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More internet watching bullsh1t

See this post for a detailed response.

4762 on loan to Wolverhampton this morning Currently on 16

More internet watching bullsh1t

Officially 18williamsLi was correct with his observation. A vehicle that was broadcasting PN boards the day before, is now found to be broadcasting WN boards on its first trip the following day. Hence a move from PN to WN is the logical conclusion. Is it 18williamsLi fault the vehicle is posting duff data?

If anyone bothered to check why 18williamsLi posted this comment, they would have discovered a new issue with WMT Ltd timetables exported in transXchange format for routes operated by multiple garages.

Checking the N16 timetable WMT Ltd uploaded to BODS you will find the Mon-Fri 0736 dep from The New Inn to Stourbridge, the first trip for board PN610 is missing. Along with the entire Saturday timetable, which either suggests the entire route is worked by PN on Saturday – or sloppy WMT Ltd admin forgetting to include the Saturday timetable in the upload.

Bustimes compiles their NXWM and NXC timetables using the data WMT Ltd upload to BODS. A quick check on bustimes, would have shown/confirmed, the trip is missing.

With no timetable data for this trip, the solution WMT Ltd have put in place (updated on 8th Aug) to meet their BODS obligation, fails to provide the correct Block Ref (PN610) and journey number for this missing trip. Where instead, the vehicle data posted to BODS is showing board WN1507 journey 13, which is the 0610 dep from Wolverhampton to Stourbridge: A WN board, operated by a vehicle currently based/loaned to WN.

Is it any wonder bustimes is confused? And so would any other system relying on data supplied by BODS, that informs joe public, who matter more than bus spotters. If bad data goes in, bad data comes out.

This was not an issue before the WMT LTD system update on 8th Aug.

Other timetables affected are 701 and 881, when checked on bustimes, to view data WMT Ltd have uploaded to BODS, shows missing WN and WA turns respectively.

X8 and N79 services have had WB turns in the past, but at present WMT Ltd Timetables uploaded to BODS state WN is the only garage allocated to these routes.

This error poses a problem for any system that uses BODS data to monitor WMT Ltd vehicle garage allocations, especially post WMT Ltd system update on 8th Aug, where only the Block Ref is now available to monitor vehicle allocation for WMT Ltd vehicles. If the vehicle broadcasts the wrong Block Ref, then an incorrect allocation will be recorded. As seen on bustimes.

So, how long will it take WMT Ltd to fix this issue and publish the correct N16 timetable that ensure vehicles report correct Boards and journey numbers? 24,48 hours? 1 week? 1 month? When 3rd Parties involved in the WMT Ltd solution to meet their BODS obligation, update their datasets?

Of note, the W9 went off line on 17th April 2023, and it took 43 days to fix the issue, to get vehicle locations published on BODS – where during this time WMT Ltd would be failing to meet their BODS obligation.

It has taken 2.5 years for WMT Ltd to finally publish a fully compliant BODS vehicle dataset; from 8th Aug 2023 - that ensures there is no need for data consumers to apply custom hacks to get the data to process as BODS intended.

What does this say about WMT Ltd commitment to meet their BODS obligation? To ensure people/companies/groups (like bustimes) who provide applications to help bus users (that WMT Ltd refuse to provide to their own customers) with the provision of real-time data and statistical analysis of service performance, can do so reliably using open source data via a framework provided by UK Gov, which relies on full co-operation from operators.

There is nothing worse than providing inaccurate data to the general public. Where unreliability is a key reason for people to seek alternative modes of transport. To then see senior WMT Ltd employees dismiss this as "Internet Bullsh1t"?

If it were not for people like 18williamsLi posting these alerts, then how long would this fault remained undetected?

The next time someone posts an observation, please don't automatically dismiss it as bullsh1t, check it first, as there may be a valid reason why that comment was posted.

[2 VEHICLE STANDARDS]

Looks like Acocks Green have rushed 4667 into service. The blue and white livery is complete with its National Express Coventry fleetnames.

Yeah noticed it in Chelmsley Wood today, doing the 72s.

If NXC branded 4667 is found working on the likes of NXWM 72 service, a route that uses facilities within Solihull AQPS, does 4667 currently meet the following Solihull AQPS regulation – active since Nov 2017?

2  VEHICLE STANDARDS
2.7 Presentation
2.7.2 No vehicles are to be used which remain in a livery belonging to a previous operator under any circumstances or bear any previous operator's branding or other information.
source (pdf)

Seeking Euro 6 updates....

