Wednesfield Garage

[winston]

Oh I know there was talk then, I was working for Arriva at the time. But Arriva are in a very different place now and I would put my house on no part of Arriva ever passing to NX, or anyone else for that matter. I think the Scottish disposal was the last you will see of its type,

Andy, I can't see Arriva making any more disposals. But I can't really see what Arriva want with Wednesfield either, they haven't really done anything of any significance. It is now going to be even harder to make tendered routes pay the next time round when they have to bid against WMSNT who are ever expanding........

I can't help but feel that Arriva's new West Midlands op was part of a larger jigsaw puzzle which is still missing its largest piece i.e. Diamond  :-\

[andy]

Were they as s##t then as they are now? Did u see what happened friday? Buses broken down on an hourly service in cannock bus station and no replacement sent. Then broken down bus on the 60 again with no spare bus. Leading to a missing bus on the 825, a busy route with pulsars, and the next bus on said route ( which had to obviously take twice as many passengers) was a 36 seat midibus? Everyone at the bus stop were saying how poor arrivas service is,bbuses missing,  with no explanation,  broken down etc. Its ok on high frequency stuff like nx 51/529 etc cos there'll be another along in a few mins but on irregular services like a lot of cannocks. ...

Of course I'm aware. How could I not be with your running commentaries on an hourly basis? The fact is that Arriva weren't perfect back then and lost a lot of mileage at many depots. They invested a lot of money at those depots to rectify it. Cannock didn't get much because at one point it was up for disposal as everybody said, leaving it lagging behind the others.

However as I've said before, you also need to consider Staffs CC in all of this. It is no coincidence that it is Stafford and Cannock that have been neglected the most across the operation. This is not unrelated to the fact that Staffs CC are one of the most disinterested and short sighted local authorities in the country, with practically zero strategy when it comes to public transport. They also have a lousy concessionary scheme.

Tamworth gets investment despite being in Staffs due to having Warwickshire and Centro to chip in.

Why do you think Arriva have looked towards the West Mids and Black Country rather than expand services in Cannock and surrounds?

Arriva will invest in Cannock and Stafford where there is a return but not where there isn't.

One area I will agree with you though is its treatment of the 825 whic is a scandal. This used to be one of the operation's most profitable routes. Arriva should give it back to Stafford as a single working with some decent buses and if necessary take something else off them until Stafford has more capacity.

Interworking at this level rarely works well in my experience.

[Bob]

I take your point totally about staffs cc. They arent brilliant not by a long shot. Is that why cannock still has loads of old olive green 70s bus shelters when everywhere else doesnt aha? Lichfield bus stn still has same stands etc as it had in the early 80s!  Lol. Funnily enough tho back in 2005/6 I remember cannock were running b10ms, citybuses lynxes and old olympians as well as some step darts and obviously the mpds. I don't remember the breakdown levelsbbeing anywhere near as bad though

[Westy]

Imagine if wednesfield had to run on commercial lines and was charged to run its operations at a profit. ....lmaoooo

As I said on Facebook, if NX bought the Cannock operations, they'd probably shut it & run the services from Walsall & Wolves.

Where that would leave Wednesfield & probably Stafford is anyone's guess.

(That gives me an idea for a What If! How would you reorganise the Cannock operations to fit with NX Walsall & Wolves? Will have to have a think!)

I wouldn't waist your grey matter, seeing as it's a total fantasy.

Fantasy now, but came very close in Sept 2006. The deal must have collapsed at the last minute:

--- In staffordshireandmerseysidebuses@yahoogroups.com, Jack Grove<j4ckg@...> wrote:

Sorry, ignore my last posting regarding TWM Cannock. Here's what will officially happen, as granted by David Miller of TWM.

  "no date yet, I think what is actually happening is TWM are buying the routes & the staff but not the garage or buses, so it will
happen when the new single deck B7s arrive which will create plenty of spare buses like this

  19 new B7s to Walsall
  18 B10Bs Walsall to Perry Barr to put on 28 route
  Metros released from PB to go to Wolverhampton to release single decks for Cannock

  19 new B7 to AG
  Geminis currently on 37 route go to YW to release Lynx to Walsall

  8 Lynx form YW + 12 withdrawn ones from Miller Street to Walsall
for operating "Brownhills" group of services to release B6s for
Cannock

  Non-off this is definate facts yet, but that is the likely
combination"

Thanks,
  Jack Grove.

So would certain types of TWM/NX vehicles lasted a bit longer before withdrawal, the Metros & Lynxs?

Wonder if they would've looked at the Cannock route network?

Maybe more routes running to & from Walsall & Wolves?

[Bob]

Doubt there would of been much call for extras. They miggt have renumbered them into the 3xx series poss 5xx for the wolves ones? Maybe a cannock area ticket?

[Westy]

If Perry Barr was involved, you might have got an alternative Cannock to Birmingham route(the old 156 route), to go with then existing Brownhills/Aldridge to Birmingham corridor. (Didn't PB operate that corridor at that point in time?)

[Bob]

Very true. They could have linked it up with the 32/3

[Cheese]

I take your point totally about staffs cc. They arent brilliant not by a long shot. Is that why cannock still has loads of old olive green 70s bus shelters when everywhere else doesnt aha? Lichfield bus stn still has same stands etc as it had in the early 80s!  Lol. Funnily enough tho back in 2005/6 I remember cannock were running b10ms, citybuses lynxes and old olympians as well as some step darts and obviously the mpds. I don't remember the breakdown levelsbbeing anywhere near as bad though

Cannock Chase District Council maintain bus shelters in Cannock. Lichfield Bus Station is the responsibility of Lichfield District Council. Staffs CC have no responsibility for bus shelters, it is either district councils or parish councils who are responsible for shelters in Staffs.

[Bob]

Ah fair play. I always thought it was staffs cos of all the bis stops saying staffs county council on them :)

[Trident 4609]

2619 still at Wednesfield on the 334 today. Is this a permanent transfer?

2544 is on the 53
And 2546 is on the 57


It appears there is another Solo that has joined Wednesfield Garage in the shape of 2541(IIG 3753) On the 63/4/5 today


Walsall-Lichfield branded 2152 is on the 224

And the Sainsburys livered 2564 is sat infront of me at Bilston on the 229

[the trainbasher]

2152 is on the nightly Dudley to Wolverhampton circuit.

[the trainbasher]

Arriva want drivers for Wednesfield

http://www.route-one.net/jobs/driving/arriva-midlands-bus-drivers/

[PM]

I went on an absolutely knackered MPD on the 217 today. Without wishing to sound like Bob, and I actually like MPDs generally, it had no seats behind the cab and rattled and shook like mad. I also counted the different types of moquette-7 on one bus, including some in a horrible black mesh type material :P Such a contrast to the LJ51's.

[Bob]

Try Bu51kwj or bu51kwl or fk52mml at cannock if you want nails lol

[the trainbasher]

@DiamondDart 2112 was the Dart if my maths is right