Night Buses

[Tony]

Well I did the 14N a few times in the early 80s and there was allways plenty of drivers prepared to do it,probably only once every 12 months.

Pay was Time and a third in those days, later changed to a £10 supplement of top of basic pay

[midlandred2003]

Tony your memory is better than mine,I had not got a clue what the pay was.

[Stuharris 6360]

London Night bus routes were originally non regular services for workers such as office cleaners who had to get to work in the small hours. At one time there were suggestions that the London night bus network should be scaled down. This was in the era before late night drinking, however the tube stops before many revellers go home hence the large number of extra buses on Friday and Saturday nights. Ken Livingstone proposed to run the tube two hours later on these two nights but this floundered when unions demanded three days extra leave per annum for all drivers!

Centro ought to take the initiative in Birmingham as I doubt that NXWM would have the get up and go to do anything, after all once smartcards come in it should be easy to tender a network out.

Slightly off topic, but i understand that they are again proposing that the tube open late till 2am on Friday & Saturday nights.not till at least 2015 though!

Back to Night buses and i wonder how much extra drivers get in London to operate the night services. It certainly provides extra employment in London!

[Discodave]

one difference a almost tax payer funded network in London and the comapnies will pay the money could you see NXWM or others paying decent night wages to drivers for the crap they will get and no back up I don't think so and would anyone pay when they are pissed or drugged up its difficult to get most to pay the correct fare for there journey on any route otherwise Tony would not be in a Job and a question for Tony would he be prepared to revenue check on Night services they do not bother on trains in the evening.

[Kevin]

question for Tony would he be prepared to revenue check on Night services they do not bother on trains in the evening.

They do in the evenings on the trains sometimes, seen it a few times. Me mate sometimes does the last service to Crewe and rakes it in

[Tony]

one difference a almost tax payer funded network in London and the comapnies will pay the money could you see NXWM or others paying decent night wages to drivers for the crap they will get and no back up I don't think so and would anyone pay when they are ****ed or drugged up its difficult to get most to pay the correct fare for there journey on any route otherwise Tony would not be in a Job and a question for Tony would he be prepared to revenue check on Night services they do not bother on trains in the evening.

No thank you.

The biggest obstacle to a new night service network is who would pay for the initial services which would lose large quantities of money, at least until they became re-established. Centro certainly haven't got any spare money at the moment with their income from Councils capped. We all have ideas of where Centro waste money, but stopping anything they currently fund to pay to get a 'few drunks home' which is how a lot of the population would see it would create some outcry in the local rags

[4006]

No thank you.

The biggest obstacle to a new night service network is who would pay for the initial services which would lose large quantities of money, at least until they became re-established. Centro certainly haven't got any spare money at the moment with their income from Councils capped. We all have ideas of where Centro waste money, but stopping anything they currently fund to pay to get a 'few drunks home' which is how a lot of the population would see it would create some outcry in the local rags
[/quote]

Totally agree Tony Centro waste enough money on....well most things really apart from providing basic facilities that the public need! It's just a shame for the people who do need a night service or would benefit from one that may not be provided due to the idiots that are likely to cause a problem, not make it viable.

[Kevin]

Just a thought...

Instead of going all out and providing 24 hour service on some services (even though that's what I personally think they should do), could they not do it gradually? Over time add more and more services later into the night? For example, for most routes it's pretty much last bus from city centre is midnight, first bus is 5am... how about another bus at half past midnight? See how it goes, then maybe another half hour later?

[JB93]

I would have loved a 97N when I lived at home in Tile Cross, after a boozy night out. :P £2 is a lot nicer than £14 in a taxi!!

[Tony]

Well when the first night service starts in A pril let's see how well it's used

[Discodave]

Well when the first night service starts in A pril let's see how well it's used

What route is that or are we having our leg pulled Tony?  rumour was at Walsall when I drove there (you can check) was the 51 going to be 24 hr.

[Kevin]

Centrp is the problem the only thing there interested is linking New street up with the Metrp, but what they cannot see is that only a small number of people use it, its not like Manchester which has got routes running all over the city just one route.

There should be more routes but that's a different debate

[Tony]

Well when the first night service starts in A pril let's see how well it's used

What route is that or are we having our leg pulled Tony?  rumour was at Walsall when I drove there (you can check) was the 51 going to be 24 hr.

Someone else has revealed which route it is in another thread. It is the 97 service with sponsorship from the NEC & Airport on what I believe to be a 3 year trial. Three years should be long enough to see if people actually will use a night service

[Ash]

With the night buses how long with that particular bus be on the road for on that day before it's returned to the garage. For example will it enter service at 6pm to then be taken out of service at 6am the following morning.

[Stu]

Well when the first night service starts in A pril let's see how well it's used

What route is that or are we having our leg pulled Tony?  rumour was at Walsall when I drove there (you can check) was the 51 going to be 24 hr.

Someone else has revealed which route it is in another thread. It is the 97 service with sponsorship from the NEC & Airport on what I believe to be a 3 year trial. Three years should be long enough to see if people actually will use a night service

The VOSA site has this registration down as commencing 24th March, so will it begin operating to the airport from this date, with night journeys being added in April, or will the whole thing just wait until April to start?

Interestingly, this would also appear to coincide with the arrivals of the hybrids to Wolverhampton, as presumably BC will need a few extra buses to keep the route operating 24 hours a day.  ::)

While this extension appears to be funded purposely for staff working at the airport through the night, it will be interesting to see how well it is used, certainly people in the Bordesley Green, Stechford and Chelmsley Wood areas can have a good night out in the city centre now without worrying about the cost of a taxi home!