of new Glasgow to Cardiff and Glasgow to Southampton services.

One service leaves Glasgow at 23:00, arriving into Birmingham for 05:35, before continuing to Southampton. The return northbound trip bypasses Birmingham.

Another service leaves Glasgow at 10:00, bypassing Birmingham, arriving into Cardiff at 19:10. It then returns north, departing Cardiff at 20:45, Birmingham at 23:50, and then arriving into Glasgow at 06:50.

I'd imagine they'll come in pretty handy for folks wanting to visit Scotland, if you can manage to sleep on overnight coaches then a (very long) day out to Glasgow is now doable!

(Also, if there's any forum staff available, could this thread be moved to the Other Operators section please?)

As mentioned before, I used to catch that route a few years ago & had many issues with it.

I feel your pain.

It seemed to have improved a lot over recent years, until recently with what I presume is a shortage of drivers at WA causing trips to be missed.

I don't think the extension to Merry Hill that replaced part of the WN81 is doing it any favours, either, especially when there's heavy traffic at Merry Hill.

I've taken to walking a few minutes further and getting the WN82 up to Loxdale to connect with the Metro, as it seems a lot more reliable as of late.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/bus-driver-shortage-leaving-fed-25236060

Not good is it?

For what it's worth, two buses (one 11 and one 11A) didn't turn up on my way home on Friday night. It's not great waiting for over an hour in the cold!

Yes it is having problems, only tracking around 50% of the time with poor GPS location, so I have reported it, but when I just checked it was on the 2030 journey, just on the railway line, not Wednesbury Road!

Yeah, it did eventually appear on the 2030 off Walsall, but with both the location and the timings being wrong.