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Thanks for clarification Simon.  There is no way from the article you can tell financial support is offered as you say, it makes it look like it is fully commercial and bustimes hints that as well.

PD0001374/467 – bustimes.org

I guess there are multiple ways financial support can be offered which isn't considered a subsidy. Maybe as a bigger package?  Realise this might be commercially/contractually sensitive and nothing can be added to what is already provided. Just interesting to hear and very informative so thanks again.

Whilst the 292 is the service I am most interested in, I note on the Diamond website, the timetable page for BEWD is showing no service, either on the timetable page or the PDF of the timetable. Is that an error, the Service Changes pages reckons it is still operating.  Checked on iPad and Windows laptop.  I assume if BEWD isn't running, the 292 is following its standard route?

WW BEWD | Diamond Bus
Diamond - Timetable

Thanks Roy. All of that is as I thought should be the case. I knew it was the 1st weekday of a new month but still was surprised to see the schedule as I didn't expect a 197 in passenger service to my parents yet. 

Looking at RTT, 197044 did its 1st journey's as per what was stated yesterday. It then swapped with 158838 at Chester with 197044 heading to Holyhead. 158838 bringing in 1D10 from Crewe (06:69-07:20). 1D10 is scheduled to arrive and depart Chester to Holyhead at 07:20 but arrived on time, not surprisingly departed at 07:24. 158838 took over the 1J93 to Shrewsbury.

I note there is a 197 scheduled for Tywyn tomorrow. Not that common is it?  2J11 to Pwllheli at 1325 and 17:27 return to 2G65 Machynlleth. Unit 197044

It's a route that often has newer buses on it as well so a real shame it doesn't work out, can't blame the quality of the buses or service frequency etc for this withdrawal.

The 966 did exactly that from 1986 and that didn't work either

Was it that the 966 didn't work or a change in strategy?  There seemed to be a move away from express, long distance services at one point (certainly around Walsall) to bolster shorter stopping services. For example, Walsall to Aldridge leg went from 20 mins 367, 368 (368 hourly, 367 20-40) to 15 minutes 367/368 (each 30 mins) both with 30 mins limited stop 966 to then eventually straight 10 mins stopping 366,367,368 (later 6, 7, 7a).

This with cut backs and withdrawals of other limited stop services. The 51 bolstered to every 6 minutes at one stage if I remember rightly with the 951 (X51) cut to half hourly. Very different now. The 997 was cut to 20 minutes from Aldridge to Birmingham with a 355 A/C for the Walsall, Rushall, Aldridge section etc

The 529 had Gas Powered singles I think at a high frequency.  So maybe not a failing service, rather a different strategic approach? And of course, a train service from Walsall to Wolves operated I believe by a NX franchise.

Obviously everything Tony has said answers the queries on the X1, First experiences. There does seem to be a massive misconception about EVs. Yes people are right to have anxiety range- it is an issue, and yes they can be very annoying when you arrive at a motorway services and find half the chargers not working and a queue for the few that are. But they also have less parts to go wrong.  I accept that an EV bus isn't the same as an EV car, which is what I experience.

However, you simply manage it! (and yes occasionally get very frustrated by it too)  The NX management is seemingly excellent and will know exactly what they are doing. That is what you do with any vehicle but especially EVs. You manage them. You know the range, you plan accordingly.  If you stick them on the X1, you factor the range into the diagrams. The notion that the schedulers would allow a bus to run out of range and that a driver wouldn't say "erm we have a problem" if a mistake by a scheduler is made is one I struggle to comprehend.

So have range concern... yes.  Lead to breakdowns because of this no.  Have more mechanical issues than diesel, no.  My experience is an electric car can be difficult to service for a mechanic because there is so little to service, the battery part tends to look after itself and there is no gears, clutch, belts etc to worry about

A rare foray into Brum for me yesterday and the Electric Buses really do make Birmingham worthy of its 2nd City status. Spent a bit of time in Oxford recently and the Go Ahead Electrics are nice to be on.  Sure there were a few tatty and worn vehicles on display in Brum but with the modern trams as well as newish platinum's together with the Electrics, they do raise the status of the City Centre I think.  The older buses in Walsall reflect the worn out look of the town centre. I reckon the new electrics give Birmingham City Centre as a whole a lift.

