Yardley Wood Garage

[j789]

I'm guessing none of those spouting the usual negative nonsense have any experience in transport engineering or maintenance, it's rather different the reality compared to just watching bus times and criticising all day long!

Most people aren't bus enthusiasts so do not catch multiple buses each day so all this rubbish about what passengers at YW are subjected to is just that - rubbish! Most people do not care what turns up - New electric, Trident, Scania etc just as long as a bus turns up on time and gets them to their destination safely. 

The competence of bus driving is a far more important factor in passengers' experience and impression of their bus service and NXWM, at least, generally offer a high degree of quality in this area. Perhaps those criticising vehicle quality might like fares to rise even more so that every bus is under 5 years old. I'm sure passengers would love that alternative reality where they get a newish bus but are paying £5 a journey for the privilege. 

Sounds like there are a fair few people on here with the same 'ideas' competence of a certain Mr Parker!

[Straightlines]

I'm guessing none of those spouting the usual negative nonsense have any experience in transport engineering or maintenance, it's rather different the reality compared to just watching bus times and criticising all day long!

Most people aren't bus enthusiasts so do not catch multiple buses each day so all this rubbish about what passengers at YW are subjected to is just that - rubbish! Most people do not care what turns up - New electric, Trident, Scania etc just as long as a bus turns up on time and gets them to their destination safely.

The competence of bus driving is a far more important factor in passengers' experience and impression of their bus service and NXWM, at least, generally offer a high degree of quality in this area. Perhaps those criticising vehicle quality might like fares to rise even more so that every bus is under 5 years old. I'm sure passengers would love that alternative reality where they get a newish bus but are paying £5 a journey for the privilege.

Sounds like there are a fair few people on here with the same 'ideas' competence of a certain Mr Parker!

Think you need to double check who's spouting the usual nonsense, I think it is a fair observation that there aren't any big PLCs running buses from 2003-2004 in a large city comparable to Birmingham.

Since we are all clearly so inferior to you, do enlighten us on your experience in transport engineering or maintenance.

[Tony]

Think you need to double check who's spouting the usual nonsense, I think it is a fair observation that there aren't any big PLCs running buses from 2003-2004 in a large city comparable to Birmingham.

Since we are all clearly so inferior to you, do enlighten us on your experience in transport engineering or maintenance.

Why are people more important in Birmingham than Mansfield for example?

[Straightlines]

Why are people more important in Birmingham than Mansfield for example?

Not a comparable operating environment, you are comparing a market town and a city. 

[Tony]

Not a comparable operating environment, you are comparing a market town and a city.

The people are the same, they are travelling on a bus, on a road, but you reckon people of Mansfield deserve old buses, but those in Birmingham don't?

The reason I chose Mansfield was that was the town my Step Father drove in before moving to Birmingham. Ironically when he moved to Birmingham he drove at Sutton Coldfield garage which was operating older buses than those he drove in Mansfield

[Mega Kickdown]

I'm guessing none of those spouting the usual negative nonsense have any experience in transport engineering or maintenance, it's rather different the reality compared to just watching bus times and criticising all day long!

Most people aren't bus enthusiasts so do not catch multiple buses each day so all this rubbish about what passengers at YW are subjected to is just that - rubbish! Most people do not care what turns up - New electric, Trident, Scania etc just as long as a bus turns up on time and gets them to their destination safely.

The competence of bus driving is a far more important factor in passengers' experience and impression of their bus service and NXWM, at least, generally offer a high degree of quality in this area. Perhaps those criticising vehicle quality might like fares to rise even more so that every bus is under 5 years old. I'm sure passengers would love that alternative reality where they get a newish bus but are paying £5 a journey for the privilege.

Sounds like there are a fair few people on here with the same 'ideas' competence of a certain Mr Parker!

if nobody cared then why repaint buses or brand/unbrand them. of course people would prefer to ride a clean decent bus over a old dirty diesel shed, its not very attractive to get ppl out of cars

[Mega Kickdown]

limp mode- some ppl like the axle whine on it why they prefer it to other tridents. someone said that its sad to see the best sounding tridents go, but 4626 was not.

[Mega Kickdown]

There was nothing wrong with 4626's engine or gearbox, both have been reused and it was one of YW's most reliable tridents, just the chassis had rotted beyond economic repair

was the gearbox used on 4604?

these YW tridents are dropping!

[j789]

Think you need to double check who's spouting the usual nonsense, I think it is a fair observation that there aren't any big PLCs running buses from 2003-2004 in a large city comparable to Birmingham.

Since we are all clearly so inferior to you, do enlighten us on your experience in transport engineering or maintenance.

