Diamond Bus - Discussion

[Matt.N0056]

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?

3 days in a row this week I have seen the bus - which i believe should be running the 17.28 as it runs the 15.57 - parked up in the station, same driver all 3 times all at the same time. The last two times i saw him he was parked the 'wrong way' in the lay by by the station with the rear bonnet up

[Liberator9]

THat would make sense as it is that 15:57 that runs it. Was the bus having problems then if it had the bonnet up? And why was it up at the station, they shouldn't be.

[Matt.N0056]

THat would make sense as it is that 15:57 that runs it. Was the bus having problems then if it had the bonnet up? And why was it up at the station, they shouldn't be.

Not too sure, but i thought it was a bit unusual for the same bus and driver to be 'broken down' at the same time 2 days in a row - the last time i saw him it was a different bus.

[Ash]

 I would think Blue diamond buses are more unreliable due to the age of the fleet most of the buses are at least 10 years old where wessex red red/black diamond and preston bus have a lower average age of their fleet.

[KayP]

That's unfortunate, I've never really had a problem with Blue Diamond/Central Connect routes, you should probably talk to Centro about your complaint.

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]

Well the buses they use on the S2 and S3 are 2010 Optare solo SRs which are very good from a passenger view but actually I spoke to one driver and he said they were very unreliable. Also we keep getting the 2006 Blue old Solos which are terrible as they can't get up the hills, which was the same bus that was on on Thursday.

[Stu]

Also the 'old' 2006 Solos don't have the onboard wi-fi which is supposedly the big selling point of the 'Solihull Signature' services.

[Liberator9]

Thats true but I don't think anyone/many use the wi-fi. I know I never do!

[Ash]

Does anyone know if there will be a large withdrawal of buses in the diamond fleet from the 22nd April due to the loss of all those contracts or will they keep them for possible introduction of new commerical services.

[winston]

You may find that there may not be that many withdrawals, the Arriva black country operation is only 14 vehicles. Already out of the Diamond Fleet are a quantity of MAN / MCV's, in are Optare Solo's ex Preston Bus & new Optare Versa Hybrids. Not sure how those moves effect the fleet requirement.

The 142 has certainly gone down hill in terms of vehicle quality since the Red Diamond MAN's have gone, on Saturday it was being run by elderly S & T-reg Dart SLF's

Does anyone know if there will be a large withdrawal of buses in the diamond fleet from the 22nd April due to the loss of all those contracts or will they keep them for possible introduction of new commerical services.

[Ash]

You may find that there may not be that many withdrawals, the Arriva black country operation is only 14 vehicles. Already out of the Diamond Fleet are a quantity of MAN / MCV's, in are Optare Solo's ex Preston Bus & new Optare Versa Hybrids. Not sure how those moves effect the fleet requirement.

The 142 has certainly gone down hill in terms of vehicle quality since the Red Diamond MAN's have gone, on Saturday it was being run by elderly S & T-reg Dart SLF's

Does anyone know if there will be a large withdrawal of buses in the diamond fleet from the 22nd April due to the loss of all those contracts or will they keep them for possible introduction of new commerical services.

Alot of routes have had the older darts placed back on them including the 16,404E and alot of them are either solo's or smaller darts which don't have alot of capacity especially for the busier routes, I dont know whether this will be a temporary until any new buses are ordered which is dissapointing because the MCV's had some good route branding such as the super 16 and black country connection and some of the older darts rattle like mad.

[Mike360]

I think Diamond should get some more new buses and get rid of some of the ancient ones which have been around along time. It's a shame they got rid of the MCV Evolutions because I liked them and now the 142 does have older buses. The Plaxton Centro Royales maybe could be used on the 16 and the 404e instead of the 417 which doesn't get that many people. Also are all the Hybrids in service yet or when they will be? It was good to see the green hybrid on the 002 the other day.

[Ash]

I think Diamond should get some more new buses and get rid of some of the ancient ones which have been around along time. It's a shame they got rid of the MCV Evolutions because I liked them and now the 142 does have older buses. The Plaxton Centro Royales maybe could be used on the 16 and the 404e instead of the 417 which doesn't get that many people. Also are all the Hybrids in service yet or when they will be? It was good to see the green hybrid on the 002 the other day.

From what I have read only 5 of the 8 are in service and on the diamond bus facebook site they quoted that they will be used on the 56 and 301, the 417 never seems busy enough for the centro's there are other routes that would utilise them better

[Liberator9]

Sorry but I will always chose NXWM or Banga buses over Blue Diamond

[Nathan4775]

Banga Drivers are too slow for me
NXWM drivers stop far too much due

Blue Diamond is just right for me but every1s diffrent

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I rode on a Blue Diamond Bus today branded for the 37 which made its way on to the 97A today and I thought the bus was gonna fall apart halfway through ::) ???