Diamond Bus - Discussion

[the trainbasher]

Yep because 31525 left didn't it

[Ash]

Yeah it got sold at around a similar time to when these yourbus darts were brought in.

[winston]

Worcestershires bus timetable site shows that there are two 57/58 timetables in Place, the Diamond one & the Diamond former First one. The Diamond former First timetable is running in the evenings.

It does seem silly though having 2 sets of registrations for the same route I know it won't last but surely (as with Arriva when they took over Midland) They knew what they were buying & what routes were duplicated so why not de-register one of them. They must have money to burn.

Perhaps it was to keep the Competition authorities off their backs? De-registering the competing services on the 57/58 as well as the 51 may have been too much on day 1.

First's KR & RH service cancellations & Diamond's new registrations are now all showing on VOSA as of this morning, therefore there shouldn't be any need for buses to be displaying on hire notices any longer

[Discodave]

That was quick.

[Ash]

AE10KHB 30021 seen on the 40 today in the new blue livery looking very smart. So the return of the mcv evolutions back at black diamond.

[PM]

AE10KHB 30021 seen on the 40 today in the new blue livery looking very smart. So the return of the mcv evolutions back at black diamond.

Must say Ive always liked MCV evolutions and rotala have another 12 of these at Heathrow so it would be nice for these to pop up to redditch or kidderminster if heathrow justifies new buses. Anyone got a picture of this??

[Ash]

I was going to take one but would never have got my camera up on my phone in time not sure if any more will get transferred up to Tividale but now there is an odd enviro200 and an odd mcv evolution. Was on the 4 this morning at it was YT51EAO a midi dart and it was absolutely rammed by the time it reached West Bromwich and filled up again at West Bromwich as it was a 4M hope these smaller buses don't become a regular occurrence again, not seen the enviro 200 for a couple of weeks unless it's on the 301 or something.

[PM]

I was going to take one but would never have got my camera up on my phone in time not sure if any more will get transferred up to Tividale but now there is an odd enviro200 and an odd mcv evolution. Was on the 4 this morning at it was YT51EAO a midi dart and it was absolutely rammed by the time it reached West Bromwich and filled up again at West Bromwich as it was a 4M hope these smaller buses don't become a regular occurrence again, not seen the enviro 200 for a couple of weeks unless it's on the 301 or something.

Someone mentioned on here there being 2 enviro200s now and there are about 3 mcv evolutions-1 at redditch, long acre and tividale

[Matt.N0056]

It appears Rotala may have now have lost some/all of the Signature work in Solihull to Central Buses, these registrations have appeared on VOSA today. As I understand it all the Signature work is Centro tendered, so I wouldn't have thought that they would be competing services, can anyone confirm?

PD1021409/58 - CEN GROUP LIMITED, UNIT 14A, TAMEBRIDGE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, ALDRIDGE ROAD, PERRY BARR, BIRMINGHAM, B42 2TX
        Registration Accepted
        Starting Point: Solihull Railway Station
        Finish Point: Coventry
        Via:
        Service Number: 82
        Service Type: Normal Stopping
        Effective Date: 09-JUN-2013
        Other Details: Mondays to Saturdays.

PD1021409/59 - CEN GROUP LIMITED, UNIT 14A, TAMEBRIDGE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, ALDRIDGE ROAD, PERRY BARR, BIRMINGHAM, B42 2TX
        Registration Accepted
        Starting Point: Solihull, Poplar Road
        Finish Point: Dorridge (S2)/Hockley Heath (S3)
        Via:
        Service Number: S2
        Service Type: Normal Stopping
        Effective Date: 09-JUN-2013
        Other Details: Mondays to Saturdays.

Worth noting that this registration has the S2 as finishing at Dorridge, so presumably there will be some new service to serve Balsall Common?

Also the registration is for Monday to Saturday only, so who will operate the S3 on Sundays?

According to the NWM Facebook the 82 is a commercial registration so I guess the S2/3 are also.

[JackC]

AE10KHB 30021 seen on the 40 today in the new blue livery looking very smart. So the return of the mcv evolutions back at black diamond.

That must have been what I saw coming out of Wednesbury tonight. Thought I was seeing things  ::)

[Stu]

It appears Rotala may have now have lost some/all of the Signature work in Solihull to Central Buses, these registrations have appeared on VOSA today. As I understand it all the Signature work is Centro tendered, so I wouldn't have thought that they would be competing services, can anyone confirm?

PD1021409/58 - CEN GROUP LIMITED, UNIT 14A, TAMEBRIDGE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, ALDRIDGE ROAD, PERRY BARR, BIRMINGHAM, B42 2TX
        Registration Accepted
        Starting Point: Solihull Railway Station
        Finish Point: Coventry
        Via:
        Service Number: 82
        Service Type: Normal Stopping
        Effective Date: 09-JUN-2013
        Other Details: Mondays to Saturdays.

PD1021409/59 - CEN GROUP LIMITED, UNIT 14A, TAMEBRIDGE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, ALDRIDGE ROAD, PERRY BARR, BIRMINGHAM, B42 2TX
        Registration Accepted
        Starting Point: Solihull, Poplar Road
        Finish Point: Dorridge (S2)/Hockley Heath (S3)
        Via:
        Service Number: S2
        Service Type: Normal Stopping
        Effective Date: 09-JUN-2013
        Other Details: Mondays to Saturdays.

Worth noting that this registration has the S2 as finishing at Dorridge, so presumably there will be some new service to serve Balsall Common?

Also the registration is for Monday to Saturday only, so who will operate the S3 on Sundays?

According to the NWM Facebook the 82 is a commercial registration so I guess the S2/3 are also.

I would also presume that is the case also. The South Solihull contracts are all up for renewal at the same time, and Network West Midlands stated in their reply that the tenders hadn't been awarded yet. Central Buses must be convinced they can make a success of these routes, maybe they have applied for the tendered contracts also, as that must be appealing to Centro if they don't have to subsidise every journey.

[Steveminor]

I have looked at that little network & I had come to the same conclusion that Central Buses have obviously come to which is the 82 & S3 have been built up into commercially viable services. The S2 certainly isn't but it inter works with the S3 so if you do one you have to do the other. Having looked at the figures the combined S2/S3 is just about profitable.

[Isle of Stroma]

According to the NWM Facebook the 82 is a commercial registration so I guess the S2/3 are also.

Nope, the 82 is tendered.

I for one will not be surprised to see 'Signature' disappear this year, the two main protagonists behind the concept no longer work for Rotala.

[Discodave]

AE10KHB 30021 seen on the 40 today in the new blue livery looking very smart. So the return of the mcv evolutions back at black diamond.

That must have been what I saw coming out of Wednesbury tonight. Thought I was seeing things  ::)

They must have re converted them to right hand drive too as there is a picture of one of them in new zealand on the forum must have been one put in storage somewhere takes a while to ship a bus back and then re convert it mechanically and bodywise.

[winston]

AE10KHB 30021 seen on the 40 today in the new blue livery looking very smart. So the return of the mcv evolutions back at black diamond.

That must have been what I saw coming out of Wednesbury tonight. Thought I was seeing things  ::)

They must have re converted them to right hand drive too as there is a picture of one of them in new zealand on the forum must have been one put in storage somewhere takes a while to ship a bus back and then re convert it mechanically and bodywise.

Discodave,

The majority of the Rotala MCV Evolutions that went to New Zealand were on MAN chassis, supplemented by a small number on ADL Dart chassis. It's more likely that this is one of a few that were retained by Wessex Connect, I understand that Rotala's Heathrow operation also still has a batch on ADL Dart chassis

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jongraham890/6816462200/