Rotala Management - Questions & Answers

[Simon Dunn]

I love service change weeks as it's always fun to see what mess the commercial team put into the Ticketer machines!

In this months version of Diamond Midlands commercial team can't do their job properly.....
Redditch 50 trips towards Maypole missing times at Moseley and Kings Heath timing points. Missing Digbeth Barford Street DS8 and King's Heath Institute Rd
Redditch 50A trips wrongly show up as a 50
West Bromwich 54 and Wolverhampton 61 has the wrong service number (on Ticketer external service number needs updating) and both need the publicuse box ticking.
Bilston 303 has stops in areas that the bus doesn't serve.
Kidderminster 580 towards Kinver wrongly shows as serving Kidderminster Horsefair (wocdmdga)
Evesham 540 doesn't have 2024/25 school dates set.
(Plus many, many more. I could write a book on Diamonds data errors!)

How many times do data issues need to keep being raised before you hold your commercial team accountable for their poor work? Bus open data is a legal requirement and Diamond Midlands constant errors is putting your operators licence at risk. It's unacceptable that you are being paid millions of pounds of taxpayers money on contracts, yet refuse to comply with open data laws (providing full and correct data. emphasis on correct). Diamond North West and Preston seem to do quite well and so credit to them, why then is it that Midlands team keeps making such a hash of it all? I've seen kids with spaghetti make less of a mess!

And let's be clear, it's not just passengers being screwed over here, your own punctuality stats (internally and through Analyse Bus Open Data) will be messed up because of stops being all over the place, drivers will be being misinformed too (as the data you're putting out on BODS comes from Ticketer so the same issues I am seeing, will be the same issues drivers will be having). It's just really not on and you need to sort it (as clearly your commercial team can't sort it else I would have had to report it so many times)

Thank you for your comments.  We will act upon were appropriate.


Simon

[Stu]

Hi Simon,

Nice to see some investment in brand new double-deck Enviro400s, saw Tony's picture of 40850 on the main site.
http://wmbusphotos.com/Rotala/40850.html

Something I'm curious about though, when I look up the reg number YY74WRO on the VRM software we use at work (which gets data from DVLA), the vehicle shows as registered as an Enviro200 single-deck?

You cannot view this attachment.
In the grand scheme of things, I don't think it is a major issue, and if it is indeed a registration error then it may have already been rectified, I know that the DVLA database can sometimes take a while to be updated.

[BK63 YWP]

Hello Simon,

The two Enviro 200 MMC ex Moffat and Williamson buses, are they going to be allocated to Tividale?

[2206]

Front blind on 20164 isn't working on the 8 at Kidderminster this evening.
It's been like that for over a week.

Still wasn't working today @Simon Dunn

[Simon Dunn]

Hi Simon,

Nice to see some investment in brand new double-deck Enviro400s, saw Tony's picture of 40850 on the main site.
http://wmbusphotos.com/Rotala/40850.html

Something I'm curious about though, when I look up the reg number YY74WRO on the VRM software we use at work (which gets data from DVLA), the vehicle shows as registered as an Enviro200 single-deck?

You cannot view this attachment.
In the grand scheme of things, I don't think it is a major issue, and if it is indeed a registration error then it may have already been rectified, I know that the DVLA database can sometimes take a while to be updated.

ADL registered the vehicles.  I have emailed them now and asked the question.

[Simon Dunn]

Hello Simon,

The two Enviro 200 MMC ex Moffat and Williamson buses, are they going to be allocated to Tividale?

We only have one at present.  They are part of the West Midlands fleet.  I believe it will be a Tividale bus.

[Mayfield]

ADL registered the vehicles.  I have emailed them now and asked the question.

YY74WYO ON DVLA MOT website says it's an Enviro 400

[Simon Dunn]

YY74WYO ON DVLA MOT website says it's an Enviro 400

I have spoken to ADL - they say they have registered it as an E400 and paid the appropriate tax.

[Ryan Hack]

The following vehicles are short term vehicles operating within the TfGM Franchised fleet.

20639
20640
20746
20871
20872
20873
20874

We expect to acquire 21247, 21248, 21249, 21250 during April 2024.  We are on the verge of ordering 2 to replace 20639, 20640.

In terms of school buses fleet.  We have no planned changes as yet.

Any reason why  20746/871, 31435, 32305, 40628/9 some of witch are part of schools now on loan at Preston?

[Simon Dunn]

Any reason why  20746/871, 31435, 32305, 40628/9 some of witch are part of schools now on loan at Preston?

The weather is affecting bus availability in Preston.  The Manchester fleet has a high number of spares and we have in the short term redeployed some to Preston to support.

