Diamond Bus - Discussion

[Steveminor]

Arriva deckers have signs on the cab door saying they are limited to 20 passengers

As @Stu has already posted, can we please keep this thread on topic @Steveminor, Cheers, Winston

[Stu]

For general chat about social distancing guidelines on buses, please use this topic folks, thanks:
http://wmbusphotos.com/forum/index.php?topic=5773.0

[Steveminor]

A little bit different to what stu was on about @Winston 2206bwas pointing out something hd hadn't seen before & was letting him onoe its not anything unusual as arriva doing similar things.
Also please note the social distancing thread was not active at that time.
Thankyou

[winston]

A little bit different to what stu was on about @Winston 2206bwas pointing out something hd hadn't seen before & was letting him onoe its not anything unusual as arriva doing similar things.
Also please note the social distancing thread was not active at that time.
Thankyou

@Steveminor - my point is, what's what Arriva are doing got to do with Diamond?

[sonic84]

So, beyond all that....
Anyone in the know or worked out which way the new 44 is going? ie Bristol Road or through Frankley?

This is the 44 route from the diamond website if anyone is interested:

Route from Halesowen to Bromsgrove: Halesowen Bus Station, Queensway, Bromsgrove Road, Mucklow Hill, Kent Road, Carters Lane, Clapgate Lane, Barnes Hill, Shenley Lane, Bell Hill, Bristol Road South, Frankley Beeches Road, Egghill Lane, Frogmill Road, Hollyhill Road, New Street, Arden Road, Ormand Road, Rubery Lane, Parkway, Bristol Road South, New Road, Legion Road, Whetty Lane, Whettybridge Road, A38 Birmingham Road, Halesowen Road, Golden Cross lane, Gibb Lane, Meadow Road, Stourbridge Road, Market Street, Church Street, Crown Close. Bromsgrove Bus Station

[Trident 4194]

This is the 44 route from the diamond website if anyone is interested:

Route from Halesowen to Bromsgrove: Halesowen Bus Station, Queensway, Bromsgrove Road, Mucklow Hill, Kent Road, Carters Lane, Clapgate Lane, Barnes Hill, Shenley Lane, Bell Hill, Bristol Road South, Frankley Beeches Road, Egghill Lane, Frogmill Road, Hollyhill Road, New Street, Arden Road, Ormand Road, Rubery Lane, Parkway, Bristol Road South, New Road, Legion Road, Whetty Lane, Whettybridge Road, A38 Birmingham Road, Halesowen Road, Golden Cross lane, Gibb Lane, Meadow Road, Stourbridge Road, Market Street, Church Street, Crown Close. Bromsgrove Bus Station

Surely that's a longer route than was provided before

[Kevin]

This is the 44 route from the diamond website if anyone is interested:

Route...
Egghill Lane, Frogmill Road, Hollyhill Road, New Street, Arden Road, Ormand Road, Rubery Lane, Parkway, Bristol Road South, New Road, Legion Road, Whetty Lane, Whettybridge Road, A38 Birmingham Road....

Interesting that it doesn't serve the Waseley Road area of Rubery anymore, leaving that corner without a service? I can see the logic leaving Frankley village (Worcestershire) without a service, that's like maybe 10 houses, but Rubery is a fair sized estate with a bit of a walk to the nearest stop now

Surely that's a longer route than was provided before

Looks about the same sort of distance on a map

[Steveminor]

It doesn't matter how big an area is it's how many people get on. Rotala would have the data & obviously concluded not enough passengers are using the service from there

[winston]

Diamond are using Thermo Fogger disinfection equipment to ensure their buses are sanitised & virus free when leaving depots, the disinfectant mist provides 24hrs+ protection:
https://www.route-one.net/news/rotala-invests-in-thermo-fogger-disinfection/

[sonic84]

Interesting that it doesn't serve the Waseley Road area of Rubery anymore, leaving that corner without a service? I can see the logic leaving Frankley village (Worcestershire) without a service, that's like maybe 10 houses, but Rubery is a fair sized estate with a bit of a walk to the nearest stop now

Looks about the same sort of distance on a map

I think what's interested is all that pretty much all the roads only served by the 202 will no longer be served. The replacement route is covered by various existing services already.

