Bordesley Garage

[winston]

If the price you could get match the book value yes. But Euro 3/4 heavy weight single decks are virtually worthless.

Everyone now wants Euro 6 which has killed the used sales market.

[Busboy105]

I don't use the 55 or 94, though I am familiar with the area, and the routes these take.

During the daytimes, my understanding is that the single deck operated 55 runs every 10 minutes, while the double deck 94 also runs about every 10 minutes. Thus the two routes should somewhat combine together and offer a frequency between every 5 to 10 minutes.

The question that needs to be asked and answered, to be able to understand this situation and resolve it, is why are the buses on the 55 overcrowded? And along which part of the route?

The 55 and 94 follow the same route between city centre and Hodge Hill. Is it the case that when gaps appear, people are just cramming themselves onto the single decks because they're the first ones to stop, despite the fact there might be a double-deck on the 94 just behind?

Are the single-decks actually overcrowded, or do they just appear to be, because so many people would rather stand in the narrow gangway than sit on any available seat if it means having to sit next to someone else?

That has certainly been my own experience, fighting my way onto a seemingly overcrowded single-deck bus, then finding after forcing my way through the crowd congregated in the gangway by the driver, that there are in fact seats available towards the rear of the bus. That's the aspect that really pisses me off, especially when the driver sees a large crowd right by them, and thus decides to drive past stops.


I think it would be delightful if National Express West Midlands could replace all 1600 vehicles in its fleet every couple of years, but sadly economics of scale make that impossible. I thought you were better than to repeat monkeyjoes tired rhetoric about 'lack of investment'.

For your information, in my area of south Birmingham (Billesley and Yardley Wood), with the exception of the Outer Circle, the newest buses we have are the Scania Omnilinks on the 27, all the other routes (2, 3, 18, 27, 49 and 76) mostly use battered old Tridents.

Going back to the 55, it sounds like the remedy would be to do what was done with the 6, and use double-decks instead. But the problem is that BY can't have double-decks, and even if so, there aren't enough double-decks in the fleet to be able to do this.

I use the 17, which is another route that suffers from overcrowding between Birmingham and Green Lane (Mansel Road). The main reason is that the 17 tends to run late more often than not which leads to 3 to 4 buses turning up at once. The problem is that NX can't up the frequency; it runs every 8 minutes (doesn't feel that way though). I would create a new route to run alongside it to help ease the 17 but given how the last couple of routes went (the 13,15 and the 73 for people who don't know. Even the Diamond 17 with the blue branded Darts. Miss them. Diamond did a good job on those liveries. Anyway moving on), they were either withdrawn, replaced or shortened so there's not really anything that can be done about it.

[2206]

1883 is on the 55 today. First time I've seen it on there.

[Busboy105]

1883 is on the 55 today. First time I've seen it on there.

Is it a transfer or a loan? Boarded it on the 8A.

[winston]

Is it a transfer or a loan? Boarded it on the 8A.

@Busboy105  see post #1806

http://wmbusphotos.com/forum/index.php?topic=16.1800

[2206]

Announcement on the radio of 1821 on the 55 - Something about 20 youths waiting under a bridge somewhere and causing problems on BY 17 service

1821 was also waiting at City Centre stop for ages and left 15 minutes late. Due to late driver who said it was because he was waiting for a delayed 94.

[Busboy105]

Announcement on the radio of 1821 on the 55 - Something about 20 youths waiting under a bridge somewhere and causing problems on BY 17 service

1821 was also waiting at City Centre stop for ages and left 15 minutes late. Due to late driver who said it was because he was waiting for a delayed 94.

Must be either the Bordesley Station bridge or the Radleys bridge.

[2206]

1901 is on the 55 today.

[cris 99]

Im guessing that's a swap for 1871
1945 is also now at BY from WB

[Busboy105]

Took 1830 on the 17 this morning. Driver won't allow cash payments due to a fault with the chute or the ticket machine.( most likely the latter. The flap just opened out of nowhere!). Surprised that it was allowed out because of this.

[Tony]

Took 1830 on the 17 this morning. Driver won't allow cash payments due to a fault with the chute or the ticket machine.( most likely the latter. The flap just opened out of nowhere!). Surprised that it was allowed out because of this.

Faults generally occur on the road, not in the garage

[Pat]

Took 1830 on the 17 this morning. Driver won't allow cash payments due to a fault with the chute or the ticket machine.( most likely the latter. The flap just opened out of nowhere!). Surprised that it was allowed out because of this.

Surely they should take the bus out of service?  What happens if you can't pay with contactless?  That could be a bit of lost revenue for NX.

[Busboy105]

Surely they should take the bus out of service?  What happens if you can't pay with contactless?  That could be a bit of lost revenue for NX.

Especially for a busy route like the 17.

[Tony]

Surely they should take the bus out of service?  What happens if you can't pay with contactless?  That could be a bit of lost revenue for NX.

So you would prefer to leave people on the roadside, than give them a free ride while a change bus was sorted?

[Trident 4194]

6939 on x10 also has ticket machine broken, not accepting any cash payments