Messages

 A TFL bus has hit a low bridge at Paddington Station, causing damage to the upper deck, not sure of any injuries. 

https://www.gbnews.com/news/paddington-bus-crash-double-decker-roof-crushed-taxi-rank

Birmingham City Council missed a trick years ago by not investing in park-and-ride sites dotted around the middle ring road, ahead of demolishing city centre car parks. We now have the ridiculous situation where the two remaining multi-storey car parks at the Bullring and Moor Street are regularly full on Saturdays, and because they are located on a main entry and exit point for buses to/from Moor Street Queensway, the resulting congestion from drivers queuing to get into these car parks causes the buses to also get stuck and delayed.

I agree I think Birmingham missed a trick by not introducing Bus park and rides. I think it would definitely ease congestion if it were set up right, with the right service and cost. Down here in Bristol, there's four park and rides. Stagecoach run services from Portway and Brisington Park and ride, whilst Metrobus( run by First WOE) operate from Long Ashton and Lyde Green. All four of them are well located not far from motorways and are only £4 return with free parking. I do wonder what it would be like without them. Parking is £3.50 an hour in alot of city centre car parks.

There needs to be a thought about tourists that visit Birmingham and the West Midlands that don't want the hassle of driving in a busy city and trying to find parking. Having a bus park and ride could attract more people to the region hence boosting the local economy and long term it would improve the inner city congestion. Surely the new mayor should look at it. 

Curious to know what garage is running it?

It looks like Leamington are running it. 11218 and 11222 are making their way back down A45 Coventry Road

I know its outside West Midlands, 2 new First West of England routes starting on 7th April

374 Bristol - Taunton
375 Bristol - Bridgwater both 3h 10 minutes end to end

Will interesting to see how they go, gotta be near enough 50 miles each way from Bristol to Taunton. I've got the 376 from Bristol to Street before and that's about 30 miles but at least the scenery is nice for most of the route and it don't stop too much.

In terms of the Midlands I agree about the 76 but I haven't quite rode it end to end. Rode it between Solihull and Harborne and that was long enough. Some old routes were long like the 144 between Worcester and Birmingham, when the X20 ran between Stratford and Coventry via Solihull.

I agree with you, the standard of driving is sometimes absolutely shocking. But do let us remember that the majority of motorists do drive correctly, however the minority of idiots gives them all a bad reputation.

After witnessing a high speed collision on Stoney Lane last Friday morning, I actually get nervous while travelling on buses now - the amount of heart-stopping near misses I see is astounding.

Regarding this incident, I've just seen a video from Instagram that the Birmingham Mail posted. While you can't clearly see what happened, it would seem that someone thought it would be a good/clever idea to try and use the bus lane to beat the queue. What they obviously failed to do was use their mirrors, otherwise they would have seen the bus approaching.

As I've said on numerous occasions, it only takes one impatient idiot to cause an incident that then affects hundreds of others.

Bus lanes are there for a reason, keep out of them!

Since I've moved to the South West I've noticed how much different it is on the roads. You still get idiots but in general people have alot more respect and consequently I enjoy driving much more. It's not to say everyone that drives in the West Midlands is terrible but I think there's a sizeable amount of people who have a sense of entitlement, that they can do what they want with no consequences. So when they get behind a wheel, how are they gonna behave?. That's why in an accident hotspot areas like inner Birmingham they needs to be bus lane cameras, speed cameras and red lights cameras. Bordesley Circus is awful for red light jumping yet nothing is ever done.

In terms of this accident, I'm glad the bus driver is okay, obviously not his fault. Also the passengers and others involved are okay, must have been scary for all onboard. I too Stu was nervous when travelling on some buses in Birmingham, the X1/X2 that goes through Heybarnes Circus is one of the areas. You can just see a car going through the red light as the bus is going through the island. I'm not a fan of an outside lane bus lane so I'm not sure if the road layout around there is better than it was in terms of safety. Are there bus lanes cameras down there as a deterrent to people as I've read that cars have been seen using the bus lane before?