[Jack6101]

32235- 4H this morning /11:20 from oldbury towards Blackheath , 
Front display displaying Not in service whist in service and side display displaying 4H , 
Also display kept turning off , saw this bus multiple times like this the last few weeks how can it be in service for weeks like this ,
Also the driver (women ) missed a bus stop out when I man pressed button didn't even say sorry and was rude to other passengers aswell who told her about the display 

[Stu]

Hi Simon, I noted your vehicle 40836 in Kings Heath this afternoon had no working front destination display while on the 50.

[Simon Dunn]

32235- 4H this morning /11:20 from oldbury towards Blackheath ,
Front display displaying Not in service whist in service and side display displaying 4H ,
Also display kept turning off , saw this bus multiple times like this the last few weeks how can it be in service for weeks like this ,
Also the driver (women ) missed a bus stop out when I man pressed button didn't even say sorry and was rude to other passengers aswell who told her about the display

Thank you - I will look into both points.

[Simon Dunn]

Hi Simon, I noted your vehicle 40836 in Kings Heath this afternoon had no working front destination display while on the 50.

I have sent to the Redditch EM to have an engineer look at this.

[IMarkeh]

Thank you for your comments.  We will act upon were appropriate.


Simon

Thank you for sorting these ones out.

More to add though sadly.
002 towards Merry Hill wrongly shows as serving Woodcock Hill Shenley Fields Centre. Towards Weoley Castle missing Quarry Bank Chapel Street and Netherend Blaenwern Drive and Monday-Friday trips missing Bartley Green St Peters Church
Kidderminster 3 Mon-Fri missing Kidderminster Oxford Street.
Dudley 17 towards Stourbridge missing Dibdale Blackthorne Rd (nwmjwpgd). Towards Dudley, stop at Gornal Wood Zoar Street needs moving to be after Bank Road.
Oldbury 20, towards Oldbury after Lion Farm Wolverley Crescent missing stop Lion Farm Martley Rd (nwmdmdjm) and after Rounds Green Alston Road missing Oldbury Little Eel St (nwmatadw)
Stourbridge 25, services which are in your Ticketer portal as 25T show as serving Dudley Bus Station and show as using different stops at Merry Hill compared to trips marked 25S. Both sets of 25 services, after Brockmoor William Street missing stop Brockmoor Belle Isle (nwmtwtpm)
Redditch 64 data doesn't match any of the regular tracking details between Hospital and Barlich Way timing point which suggests that either drivers are going massively the wrong way or the data is massively wrong.
Stourbridge 142A towards Halesowen, after Huntingtree Road missing Fallowfield Rd (nwmdjgwg)
Route 145 missing school/sch hol dates.
Route 145A Mon-Fri missing Bromsgrove Bus Station in both directions
Redditch 149 doesn't have school holidays set up properly. Also missing Worcester Cathederal and Lodge Park Barlich Way
Redditch 149S towards Worcester tracking suggests the 149S goes via Radford Flyford Flavell rather than via Kington (if correct, you have the wrong route here). Missing stops in Spetchley and after Kings School missing City Walls Road and McDonalds stops.
Kidderminster 192, towards Kidderminster, after Hurcott Hodge Hill Nurseries missing Greenhill Bruce Road (wocgmpgj)
Bromsgrove 202 missing loads of stops along the way. This post would be too long listing them all.
Bromsgrove 202S wrongly shows 'Rubery Callowbridge Road (wocdpmwg), stop doesn't exist
Stourbridge 242, missing stops on Hyperion Road Loop and on Jenks Ave in Kinver 

Evesham 540 has plenty of trips with errors.
07:34 from Evesham, wrongly shows as serving Ashton Under Hill Main Road (wocdmaga) then has stops in the wrong order and missing stops. Should be Ashton Under Hill Cross, then adj Cottons Lane, then Academy, then Cornfield Way.
08:36, 10:11, 11:11, 12:11 and 13:11 from Tewkesbury missing Ashton Under Hill Wood Lane after Cornfield Way.
15:46, 16:46, 17:50 (M-F) & 1846 (Sat) from Tewkesbury missing Beckford Village Hall (wocgdtpm)


202S, 242s, 247s, 297s, 898, 899, S77 are all set up as Monday-Friday rather than set up properly as running school days only.

I hope this helps and these can be resolved just as swiftly.

PS Diamond South East is suffering too.
N30 towards Acton missing stops between Osterley and Acton. Towards Heathrow wrongly shows as serving Heathrow T5 stop 20 and 21 (route only serves stop 20)
N555 missing stops at Terminal 4.
A60 missing all intermediate stops (shows timing points only)
H2 services need updating to use the correct stops at Terminal 3 for departing (correct stop code 490008026WH)
H2C, H5A/B/C/H have extra trips showing which don't operate.
RHU missing the University Founders Building stop
H21 towards T4 missing Bedfont Library.