With the recent demise of 4572 and 4633, are the vehicles listed below the remaining vehicles at PL that don't meet Euro 6 emission standards, required for Wolverhampton AQPS?

4311, 4425, 4427, 4428, 4429, 4431, 4432, 4433, 4434, 4435
4436, 4438, 4440, 4441, 4442, 4443, 4445, 4448, 4464, 4536
4537, 4538, 4539, 4540, 4541, 4542, 4553, 4556, 4558, 4559
4560, 4561, 4562, 4563, 4577, 4619, 4634

This fleet of 37 vehicles has an average age of 19 years and according to data sourced from each vehicle via NXWM BODS feed, the 39 vehicles mentioned have provided between 20-27% of NXWM journeys in/out Wolverhampton City Centre - Mon to Sat - during the summer time table.

In the past week (Mon-Sat), the above 37 vehicles provided an average of 22% of total journeys scheduled, where 88% of the schedule was successfully tracked. The missing 12% of the schedule, is due to missing / incomplete / incorrect readings. Also included are the trips made by 4348, 4566, 4567, 4578 from WA on W9, the only NXWM route that does not use PL vehicles working to/from Wolverhampton City Centre. I assume these WA vehicles are not Euro 6 compliant either?

[4633]

4286, 4289, 4572 and 4633 have all been withdrawn

Back in in Aug 2021, 4633 was at BC and was down for Euro 6 conversion along with 4619 and 4634.

Come Feb/Mar 2022, still non Euro 6 compliant, all three vehicles were dumped into Wolverhampton to avoid paying £50 CAZ charge, some 10 months after NXWM MD David Bradford released a press statement that claimed :

All our buses are Clean Air Zone compliant - we don't get charged the eight pounds, and neither do (our customers).

...in regards to the new Birmingham Clean Air Zone charges coming into force in June 2021 and how this would affect the operator.

Did 4619, 4633 and 4634 receive their planned Euro 6 upgrades while at PL in 2022 – to help meet NXWM emission compliance within Wolverhampton AQPS?

Will it still have "Proud to serve the city if Wolverhampton" stickers after repaint?

Hopefully not.

Given the lack of commitment NXWM have shown towards Wolverhampton over the past 6 years – I hope for NXWM sake that slogan goes ASAP

"Wolverhampton – where old buses retire for one last day in the sun"

• NX Bus UK love to boast about their "leadership in sustainable transport" when winning contracts to supply the likes of Warner Brothers Studios in Hertfordshire, with electric buses, but provides nothing but excuses for failing to supply a single new vehicle in the past five and a half years for their commercial enterprise in the City of Wolverhampton.
   
• Wolverhampton has the only WMCA backed Bus Advanced Quality Partnership / Enhanced Partnership Zone that sees Zero use of NX Zero emission buses.
  
  
• Wolverhampton AQPS Euro 6 emission deadline date delayed by 16 months to 24^th April 2022 at NXWM request, back in 2018, when regulators were in consultation with operators over the original proposals for Wolverhampton AQPS released in 2017.
  
  
• NXWM is the only operator in Wolverhampton that does not meet AQPS Emission Standards, where on weekdays around 42 vehicles with an average age of 18 years provide 22% to 29% of journeys for 31 routes that use the AQPS facilities that fail to meet emission requirements. Where the worst offending routes, also serve many economically deprived communities in Wolverhampton, thus providing them with the worst air quality too.
  
  
• The average age of vehicles used for public service is 11 years 9 months, 2nd worst after Acocks Green with 11 years 11 months
  
  
• With NX Bus UK announcing a ban on all new diesel and hybrid vehicles from Feb 2020, and no investment for Zero Emission Infrastructure installations for Park Lane in the foreseeable future, means WMT Ltd will continue to cascade end of life diesel vehicles from other garages into Wolverhampton. Notably from Coventry, Birmingham and Walsall as and when new zero emission vehicles are delivered to these garages. If Park Lane receive their first Zero Emission vehicles by 2026 - it will be 10 years since a new vehicle has been delivered to Wolverhampton.
  
  
• In attempt to pretend NXWM are doing something for Wolverhampton over the coming years, buses cascaded to Wolverhampton will receive a new grey livery, similar to the livery WMT Ltd have spent the past 8 years marketing to the public as a livery that represents "high quality", Platinum service.
  
  
• The smallest Borough in WM County and the only borough in Black Country NXWM refuse to support with Low Fare Zone since inception in 2017.
  
