Diamond West Midlands - Redditch

[winston]

Was about to correct you as I didn't think the 82/87/88 were Euro 6. I then checked a couple of the Enviro 200s used on these services today which are Euro 6 compliant. Just an FYI in case anybody else wasn't sure about the Stagecoach Enviro 200s, it appears that a quantity of them or perhaps all of them have indeed been upgraded to Euro 6.

I understand a few routes that operate beyond the West Midlands boundary are excluded from Euro requirement in 1st May. 

[2206]

Solihull is currently 100% Euro 6, All new TfWM tenders have to be Euro 6 & from 1/5/23, all buses operating within the West Midlands will need to be Euro 6.

Are all the 72/73 Gemini  4638 - 4659, 4498 - 4504 as these can't and don't run into Birmingham CAZ but are used into solihull? I don't think they were used on the 41/46 as well as some journeys required euro 6 vehicles.
As well as those 43XX/45XX Tridents that are regulars on the 49/76.

[Tony]

Was about to correct you as I didn't think the 82/87/88 were Euro 6. I then checked a couple of the Enviro 200s used on these services today which are Euro 6 compliant. Just an FYI in case anybody else wasn't sure about the Stagecoach Enviro 200s, it appears that a quantity of them or perhaps all of them have indeed been upgraded to Euro 6.

Yes, Graysons were doing them at the same time NXWM were having their upgrades done. I saw several of them there.

[BBS]

Are all the 72/73 Gemini  4638 - 4659, 4498 - 4504 as these can't and don't run into Birmingham CAZ but are used into solihull? I don't think they were used on the 41/46 as well as some journeys required euro 6 vehicles.
As well as those 43XX/45XX Tridents that are regulars on the 49/76.

41/46 they were used at the start. They eventually stopped and started using euro 6 E400MMCs and Scanias 

[2206]

20015 this morning on the A16. Destination display isn't working and displaying Diamond Bus. 
Presumably as they've changed the bus from last week when it was 20884. 

[DMCL]

32213 (SO65 LRL) Streetlite DF travelling along Evesham Road in Redditch this morning with the rear of the body hanging dramatically low over the rear wheels.

[Steveminor]

Thank you.
I am in Redditch today and seen this vehicle several times, I have not witnessed this with this bus.

[DMCL]

I don't use the buses very often so what I am about to describe my well be usual practise. I got on a service 12 from Astwood Bank to Redditch this morning. There were only 2 or 3 people on the bus and it was running on time. At the next stop an elderly person got on but she hadn't got her Concessionary Travel Pass ready. There didn't seem to be any good reason for this as she had been waiting at the stop and could have been prepared. She said it was in her bag but the driver just waved her onto the bus. I presume that the value of this journey was lost to the company.
Given the number of passengers on the bus I assume this service can't be financially viable so why would a driver not collect the fare. After all, if the service is scrapped, he could loose his job.

[Simon Dunn]

I don't use the buses very often so what I am about to describe my well be usual practise. I got on a service 12 from Astwood Bank to Redditch this morning. There were only 2 or 3 people on the bus and it was running on time. At the next stop an elderly person got on but she hadn't got her Concessionary Travel Pass ready. There didn't seem to be any good reason for this as she had been waiting at the stop and could have been prepared. She said it was in her bag but the driver just waved her onto the bus. I presume that the value of this journey was lost to the company.
Given the number of passengers on the bus I assume this service can't be financially viable so why would a driver not collect the fare. After all, if the service is scrapped, he could loose his job.

I have seen your comment.  Can you advise where you boarded?  What time?  

[Wumpty]

I don't use the buses very often so what I am about to describe my well be usual practise. I got on a service 12 from Astwood Bank to Redditch this morning. There were only 2 or 3 people on the bus and it was running on time. At the next stop an elderly person got on but she hadn't got her Concessionary Travel Pass ready. There didn't seem to be any good reason for this as she had been waiting at the stop and could have been prepared. She said it was in her bag but the driver just waved her onto the bus. I presume that the value of this journey was lost to the company.
Given the number of passengers on the bus I assume this service can't be financially viable so why would a driver not collect the fare. After all, if the service is scrapped, he could loose his job.

