New Buses

[BN]

Are Tividale due any more new ones. 8 Versa's to replace 23 MCV's? I know some MPD's have come up from Bristol but any more orders in the pipeline?
What was the main problem with the MCV's? We have roughly 30 in our fleet and to be fair run quite well.

[PM]

To be fair though diamond's fleetsize will have reduced as some services have stopped and the routes now run by arriva thats 14 buses and some darts have come from elsewhere and don't forget the Preston solos. I have heard that the mcv's were unreliable and were dealer stock tho as you know better than i do travel de courcey have some and are they that bad? Tho, lets remember that the diamond ones were ex dealer stock...

[Ash]

Apparently i heard some of the drivers say there was little room in the cab and passengers also moaned about the amount of leg room which i must admit was pretty tight in some places and I once was a Black country connection one and the engine cut out with hazard lights showing  on the controls of problems with the vehicle. But they seemed very quick buses may be there were not economical i dont know.

[PM]

Legroom was tight tho i agree that they were extremely fast and powerful buses not to mention incredibly good looking!

[Ash]

I thought the branding on them was really good both internally and externally and the images on the back of the super 16 and the black country connection were informative and funny especially the one with the young women and two melons for the bullring markets at least it gets them noticed

[4504]

What ever happening to the MANs? I really liked them, they looked like really strong buses

[Mike360]

  New hybrids 30135 and 30130 on the 002 today. Lovely and comfy buses.

[Ash]

There great buses i wonder apart from the 56 what routes they will be used on long term apparently on their facebook page its supposed to be the 56 and 301

[4504]

How many versas did diamond order?

[Ash]

8 versa's in total for black diamond

[PM]

In other words, not really enough! I think diamond need to think about replacing certain darts-not the wright ones because i like them and theyre in good condition. Solos from preston are useless-they need to think about secondhand centros/wright eclipses or maybe even some other buses-any suggestions anyone? I also think they should focus on branding EVERY commercial route. They should even use a couple of rotala's ex bristol b9tls with gemini bodies in an attractive livery and brand them up for the 56 and maybe even the 002? or, if arriva stop the X31, they should take it on and if its not making money-make it peak times only or extend the 56 to walsall or cannock. Anyone any thoughts?

[Ash]

I think the branding worked well i know some people used to call diamonds 404E 'the purple bus route or the actually called it the black country connection' so it got identified and at least you knew when you saw the purple bus it was a 404E. Other branding would be good as they used to have one for the 56 which was similar to the route 66 road branding in the USA, one problem withh diamond is keeping buses on the correct routes as it was often you would see a purple 404E on other services especially in the evening and sundays but having them all one colour would make the fleet tidier and easier to understand having red,black and white buses which can often be seen on one route at any time must be confusing for someone new to the area.

[PM]

I do think that the branding was a good idea and especially with the 50 too, people do actually refer to it as the nifty fifty or the yellow fifty and the same with the 002 which has to be good for the company. Bring back route branding diamond as it was a SUCCESS. Any thoughts about them having double deckers?

[Ash]

I think double deckers were removed from diamond due to security and the lack of patronage for the routes they were used on which i think were the 16,50 and 74 back then. I think a good idea would be to run the 002 on a sunday as shopping to merry hill on a sunday seems to be very popular may be at an half hour frequency as they introduced sundays and evenings on the 404E and it seems to be a sucess.

[PM]

Those two suggestions about diamond routes on a sunday I agree with tho i do think double deckers are the best solutions, especially when certain diamond services are performing really well. For instance, is there anti social behaviour on the 56-probably not, if so, fit CCTV, the buses are there to be used within rotala group-the overheads/fuel etc arent much higher than a single decker and why not use A double decker for instance on the 56 at peaks and then keep as a private hire vehicle or even the signature 82 could use double deckers as that gets really full and there are absolutely no anti-social behaviour problems on that route.