  
• NXWM provide bus solutions between key city district centres that are quicker to walk in 30-40 minutes due to the need to use 2 buses paying £4(.60) when the journey should take less than 12 mins on a short hop ticket. Where if you do take the bus, there is a 23% chance your vehicle will be over 18 years old and fail to meet City of Wolverhampton emission standards.
  
  
• NXWM provide a citywide network that has seen journeys cut by 12% since COVID lockdowns ended in Summer 2021.
  
  
• Newest PL vehicles Enviro400 MMC Platinum of 2016 vintage are allocated to D8/X8 and 529 corridors, where they spend more time and mileage outside of Wolverhampton than within, and also charge higher fares covering the shorter distances travelled within Wolverhampton, on the same route, operated by the same vehicle that is based in Wolverhampton.

Image Source: Express and Star

[Swift Go]

Singles on Mticket have to be done like that because without a time limit they could be used all day

So what you are saying Tony is that because mTickets are not issued or identified by the ticket machine, they have to be presented to the driver in the same was as a paper ticket, where a timer is required on the mTicket to provide a "window of opportunity" to give the user time to activate their ticket before boarding the bus, before the ticket auto expires, to prevent reuse.

Therefore enabling customers to abuse this protocol to their advantage, by using the ticket on as many journeys they require within this 30 min "window of opportunity" – which WMT Ltd accepts as valid practice?

A practice that is not permitted if the customer is using other WMT Ltd Single ticket / fare issued – when purchased using a system that works as intended.

It is not the customer's fault that WMT Ltd can't install adequate equipment on their vehicles to validate tickets issued by the company for travel.

Why should customers be penalised for paying by cash / Swift PAYG / Swift Go - because those systems work as intended?

Customers purchasing single fares issued as a paper ticket; should be able to present the same ticket for use on any number of WMT Ltd services within 30 mins of the time stamped on the ticket issued.

With Swift Go, operators can define the rules of travel. Where, unlike mTicket, each time the user taps in with Swift Go, the time, stop, route and vehicle boarded is recorded, leaving a unique anonymous digital tail across the network, that helps transport planners identify common travel patterns to design a bus network that meets customer requirements.

mTickets are incapable of collecting this vital information. Unless WMT Ltd are not informing mTicket users the app is "spyware" using their device's GPS/network IP, to track the user's every movement – perhaps another reason the user is told to keep the device on at all times?

If tapping in using Swift Go on NXWM services, NXWM can set a rule that charges a capped fare of £2.40 for all tap ins within the first 30 mins of use for that day. Thereafter, as done now, the customer is capped at Day Saver rate, capped further at 3 and 5 days if making the same journey for the number of days per week, paid in arrears, every Sunday.

Where as mTicket forces the customer to commit to pay for a ticket in advance, for journeys the user may not even make, or be forced to pay more for an additional ticket, due to an unforeseen need to travel on other days in the week, or beyond the required Low Fare Zone or a need to use another operator.

With Swift Go, because you pay in arrears, your fare is auto upgraded depending on your next move. From £3 to £4 if you tap in outside the initial NXWM Low Fare Zone. If an additional operator is required to the normal operator of choice, no problems, the normal operator's day cap (NXWM LFZ Walsall £3) is auto upgraded to an nBus equivalent (nBus Walsall £3.20) for the day or 3/5 days capped, which ever is the cheapest. Whereas the user is forced to pay an additional fare when using NXWM mTicket app or Diamond mTicket app, as they have already committed to purchasing the wrong ticket, or be charged separate fares for each operator if tapping in with a Bank Card.

To make an assumption that not many people make more than one journey paying an NXWM mTicket Single – can only be deduced by comparing the number of mTicket sales against all ticket sales made on a particular day.

Where at a guess, I assume mTickets are not the bulk purchase, and of those very few buy mTicket Singles. Therefore by law of averages one can claim not many people use mTicket Singles, multiple times, compared to other tickets sold - but as for the exact figure NXWM don't actually know, because that data is not recorded.

Unlike Swift Go, which records the time, stop, route and vehicle boarded, each time the card is tapped in - using an inert plastic card that fits easily into purse/wallet/back pocket, which does not need the user to spend £100+ on an electronic device to install the mTicket app on, which also requires an external power supply to ensure the ticket remains valid, or the user faces a criminal charge for fare evasion. The Swift customer can view their travel log and current fare (to pay from their Swift Account, via a number of payment methods on the coming Sunday) at anytime, when accessing their account online or the TfWM app.