@DMCL as a former bus worker, I would personally commend the driver for the way in which he has shown reasonable discretion allowing an elderly passenger to sit down without showing her pass.

You say, "she hadn't got her Concessionary Travel Pass ready. There didn't seem to be any good reason for this as she had been waiting at the stop and could have been prepared." Given that she is elderly, it is bitterly cold today and that she may not have felt comfortable searching through her bag in public, I don't see this as unreasonable. I'd be more concerned if the driver had made her feel even more uncomfortable by insisting she stand on the platform and search her bag for it. When i worked on the buses, it was common practice not to ask clearly elderly passengers to find their passes if they hadn't got them to hand.

I'm certain that the few pounds that the fare would have cost (even though she states she had a concessionary pass) is going to have any tangible impact on the financial viability of the service. I, for one, would be terribly grateful to the driver if this was my elderly mother or grandmother.

We all make errors of judgement and forget things - let's hope that when you are this lady's age that bus drivers offer you the same levels of discretion, courtesy, customer service and respect that the Diamond driver has shown her. I'm sure that she appreciated this very small, but grand gesture.

@Simon Dunn how you investigate this is entirely at your discretion, though I'd be inclined to COMMEND the driver for their approach and professionalism - the public needs more drivers like this.

[MW]

@DMCL as a former bus worker, I would personally commend the driver for the way in which he has shown reasonable discretion allowing an elderly passenger to sit down without showing her pass.

You say, "she hadn't got her Concessionary Travel Pass ready. There didn't seem to be any good reason for this as she had been waiting at the stop and could have been prepared." Given that she is elderly, it is bitterly cold today and that she may not have felt comfortable searching through her bag in public, I don't see this as unreasonable. I'd be more concerned if the driver had made her feel even more uncomfortable by insisting she stand on the platform and search her bag for it. When i worked on the buses, it was common practice not to ask clearly elderly passengers to find their passes if they hadn't got them to hand.

I'm certain that the few pounds that the fare would have cost (even though she states she had a concessionary pass) is going to have any tangible impact on the financial viability of the service. I, for one, would be terribly grateful to the driver if this was my elderly mother or grandmother.

We all make errors of judgement and forget things - let's hope that when you are this lady's age that bus drivers offer you the same levels of discretion, courtesy, customer service and respect that the Diamond driver has shown her. I'm sure that she appreciated this very small, but grand gesture.

@Simon Dunn how you investigate this is entirely at your discretion, though I'd be inclined to COMMEND the driver for their approach and professionalism - the public needs more drivers like this.

That's now how the world works. Because of that driver, the Conc pass wasn't recorded. How many others aren't being recorded? How much revenue is being lost on these already marginal services. 

Customer service is out of the window if the service is loss making. 

[Wumpty]

That's now how the world works. Because of that driver, the Conc pass wasn't recorded. How many others aren't being recorded? How much revenue is being lost on these already marginal services.

Customer service is out of the window if the service is loss making.

How do we know if the pass or others wasn't/haven't been recorded? Only the driver will know if they did or didn't.

Because of that driver, this passenger will go home with a positive opinion of the driver and company. Customer service isn't out of the window if the service is loss making - customer service levels should be at their optimum levels whether it's a loss making or profitable service.

[winston]

How do we know if the pass or others wasn't/haven't been recorded? Only the driver will know if they did or didn't.

Because the pass wasn't scanned.

[Tony]

Because the pass wasn't scanned.

NX have a manual recording button on the ticket machines the driver can press if one doesn't scan, I would presume Rotala have the same

[winston]

NX have a manual recording button on the ticket machines the driver can press if one doesn't scan, I would presume Rotala have the same

Thought that had changed.