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https://twitter.com/gnikttam/status/1698770159631061147?s=20

Arriva's Network Manager posted this image of Electroliner 8000 in the depot earlier today.

I don't suppose those vehicles will be used on shuttles for Bon Jovi concerts in the near future...

Not to be the one to dampen the mood, but 6953 is out in Pool Meadow currently and I assume it is the same E400MMC that passed the railway station at around quarter to 2.

Wonder how the 41 timetable will fit in with the existing 11/14 services on the sections between Uni of Warwick and Leamington Spa/Eastern Green. What would the frequency on that section look like?

Possibly running as the 11 to Uni Of  Warwick then as the 14 to Parkhill Estate, not sure which way it might go to Radford from there?

Ill take a purely speculative stab - X1 as far as Grayswood Avenue/Kingsbury Road, left up on the 51 through Coundon then to wherever the Radford terminus is - rather amiguous as Radford could be defined as Jubilee Crescent, Old Shepherd or even the end of Burnaby Road where the 5 used to terminate on Sundays.

Parkhill only has the one main road that isn't a cul-de-sac. The x1 turns around at the shop. This new bus hopefully should be traversing the length of the road (sorry, the 54 school bus currently does this), and hopefully they'll install some bus stops along there so people know a scheduled bus is using the road.

I wouldn't hold my breath about the stops. 1/51 have been going down Glendower Avenue and using it as a driver discretion hail and ride section for nearly 2 years now.
Either way, a welcome addition to the Coventry network after the western half of the outer circle was withdrawn in March 2020.

New services registered:
41: Radford to Leamington Spa via Parkhill Estate, Eastern Green, Tile Hill South, University of Warwick and Kenilworth. PD0001111/875
42: Keresley Village to University of Warwick via Radford, Little Heath, Willenhall, Green Lane. PD0001111/876

Does anyone know what these routes are?

Just a thought - wasn't Stagecoach 60 up for tender? That 42 sounds like a possible extension to Keresley Village although not too sure what route it would take (maybe old de courcey 61)

41 sounds like what was the old de courcey 43. As both numbers seem quite similar, is this the revival of the former outer circle, with a few upgrades?

Has anyone not been able to get a seat on a B7RLE?

I see someone has already commented in regards to the 17 however I share alternative opinions on the matter.

As a regular user of services 3, 5/5A, 15, 16 I can confirm that more often than not when the B7RLE vehicles are on routes 3, 15 and 16 (peak only) that seats are scarce and I have to stand. Furthermore, my own experiences of these vehicles have given me the reputation that they are distinctively sluggish and slow (only exception is when I travelled on WA8) which only lengthens the period of standing. Whilst I acknowledge that diesel buses must be used in the fleet until 2025 for "smooth" operation (by national express' definition), it cannot be said that the aforementioned routes can tolerate the peak loadings and a fair few off peak as well. Before service 5 went through its sustained decline buses used to be full throughout the day also but this is no longer the case. I don't suppose the running boards have been "adapted" by cutting the routes!
Anyways I can see I will get nowhere by saying this just like the PR public consultations but the allocation of the electric vehicles has brought a welcome "capacity upgrade" despite having official loadings of less than the B7RLEs (which could possibly fit 100 if the people are ants) off the top of my head.

This evening I have been looking at options to travel to/from the Coventry City game which is in Shrewsbury tomorrow. As it's a strike day for LNWR, I checked the journey planners for trains back from Birmingham New St (as TFW seem to be terminating there after 5pm). The last train is the 1950 to Northampton - conveniently calling at Hampton-in-Arden, Berkswell, Tile Hill, Canley, Long Buckby and Northampton only - with no Coventry or Birmingham Int'l where I would usually get off. At first glance I thought this was a mistake but even the LNWR twitter team have told me this service is only stopping at the listed stations - how strange!

I'm not too sure what's gone on with CV routes today but by the looks of the tracker alongside my own (and others who have contacted me) observations of no buses out there seems to be an issue with them leaving the depot.

Routes now running from tomorrow
https://nxbus.co.uk/coventry/service-updates/strike-action

Promising news even though my local routes aren't running - I just hope that people who would make non-essential journeys travel via alternative means where possible to free up seats for others who need it!

Interesting how the 5 gets DDs now when pretty much every bus I've seen on it has max 15 people on when there are routes like the 14/17/18/20A that have far more patronage, I'm a regular user of the 17 and the overcrowding can get a bit much with everyone crowding down the front of the bus and becomes a real nightmare with people having to get off for a second to let buggies on and off.

I also see the 14/18 getting just as crowded particularly at peak hours and the 20A obviously for making links all the way up Foleshill Rd until turning off towards Bell Green and eventually UHCW.

All in all, is not the best feeling being on an overcrowded B7RLE and you see an empty DD heading the other way. I know NX probably has their reasons for this and I'm not taking a dig at the garage, but is just something I wanted to get off my chest.

