Over a year at wednesfield

[4006]

In my opinion the fleet appearance at least has improved and rather bold I think to refurb some of the ex Midland buses i.e the w reg. Solo's for example but weather they expand, take over Diamond, Travel express etc it's still only biting round the edges and won't really achieve much. For another firm to have any impact on services in the West Midlands it would require a NX takeover which you would think will be unlikely to happen

[Bob]

Solo's refurbished?  Thought it was just a respray

[mranon]

must be as interior is the same, and one of em still smokes like a trooper.

[Stu]

The last thing Arriva will do is do away with smaller operators, to do so will create unfair trading conditions. NXWM could exterminate all competition if it so wished but it tollerates the smaler operators because its in its best interests to do so..

I don't want to see smaller operators 'done away with', but if anything they just need to up their game to stay in touch with the competition.

NXWM likes the presence of the smaller operators, as they pick up the routes that get tendered out by Centro, as they are not commercially viable for NX to run.  ;)

[Bob]

Arriva are a huge company though. You would think theyd try and compete with nx with quality services on key corridors rather than ageing shite 'refurbished' midibuses and deckers on routes that nobody uses lol. It doesnt give em a great image :-p

[Stu]

Arriva are a huge company though. You would think theyd try and compete with nx with quality services on key corridors rather than ageing shite 'refurbished' midibuses and deckers on routes that nobody uses lol. It doesnt give em a great image :-p

I would like to think in the 'bigger picture' that there are some long-term ambitions that Arriva have yet to achieve. But that's not saying they don't have any. There's got to be a 'long-term' plan in place, which I think Arriva are looking to work towards. "Rome wasn't built in a day"; NXWM have been around for years and while Arriva are indeed a huge company, like NX they are a business, with a massive fleet, but don't have a bottomless pit of money they can use to spend on buying vast quantities of brand new buses.

Start small, grow big. There's a long way to go yet, and it will be interesting to see maybe in 10 years time how things have changed.

[Bob]

I dont think the wednesfield operation will still be open in ten years to be honest lol. Arriva ( by way of their predeccessors) have been in the west midlands for years and have never been able to make a success of services.  Think midland express, midland red norths expansion into the area etc how much of a flop the chase takeover was also

[Westy]

Surely these ex  NX people must have a idea what might work & what wouldn't,  or are they under the thumb of Head Office based outside the West Midlands area?

[Bob]

Obviously not lol, the 19?

[mikestone]

Arriva are a huge company though. You would think theyd try and compete with nx with quality services on key corridors rather than ageing shite 'refurbished' midibuses and deckers on routes that nobody uses lol. It doesnt give em a great image :-p

;
I would imagine the near certainty of NXWM retaliating will be enough to stop that happening.

[Bob]

So therefore itll continue to be a low rent tendered service ( in the main) midibus operator with a handful of failing commercial routes then...