Waiting at Haddenham & Thame Parkway yesterday morning (Wednesday 31/01/24) for the 07:30 London Marylebone (none stop service from Haddenham), the driver completely overshot the platform with all 8 carriages ending up outside the platform. The train remained stationary for a few minutes (as can be testified by looking at Real Train Times) and then carried on regardless. I didn't expect it would or could reverse although the line was used as bidirectional during the landslip issues further north a few weeks back.

For the very many of us on the cold platform, we had to wait for the 08:03. Not too shocking but slightly problematic when you are welcoming guests to your office (an easily solved issue). What is worse is for those planning to get off at Haddenham.  Real Train times isn't clear but it suggests the train didn't stop further down the line meaning those getting off would have needed to take the 08:35 back from London arriving approx 110 minutes later that they should at 09:19. The 08:11 from Marylebone appearing not to be held for those returning passengers (which isn't a massive surprise).

The 08:03 was 5 cars rather than 6 which at first sounds bad but I believe the normal service starts at Stourbridge and is loco hauled. We had a pair of 168s starting in Birmingham. Very cramped in the vestibule area but not sure the loco hauled service would have been better

Has anyone else had this issues before where the train driver fails to stop in time.  You could smell the brakes but could also see he was heading into and through the station far too fast, again not a surprise. 

I 100% understand where you are coming from AlexS, it isn't great to see newer buses shipped out to be replaced by older ones. Here's the thing. I don't think an 09 plated DD would be considered "life expired wrecks".  Just look at almost any bus fleet and they will have plenty older. NX has many a bus that are over 5 years or more older than 4433 and 4434. I think 4432-34 etc probably have many years service left in them. 
I'm pretty sure when the council(s) brought in that rule, they didn't envisage 15 year old buses being replaced by 7-11 year old hand me downs either. 

Be interesting to see if anything is announced about the interim, whilst the takeover is going through. Arriva have sold their operations in other countries and I-squared are used to doing these deals so the lawyers might not need too long to complete the sale.  However, DB surely aren't going to invest in any new buses other than those already on order and I-squared can't be ordering buses either in case the sale falls through. Plus a mention of them buying electric buses presents the infrastructure challenges Arriva had and NX are seeing. So it might be a fair way into the future before any new buses are ordered, let alone delivered. Given the age profile of Arriva's fleet and their recent fleet withdrawal policies, I struggle to see how all the Depots can keep on running as now whilst waiting for new orders. I would argue in the Midlands, Aylesbury (especially given events in September 23), Tamworth, Shrewsbury and Telford are very vulnerable. Potentially depends on the size of existing orders DB has placed, that are part of the deal.

All in all though, a very positive announcement.

Looking at the Notices and Proceedings for the 16/06, I note page 12 shows the cancellation of the 36 on the 22 July. The 381 is another of those services I used to use in times gone by... It was never well populated when I caught it

Are we sure all the cuts are for the summer only (but the 45 after 9pm) ? I'm sure most are. The day time reductions I do get being summer only, that makes sense. Does a Sunday evening service see that much reduction over the summer compared to the standard? Not all the changes seem to be showing on the changes page on Bus Times so it is hard to tell what is for 8-9 weeks and what might be more permanent.

Normally I agree with everything that is said by the admin on here. I'm not sure I do in this case. I stand by my comment that the cuts to the 4 are brutal.  I accept they are not if you travel within the core section where it interworks with the 4A. However, the independent running part of the 4 is only slightly less the time frame as the whole of the WA31. When I used to use the Birmingham end of the 4 route, I'm sure it went up to a 5 minute frequency throughout when a rival pulled off it. I don't think there was any splitting at Olton in those days.  I'm getting old and maybe forgetting what actually happened.  I did look at the map before making that comment and didn't think the 4 and 4A necessarily ran that close together after the split, if they do the cuts are not so brutal.

I am not a fan of the cuts to extremities of routes on the grounds that the core parts keep a decent service (whilst respecting NX Management will be doing what they need to).  The reduction to a 40 minutes service on the 37 and 39 on a Saturday for example. Yes the core is still every 10 minutes but not everyone uses only the core sections. Didn't the 39 used to run every 20 minutes in the near past?

Apologies, I meant the 39 not the 37. Schoolboy error. Sorry