Diamond Bus - Discussion

[Steveminor]

Well the 4 I was on was actually running late & if they were timetabled to run behind NXWM on so many occasions then the scheduler deserves to be sacked. I would never timetable a bus so close behind the competition it's pointless

[bwsau cymru]

"all these services didn't match NXWM frequency in most cases."
They used to @ one point but buses were gradually withdrawn as passenger numbers fell until eventually the routes themselves were withdrawn.
Maybe Diamond have become a little complacent with their commercial routes & just expect their drivers will compete with NXWM. In my experience that is never the case. Unless you give the drivers some incentive to compete or have someone monitoring them more then drivers will just become lazy & follow each other around.
When Thann their inspector was in Birmingham pushing the drivers to compete they did a lot better, but as soon as he was gone you would all too often see then bunch up behind each other or following NXWM.
At Tile Cross I would often see Diamond wait in the terminus until about 2 mins after a NX 17 had left before leaving themselves & very seldom see Diamond leave in front.
Even the other week on the 4 Diamond left West Brom behind NX & just followed it (even stopping at stops behind it when there was no one to get on or off) until Caldmore. When we pulled into Walsall there was another NX 4 on the stand & guess what, the Diamond bus I had just got off followed it out empty.
How do you get passengers if you follow another bus.

See it happen way to much on many routes and you also see nx drivers doing it too! maybe some commission incetive could would giving the drivers a bonus if they see so many tickets per day?

[Steveminor]

I believe they used to have a bonus system but decided to do away with it.

[j789]

I believe they used to have a bonus system but decided to do away with it.

Probably because such a system will inevitably lead to drivers not sticking to a timetable and the company ultimately ending up in trouble. If you were driving and had incentives based on revenue taken would a driver stick to their running time or try to overtake the late running NXWM bus in front who is getting all the passengers?
That was the situation in the late 80s and 90s when it was a free for all.
Diamond aren't a bad company but they, and their predecessors, tried to operate in far too large an area for a small company - they have had routes in a huge area eg Coventry, Wolverhampton, Worcester and everywhere in between. They should just focus on a few core routes not try and be a new Midland Red.

[Steveminor]

Petes travel managed to operate over a wide area so that isn't the problem. I think as has been said before I think it comes down to losing some key personnel to their Your Bus operation.
As for the bonus system then the way I have operated it before is that any driver caught over the TCs tolerance level -1 or +5 automatically forfeit their bonus for that week.
That has kept my guys in line whilst keeping them productive.

[wilmotm (Matt Wilmot)]

Slightly off topic but I imagine the Diamond 22 Wolverhampton to Russels Hall is tendered as I have in all honesty only ever ever seen one passenger on the service so if its not why are they running it

[Trident 4609]

Slightly off topic but I imagine the Diamond 22 Wolverhampton to Russels Hall is tendered as I have in all honesty only ever ever seen one passenger on the service so if its not why are they running it

Yes i believe it is tendered.

[a220]

Petes travel managed to operate over a wide area so that isn't the problem. I think as has been said before I think it comes down to losing some key personnel to their Your Bus operation.
As for the bonus system then the way I have operated it before is that any driver caught over the TCs tolerance level -1 or +5 automatically forfeit their bonus for that week.
That has kept my guys in line whilst keeping them productive.

Petes Travel "managed"?

[Ash]

Surprised to see today there was not one red and white dart on the 4, but since the 289 has been withdrawn the loadings on the 4M seems to have increased by quite a bit.

[Solo1]

was the 4 blue ones out today as my friend didn't any of them

[Ash]

was the 4 blue ones out today as my friend didn't any of them

All 7 of the b7rle's seem to be out on the 4/4H/4M today although I caught 4 diamond buses on the 4 today and 3 were darts and 1 cadet.

[PM]

"all these services didn't match NXWM frequency in most cases."
They used to @ one point but buses were gradually withdrawn as passenger numbers fell until eventually the routes themselves were withdrawn.
Maybe Diamond have become a little complacent with their commercial routes & just expect their drivers will compete with NXWM. In my experience that is never the case. Unless you give the drivers some incentive to compete or have someone monitoring them more then drivers will just become lazy & follow each other around.
When Thann their inspector was in Birmingham pushing the drivers to compete they did a lot better, but as soon as he was gone you would all too often see then bunch up behind each other or following NXWM.
At Tile Cross I would often see Diamond wait in the terminus until about 2 mins after a NX 17 had left before leaving themselves & very seldom see Diamond leave in front.
Even the other week on the 4 Diamond left West Brom behind NX & just followed it (even stopping at stops behind it when there was no one to get on or off) until Caldmore. When we pulled into Walsall there was another NX 4 on the stand & guess what, the Diamond bus I had just got off followed it out empty.
How do you get passengers if you follow another bus.

I agree with you steve they need to try to encourage drivers to increade their takings through bonuses though not remembering that reliability is important as well. To be fair though on the 4 as NX/diamond are pretty much at same frequency its probably pointless a diamond driver overtaking a national express driver as there will be a diamond in front anyway. As such, it is best to hold back about 5 minutes/until the next nx is in the mirror and then go

[nitromatt1]

Diamond are every 20 minutes on the 4H whereas NX are every 30

[PM]

Diamond are every 20 minutes on the 4H whereas NX are every 30

To be fair I was talking about the core west brom to walsall section of the route

[nitromatt1]

Diamond are every 20 minutes on the 4H whereas NX are every 30

To be fair I was talking about the core west brom to walsall section of the route

Ah ok fair enough, I don't know so much about that part of the route. In fact I have only ever done the Hayley Green - Halesowen part of the route