X1(E062) Involved in an RTC on Small Heath Bypass near Asda outbound. Fair bit of frontal damage.

Just seen the video of this, obviously won't post it on here.  Queueing traffic on the inside and middle lanes of the A45 to the island. The bus lane which is the outside lane is clear, bus doing upto the speed limit, a car then decides to venture into the bus lane right in front of the bus, bus driver has no chance to brake.

I really hope nobody is seriously injured, but honestly nothing surprises me about the standard of driving not just in Birmingham but Small Heath in particular. Gotta be thousands without valid licences or disqualified, as there's no driving schools that would teach the standard of driving round there. 

Stagecoach bus leaves the road and ploughs into a garden after the driver suffered a medical episode at the wheel. Happened in Quedgley, Gloucester. Thankfully no passengers injured and driver taken to hospital. All the best to him!

https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2024-02-26/bus-ploughs-through-garden-after-driver-suffers-suspected-medical-episode

I found definitely in the West Midlands there is no such thing as queuing for the bus. If I did try and queue, I would just get idiots just pushing in. Worst time was when waiting for the X12 in Solihull Town Centre, lots of elderly people queuing in the bus shelter. Then all of a sudden loads of school kids appear, just stood at front of the queue when they we were all waiting 15 mins plus. I had a go at a couple of them for trying to push in. It's just rude and bad manners to not only push in but to not let elderly passengers on first.

Since moving to the south west it's completely different down here. People actually queue for the bus everywhere, even in Bristol Bus Station. Before First moved the Y1 service from the bus station, the queue would go straight down past other stands during peak times, which would be confusing as you never knew what queue to be in!.

I wonder how many people actually use the local buses to get to football matches though?

In Villa's case id say it's the best form of transport. Parking when I was going as a kid was awful. Remember my dad parking at One Stop shopping centre (1990s)  when we went and we would walk from there, which was about 30 mins. We just hid our colours as they didn't like fans parking there but it was free and no time limit back then. Then when i started going on my own I just got the 997 from Pheasey and walked from Perry Barr greyhound stadium, only 20min walk. 

Currently the train station is completely inadequate and WMT don't always run a reliable service. The parking is terrible so I think Aston Villa should put more investment into making sure supporters can get  to and from VP. It's all good having football specials from Cannock and Tamworth but it's needs to be from all corners of the Midlands. 

Seems only Stagecoach buses are tracking in Midlands.  Same down here in North Somerset, no First Buses tracking.

Upper deck fire on a First West of England bus in Bristol over weekend. The bus was operating the 2 from Cribbs Causeway to Stockwood. No injuries thankfully. Believed to be arson attack.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/dramatic-pictures-show-bus-fire-8935054

NX saying the 997 is being diverted due to "anti social behaviour" using Shady Lane and Kings Road to Pheasey in both directions. 

I've seen a lot more people on buses in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire since the £2 maximum fare started.

It wasn't much of a decrease in the West Midlands as the fares had traditionally been kept low, but in Arriva and Stagecoach country some fares are down 75%+ thanks to the cap.

I think companies such as First would definitely benefit from the cap. Before it came in believe a 2-trip ticket was about £5.50. Whilst I don't mostly dont miss riding a NX bus in the Midlands, what I do miss is the fact you can ride as many buses and only be charged £4.50. Here in North Somerset it's £7 or £12 if you want a west of England zone plus ticket, so it's a pity we don't have a cap on day tickets not just singles. 

That article really highlights how poor some journalists are nowadays. Why would you get the X1 to Coventry that terminates at Pool Meadow and not get the NXC 11 that runs from the SAME bus station and is part of the SAME company. Doesn't it pretty much go the same route as the X18.

He talks about having a more simplified ticket process to make people use public transport more. He may have a point but for me the biggest thing is anti social behaviour and the need to make public transport to be safer. It's become more unsafe on buses in my opinion.

X20 missing out Hockey Heath due to house fire on Stratford Road. Using M40/M42 instead.