2/19 also get regular DDs especially with the DD 85 boards interworking and while I understand there are consistent workers trying to get to Torrington Ave and making links to Earlsdon (the 11 also exists there), and schoolkids going to Westwood Academy, I have still never seen a 2 or 19 jam packed full of people, same with the 5!

I'm curious as to what people think of this and like I said NX more than likely do have their reasons for this and I'm not cussing out the garage for no particular reason.

I've regularly used the 5/5A and latterly the 5/7/75 through Coundon at least once weekly and currently daily for over a decade. Back when the 5/7 used to run every 10 minutes up Barkers Butts Lane in peaks you would be able to fill a B7RLE on the 5 (a bit too much sometimes!) and the 7 would fill an ALX400 quite easily likewise with a decent passenger usage off peak to constitute DDs. However, the eclipses have always seemed to run late on the 5 since they were ordered, and many people I know just stopped taking the bus because it either arrived too late or was unreliable. If I remember correctly you could get a full 5 done on a good day in 30 minutes, but just before it was cancelled past Coundon in January I believe it was 45 minutes. The extended journey times and unreliable service put people off the bus or they just walked to other services (16/13/3 etc.)  or just stopped getting the bus altogether. The final nail in the coffin was last year when on multiple occasions there were no service 5 buses running all day. What used to be an extremely busy service has faded away but it seems like when they put the B7RLE or E200 vehicles on, everyone gets the bus whilst nobody gets it when they put DDs on.

There's recently been many B7RLEs on the 16 (which I also get from time to time) which has been incredibly uncomfortable in the peaks despite not having the largest usage with the combination of 2 schools and all of the general public going to work. Multiple times in the past month I've been either denied boarding due to overcrowding, completely skipped, stood with 2 other people in the width of the gangway and even been told by a driver 'I'm not stopping until City Centre because the schoolchildren are being annoying and you won't be able to get off anyway because it's too busy - whilst standing within 2 metres of the door.'

The 20A is another good example as mentioned. Running B7RLEs on such a busy corridor is laughable and whilst there isn't an infinite supply of DDs available, chucking them on the 2/5/5A/19/85s when other buses are perfectly sufficient for those routes isn't the smartest move from my perspective (I've never been on an 85 in peaks so please correct me if I am wrong).

As you say, management probably have their own reasons and skewed passenger statistics but if these people actually went out onto the routes then I'm sure they would reallocate buses to where they are most needed. Hopefully they can sort all this out soonish so even more people aren't driven away from the buses and onto the congested roads in cars!

Rocky start for the Stagecoach routes in Coventry by the looks- 3/4 buses I have waited for haven't turned up! (1 on 7C, 2 on 51) You'd think TFWM check the operator who have been awarded the contract have enough buses/drivers to cover the route. Hopefully they can buck their ideas up and chuck on a horse drawn Stagecoach if worse comes to worse.

The Stagecoach version of the 7 is now numbered 7C which I believe someone mentioned before but another person said it was wrong. The full destination into city on 26219 says 7C Pool Meadow via Holyhead Road - likely to differentiate from the National Express 7. Passenger numbers have taken a hit even for a bank holiday though - only 3 passengers including myself were on the bus during my journey compared to a constant 10-15 on the NX 7.

Stagecoach website now with full timetables. 20A seems to just be 3 evening departures to the hospital (21.00, 22.00, 23.00) from Trinity Street and back again at each half hour. 51 includes the current 1, 5 and 20C to extend to the hospital in the daytime, giving Coundon and Radford a direct service to the hospital not seen since the outer circle was cut. The one thing which has confused me is the stop labelled "Coundon Bablake School" which i presume is a typo for Westhill Road/Courtland Avenue where the 1 currently terminates. Hopefully this service will get more patronage with the extra links so it doesn't get given the same fate as many other routes in the city.

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/midlands/n-network-multi-operator-tickets

^ just to reiterate my point.

Seems like most drivers don't understand how to use a ticket machine then! I have tried to purchase an nBus on the 48C, 55, 56, 60 and 82 before but the driver just let me on in 4 of the instances. Hopefully now they have more routes then the ticket machines/drivers can be corrected/educated respectively as I assume there will be many more encounters with the ticket.

Regarding this '51' service, I see there was a tender issued by TfWM for a 'new' 15 service, which was intended to replace the whole of the 1 as well as incorporating part of the commercial 5 being withdrawn by NXC.

So the question is 15 or 51? I can't see why Stagecoach would prefer to number it 51.

As far as I'm concerned it says 51 although the tender did say 15 if I remember correctly. It might be because it goes west then north, following direction of Nuneaton buses for a very short period instead of 15 which may be confused with Leamington 15 and similar to (x) 17/18 buses that go south. As with the Chemsley 71 being renumbered to 26 for the sunday evening journeys (I think) then it may be Stagecoach just trying to differentiate from NX numbers (14, 16 etc). I have a picture of the poster yet I am not entirely sure how/if you can attach images to the forum though.