Diamond Bus - Discussion

[Ash]

I saw one of the red diamond mcv's on the 404E tonight think it was 30605 does anyone know if the red diamond mcv's are stopping at diamond or leaving the fleet and apart from the new versa's are any buses replacing these on routes such as the 16 and the 404E where they use to be used.

[Tony]

All Diamonds MCVs have been sold to New Zealand, just not all have left yet

[Mike360]

Yes I wonder what buses routes will get that are using the MCV Evolutions such as the 142. I got on 30605 which was on the 002 route today.

[Ash]

30605 is the only one i seem to see these days but there all going and the royale centros are now on the 417 with the 404E being a mixture of black diamond darts some of which have been painted into the black diamond livery recently.

[Mike360]

I saw 30512 on the 142 today and a couple of royale black diamond buses on the 417 today like Ash said. Have the Hybrid Versa's been seen on any other route except the 56 yet. It would be good to see them come onto the 202 route!

[Roy]

One of the hybrid Versas was in use on the 255 Wolverhampton to Merry Hill service last Friday evening.  It's not unusual to see route branded Diamond buses on Centro-tendered evening and Sunday services in the Dudley area.

[Ash]

I think the 255 bus comes off the 404E as i know the 256 one does. As there is only 5 hybrids currently in use and there is always one on the 404E since they have been introduced so it's likely it comes from there. Apparently from the diamond bus facebook page there supposed to be used on the 56 and 301, havent seen any on the 301 yet tho.

[Ash]

I dunno if it's true but are the hybrid versa's going to be taken off the 56 soon i'm guessing due to capacity issues where it's likely the centro's will return to the route

[Mike360]

I haven't heard that yet but the 417 doesn't really need the royale centros as it seems to only usually run around half full or less but they are nice buses to travel on. The 56 is a popular route so unless they increase the frequency maybe it would be good to see bigger buses on and if they are taken off it would be good to see the Hybrids on a mixture of routes and I think the 202 route from Halesowen to Bromsgrove would suit them which uses royale centros now.

[Liberator9]

Changing to Blue Diamond buses, the S2 and S3 is becoming a very unreliable route. This route is meant to be Signature buses but recently horrible 06 Solos have turned up with one on today. They struggle to get up any inclines and are generally very noisy and uncomfortable. Secondly the evening S2, 17:28 at Solihull has recently become excessively late. One friend needs to catch that bus home from work and on four occasions now has that person had no bus turn up. Today I saw this bus go up to Solihull 15 minutes late but never came back! So my friend has to catch the late running S3 and walk a fair distance home. This is happening too often! Does anyone else have the same problem on other bus routes and what would be a good course of action?

[Ash]

From what people have said about Blue diamond it's seems Black diamond on a whole are a much better company, although the service i catch is ran pretty regular by black diamond i have caught other services such as the 56,417 and 002 which have a lower frequency and always seem to run on time with alot newer vehicles to what blue diamond has, i would have thought it would have been a better option for them to merge the two companies and call them both Black diamond and use to the two garages change round garage allocations for example the 50 could be ran from long acre as theres dead milage running the nifty fifty buses back to tividale.

Changing to Blue Diamond buses, the S2 and S3 is becoming a very unreliable route. This route is meant to be Signature buses but recently horrible 06 Solos have turned up with one on today. They struggle to get up any inclines and are generally very noisy and uncomfortable. Secondly the evening S2, 17:28 at Solihull has recently become excessively late. One friend needs to catch that bus home from work and on four occasions now has that person had no bus turn up. Today I saw this bus go up to Solihull 15 minutes late but never came back! So my friend has to catch the late running S3 and walk a fair distance home. This is happening too often! Does anyone else have the same problem on other bus routes and what would be a good course of action?

[arrifirststage]

I live in Sutton and use the 168.
Today,the bus due to arrive in Sutton at 1400 failed to turn up.leaving my Wife and me ,(and doubtless others ) standing.This is by no means an isolated incident.The general impression I get is that Blue Diamond is rather a tatty and unreliable Company and has been for some considerable time.
You can rebrand as much as you like (Central Connect,Blue Diamond,or whatever ) but it is just a gimmick and cannot replace reliability.

[Liberator9]

I live in Sutton and use the 168.
Today,the bus due to arrive in Sutton at 1400 failed to turn up.leaving my Wife and me ,(and doubtless others ) standing.This is by no means an isolated incident.The general impression I get is that Blue Diamond is rather a tatty and unreliable Company and has been for some considerable time.
You can rebrand as much as you like (Central Connect,Blue Diamond,or whatever ) but it is just a gimmick and cannot replace reliability.

I couldn't agree more!

[BN]

They have struggled to run there Nat Ex services properly since the new contracts started.

[D10]

If you are having a problem with a route that is a Centro contract, then you really should complain to Centro. I am sure they would be very interested to hear any concerns on any routes that they are paying for.