Saying that,  link between Halesowen and Northfield might be useful

[Sayeed]

Looks like the 44 will divert to Great Park and Frankley between Rubery and Northfield unlike the 144.

The route looks to be quite a bit different to the 202

Was thinking about this, couldn't they reduce the service to like every 2 hours with slightly adjusted route and keep the new route too but with every 2 hours as well? 

[WyreForestShuttle]

The DfT announcement wasn't what we expected.  There needs to be clarity before we can scale up significantly.  Resources aren't the issue.

The replacement CBSSG scheme has now been published as I predicted it would follow in due course & may be of interest to @Simon Dunn & @Steveminor in particular.

1. Buses must be added quickly as part of £254m funding package

2. Whilst the new funding scheme for buses supplants CBSSG, its terms and conditions will be much the same there are some changes:

3. Service levels will no longer be limited to 40-50% of scheduled commercial mileage, the government expects operators to increase provision as far as LAs require as quickly as possible.

4. A one-off payment will be made available to cover the cost implications of removing staff from CJRS early. Operators will be required to submit evidence of those costs. The payment will be made as part of a wider reconciliation exercise in June 2020.

5. Other costs that can be claimed include those for PPE such as hand sanitiser and cab screens; those involved with bringing buses out of SORN status; and those required to make buses fit for use. Operators will again be required to produce evidence of the costs.

6. Operators that did not receive CBSSG funding, but are eligible for BSOG, will be able to claim through this new scheme.

7. BSOG will continue to be paid at pre-pandemic levels. Other payments that will be made on that basis include those for ENCTS reimbursement, home-to-school services that are not operating and local service contracts.

8. No specific end date for the new scheme has been given. It will be subject to four-weekly reviews by DfT and the Treasury to examine its performance. Those reviews will also assess for how long it should continue to operate.

9. The reconciliation exercise in June will cover the 12-week period from 17 March to 8 June. It will identify any overpayments or underpayments.

10. Operators requiring further clarification of the replacement scheme are invited to discuss the matter direct with DfT via email on CBSSG@dft.gov.uk

I trust this clarification will be of interest to operators who were particularly interested in providing an enhanced service within The West Midlands Country, who sadly couldn't make up thier minds what level of service to operate in June and were worried about acting " in good faith" before the terms of the replacement CBSSG were known.

First Worcester have already announced enhanced service levels from 1st June 2020 ; details of which I have provided on the relevant thread; there is no excuse for other operators throughout the West Midlands not following the excellent swift lead set by First for enhanced services complying with social distancing rules for the benefit of passengers.

[WyreForestShuttle]

The parent company of Diamond Bus I understand has increased its overdraft facility with HSBC UK by £2.1m.

A spokesperson for HSBC; Suzy Verma ; is quoted as saying in a statement  "HSBC UK is committed to supporting its customers during this period of uncertainty." Ms Verma added "A long-standing customer of ours approached us with a clear overview of the business and the challenges it was facing."

Diamond Buses Mr Simon Dunn added on the said statement  "The funding from HSBC UK has enabled us to even out the peaks and troughs of our cashflow while many of our customers are unable to travel.

Mr Dunn went on to add  "We would like to thank our Relationship Manager at HSBC UK, David Arthur, who demonstrated a clear understanding of our position and who was able to turn around the funding request in a short timeframe."

Perhaps this also explains the confusion recently of the operator posting service increases and withdrawing them on its website soon after and its apparent confusion with the revised DfT funding to operators suggesting the companies need to maximize its cashflow as indicated.

[WyreForestShuttle]

Diamond Bus have posted revisions from next week.

https://www.diamondbuses.com/west-midlands/service-updates/

[MW]

Diamond Bus have posted revisions from next week.

https://www.diamondbuses.com/west-midlands/service-updates/

Thanks for that Richard.

Basically all the TfWM tendered routes returning to normal.