Why does WMT Ltd still encourage customers to use the inferior mTicket app that provides loop holes that customers can exploit to the company's detriment, by offering only the cheapest tickets on the mTicket platform, like a carrot to lure people to download the app (prime use being to harvest customer personal details?), instead of promoting the full gamut of WMT Ltd fares on Swift, a platform that provides greater flexibility for both customer and operator, with no loopholes that customers can exploit, as well as helping planners know how users are accessing the network, the fares being used, and help reduce fare evasion - with a need to validate the Swift card on a pad each time the user boards a bus?

Especially when you consider membership to the WM Bus Alliance includes a promise from the operator to support the Swift platform.

never heard of that. I think a single ticket is valid for a single journey only.

Sorry @2206, I was continuing on from what @Kevin was saying above about singles purchased on mTicket. I too have not heard you can use Singles on more than one journey within 30 mins. Hence I asked the question.

Where does NX explain in their terms and conditions of travel you can use a Single Ticket on any number of buses within 30 mins of being issued? 
https://nxbus.co.uk/west-midlands/help-information/ticket-terms-conditions

Does this extend to paper tickets too - paid with cash or Swift PAYG?

You simply present the paper ticket, as with mTicket to the driver, where the driver on seeing it is a single ticket, will want to inspect the time of issue on the ticket, where if issued with within 30 mins - the driver will allow you to board the bus?
 

Thanks for the updates BN.  BNH2004 reported on 10th May that 5412 was seen on N3, not tracking. The vehicle last tracked on 5th May. Now tracking on 11th May on N2.

Can anyone confirm if this vehicle was out in service on 8th May, and if so, on which routes?

On 8th May, the following PL routes had missing sequential journey numbers indicating a vehicle(s) was missing/had faulty tracker:N2, N3, D8, N59, 529

Thanks.

[BK63 YWP]

The N4 variation 24, suggests this route is reverting back to a X-City route, between i54 and Spring Hill, with Spring Hill now named as a finishing point.

With the N3 variation still providing a 20 min frequency between Castlecroft and Fordhouses, the N4 will most likely match it, to provide 10 min frequency (7 mins before Dudley West Review) between Merridale and Oxley, where at present the combination is only available between City Centre Market St. and Oxley, at the same 10 min frequency. 

This would then suggest, as BK63 YWP mentions above, the likelihood of the N15 reverting back to 30 mins frequency, from current 20 mins. If the N4 is now serving Spring Hill, then N15 will most likely be re-routed back down Penn Road with the N16, that has also been reduced back to 30 mins, where the combined services will provide 4 NX buses an hour along Penn Road, as was the case before the Dudley West Review changes were applied in Jan 2020.

No, 5402/9/12 are not yet Euro6,  but the kits for them have finally arrived. All the others had the exhaust kits fitted before conversion and remain on

Thanks Tony.

Glad the kits have arrived. I hope the kits are installed ASAP.

Are 5402 5409 and 5412 now fitted with the required customised exhaust systems, to ensure the vehicle meets Euro 6 emission compliance?

Are the remaining E400H conversions to straight diesel, returned back to NX with the necessary modified exhaust systems that certify the vehicle as Euro 6 compliant? In that vehicles are not returned back into service as euro 3 or 5 compliant, while waiting for new exhaust systems to be fitted at a later date, as has been the case for the 3 vehicles mentioned above?

NX Bus UK launched first pedal powered electric buses.

National Express West Midlands has launched the region's first pedal bus service, providing a new opportunity for customers to reduce their carbon footprint as well as their calories.

This morning, Friday 1st April, the first double decker pedal bus entered into service, helping busy commuters save the planet, as well as their time and money, by combining their morning workout with their journey to work.

https://www.nationalexpressgroup.com/media/news-releases/2022/new-pedal-powered-buses-help-customers-save-the-planet-save-and-save-lbs/

[4619/33/34]

No, It is because they are not euro 6 they have been moved out of an area where they cost £50 per day to operate

Thanks Tony.

You mentioned in the Walsall Garage thread these were up for a Euro 6 upgrade.

....
all buses in the range 4718-4995
5401/3-8/13/14/16/18 all others in this range are in process
4619/33/34 will follow these

You also said back in Nov 2021 on BC Garage Thread

[4633] is in the garage and will be back on the road soon. It has just had a replacement engine fitted

So I presumed this may have been the planned Euro 6 upgrade - but just an like for like engine swap?

Does this mean it looks increasingly likely that NXWM will not be compliant when all journeys into Wolverhampton AQPS require Euro 6 emission standards from 24th April 2022? PL needs around 44 Euro 6 deckers for NXWM to be compliant - if current level of service is to be maintained.