Coventry Garage

[ellspurs]

I was talking about passengers who have Tile Hill Village, Eastern Green etc. as their intended destination, I certainly think the schedulers purposely want a bus service to fail.

That does seem like a bit of a cockup. Why are all journeys labelled 14 going back (avoiding Cannon Park) when the journeys to there that avoid Cannon Park are labelled 14a?

[JPC]

It looks like NXC are making another attempt to dispose of their X30 service with a registration cancellation again - I suppose the date is meant to be Mon 4th Sept.

[Tony]

It's not another attempt to dispose of it. It's a tendered service. if you haven't got the results before the registration deadline you deregister it, because you will always get support to put a short notice registration in if you win, but you won't always be allowed a short notice deregistration

[JPC]

It's not another attempt to dispose of it. It's a tendered service. if you haven't got the results before the registration deadline you deregister it, because you will always get support to put a short notice registration in if you win, but you won't always be allowed a short notice deregistration

I suppose that might explain what happened last time, but there ought to be agreed deadlines for tender awards/results ahead of registration deadlines then maybe we won't have a fiasco of operators initially unable to fulfill services to an acceptable level such as Stagecoach at the start of the year because the notice was too short.

[Danthebusman]

4664, the sole gemini here at CV, back out on the 3 today after suffering some electrical problems

[2206]

20 Branded B7RLE 2169 was in Birmingham City Centre earlier. Saw it while I was on 4924 on the 94 which stopped next to it at the Masshouse Lane lights 11:11am.

[Coventrybususer95]

20 Branded B7RLE 2169 was in Birmingham City Centre earlier. Saw it while I was on 4924 on the 94 which stopped next to it at the Masshouse Lane lights 11:11am.

I believe Tony said it was getting a refurb 

[Danthebusman]

I find it funny how deckers are being used on a route that is getting withdrawn next month (X30) and then you got routes like the 14/17 that have real patronage and get slammed with B7RLEs... it's summer holidays as well, i noticed today 42 BYDs not in use (according to veg times) (I know some of them are VOR/not enough chargers to charge all but surely no more than 10-20 of them) they can use most of them on Saturdays now so why not weekdays too, in my eyes they should be getting used as much as they can, especially if they're the future. As I've said before NX definitely know what they're doing and they will have their reasons for this and I'm just a bus enthusiast, but I guess curiosity got the better of me so if anyone could enlighten me I would appreciate it.

[Tony]

I find it funny how deckers are being used on a route that is getting withdrawn next month (X30) and then you got routes like the 14/17 that have real patronage and get slammed with B7RLEs... it's summer holidays as well, i noticed today 42 BYDs not in use (according to veg times) (I know some of them are VOR/not enough chargers to charge all but surely no more than 10-20 of them) they can use most of them on Saturdays now so why not weekdays too, in my eyes they should be getting used as much as they can, especially if they're the future. As I've said before NX definitely know what they're doing and they will have their reasons for this and I'm just a bus enthusiast, but I guess curiosity got the better of me so if anyone could enlighten me I would appreciate it.

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

[Danthebusman]

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

Very rarely during these months I will admit but when the 17 goes on to do the evening 9s they can get pretty full, my friend was at UHCW waiting for the 20A and saw a 17 that turned into a 9 leaving the hospital at 20:01 with a fairly full load of hospital workers to city centre

[Tony]

Says it all! B7RLEs are perfect for the route.

B7RLEs will still be needed in Coventry until 2025 so they are used on the most suitable routes and the running boards are designed for their capabilities so an electric would need to be swapped at some point for recharging 

[stellasteve]

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.

[Danthebusman]

4450 and 4451 on the 6s today.

[Tony]

4451 MoT expiry on 20/8/23
4576 MoT expiry on 24/8/23
Both will be withdrawn on or before those dates so get them while you can

[Danthebusman]

4451 MoT expiry on 20/8/23
4576 MoT expiry on 24/8/23
Both will be withdrawn on or before those dates so get them while you can

Duly noted!