Do you actually read anything anyone writes or just spout drivel? Your argument is complete rubbish as it does not matter to the majority of passengers whether a bus is 5 years old or 20 years old, as long as it is maintained to a decent standard, fully accessible for all passengers, driven to a high standard etc etc. Passengers don't look at the number plate and think 'oh no that bus is 20 years old, I'm waiting for the next one!'. They just catch it as it dies the job of getting from A to B.

Why you are soooo obsessed by this and trying to compare areas is just plain daft. There have been plenty of vehicles I've travelled on over the last year in various other non-WM areas that are less than 10 years old yet are ready for the scrap heap. Compare a 14 reg E400 from First Midlands in Worcester to a NXWM one you will see which is the better bus from a passenger perspective and that is just one example.

The age of bus does not matter as long as it is maintained well. You're just being negative for negative sake here without any justifiable reason for this.

[j789]

if nobody cared then why repaint buses or brand/unbrand them. of course people would prefer to ride a clean decent bus over a old dirty diesel shed, its not very attractive to get ppl out of cars

A 20 year old bus kept clean and maintained well can look far better than a 2 year old bus covered in grime. Take the Gemini deckers, they still look modern even today and most passengers wouldn't be able to tell that they are 20+ years old.

Also, your argument about buses being an attractive proposition versus the car doesn't make sense as, comparing today's passenger numbers to the 1980s they are far lower now despite passengers only having 'dirty diesels' to catch back then. No matter what bus is used modern or old, it will NEVER beat the car for convenience for most people these days. A whole fleet of brand new buses may attract a few new casual passengers but it certainly won't attract enough to justify the massive costs involved in buying new buses.

The fact that even in the regulated London market there are buses over 10 years old still being used shows that it is totally uneconomical in any area to only use new buses.

[Tony]

A 20 year old bus kept clean and maintained well can look far better than a 2 year old bus covered in grime. Take the Gemini deckers, they still look modern even today and most passengers wouldn't be able to tell that they are 20+ years old.

Also, your argument about buses being an attractive proposition versus the car doesn't make sense as, comparing today's passenger numbers to the 1980s they are far lower now despite passengers only having 'dirty diesels' to catch back then. No matter what bus is used modern or old, it will NEVER beat the car for convenience for most people these days. A whole fleet of brand new buses may attract a few new casual passengers but it certainly won't attract enough to justify the massive costs involved in buying new buses.

The fact that even in the regulated London market there are buses over 10 years old still being used shows that it is totally uneconomical in any area to only use new buses.

Some of the New Bus for London (Borismasters) are 12 years old next year. TfL are still doing refurbishments on these, so the argument about old buses in big cities seems a bit strange. There's also 15 year old Enviro 200s running in London see this for an example  SE26 - SN57DWO – Go Ahead London – bustimes.org

[B.C Driver]

E259 is today's delivery to Yardley Wood, already inspected, so should be in service quite quickly

It seems a hell of a lot of time for these brand new buses to sit around without turning a wheel in service

Is it 12 months now? This would have been unheard of in recent years and further back

[Tony]

It seems a hell of a lot of time for these brand new buses to sit around without turning a wheel in service

Is it 12 months now? This would have been unheard of in recent years and further back

Not 12 months, but many buses have sat around for months before entering service. All the 19xx Scanias for YW & AG sat at Walsall for months. There used to be a huge yard at MCW full of fully built buses waiting for the operators to take them as they were required for service

[Steve3229vp]

Not 12 months, but many buses have sat around for months before entering service. All the 19xx Scanias for YW & AG sat at Walsall for months. There used to be a huge yard at MCW full of fully built buses waiting for the operators to take them as they were required for service

Just Like the AEC Merlins in London

[don]

Not 12 months, but many buses have sat around for months before entering service. All the 19xx Scanias for YW & AG sat at Walsall for months. There used to be a huge yard at MCW full of fully built buses waiting for the operators to take them as they were required for service

In the most recent Buses Magazine, there was a photo of an electric bus which was delivered last March and is still not in service at its intended garage owing to delays with charging equipment/electricity upgrades. Apparently there is a large number of buses stored around London for the same reason. Sound familiar?!!

Talking of MCW, back in the day MCW used the NCL yard (next to the Freightliner terminal) in Lawley St j(entrance was just south of the railway bridges) to park newly completed vehicles awaiting delivery - used to be a regular evening spotting trip on the way out to the pub - v interesting to see brand new vehicles for such a range of operators - I recall SYPTE, GMPTE and others parked there but the largest amounts were for LT and WMPTE - this was around the time the 21xx GOG xxxW batch was being built!