Best and worst rotas?

[Mike K]

OK - a quetion here that I guess is aimed primarily at drivers, past and present, and prompted by BC Mobile's post that there's a long waiting list to get on the Harborne rota at BC. Which rotas, at garages you currently or have previously worked at, are the best and worst to work on and why? I suspect factors like running time, layover time, areas served, clientele and buses used might all come into the equation. Is there a crappy one where all new drivers get put (I know Disco Dave didn't like the Bradford Place rota at Walsall)? Or a stand-out one which everyone wants to get on to? Would be interested to know from an outsider's perspective. Appreciate that most current drivers on this forum are at WN, PE or BC but the likes of Tony and Settlerman seem to have worked at a number of depots.

[Tony]

OK - a quetion here that I guess is aimed primarily at drivers, past and present, and prompted by BC Mobile's post that there's a long waiting list to get on the Harborne rota at BC. Which rotas, at garages you currently or have previously worked at, are the best and worst to work on and why? I suspect factors like running time, layover time, areas served, clientele and buses used might all come into the equation. Is there a crappy one where all new drivers get put (I know Disco Dave didn't like the Bradford Place rota at Walsall)? Or a stand-out one which everyone wants to get on to? Would be interested to know from an outsider's perspective. Appreciate that most current drivers on this forum are at WN, PE or BC but the likes of Tony and Settlerman seem to have worked at a number of depots.

900 when it was at Walsall was the best rota. with the travelling time to reliefs I think the average driving time was about 5h30m

Tony

[BCMobile]

To be honest there's good and bad in all rotas but I'll supply a list. (BC only)

Bristol Road (61 63 45 47) - Biggest rota in the garage. The best in my opinion because every duty there's variation, having 4 routes. And none go through terrible areas as such. I know Northfield isn't the best but its better then Bordesley, which I'll speak about later. The majority of duties are good as well what's I found, albeit 4hr 20mins break on one and a spread of 3.5hrs etc. Always do a trip in between though. We used to have a massive variation of buses aswell, alx400s tridents spectras metros but now only tridents.

Great Park (X64 98 99) - Quietish most of the time on all services, all services can be a hairy at times with tight side roads and damn parked cars. The buses on there aren't great either.

Harborne (22 23) - Hardest road to get on. Personally, very boring. Hell of a lot of running time and lovely buses. Clientel seem slightly better then other roads, but not without its risks. Worst bit is Broad Street. Nice to get a 4-day duty, although you'll do 5.5 trips. Earlies are very nice on this road.

Weoley Castle (24 29 29A) - Once half nine gets here you'll get hammered. With a lowish frequency you'll have a high passenger load, especially push chairs. With the 29 linking Northfeild and Weoley Castle Square the clientele a lacking a certain amount of respect if you ask me. I wouldn't say the routes are bad, but like I said the people spoil it
Crap 24 terminus. All that coupled with Broad Street, I try to avoid this road.

Cranes Park (58 59 60) - Once your through Small Heath the routes improve dramatically, but for the simple fact you have to spend time in Small Heath I'd recommend avoiding these roads. Not worth the high blood pressure. 58 - very very tight, for lates sake take it wide. Wrong buses on there, simple. 59 isn't that bad, open door policy at the terminus. Not bad at all. 60 is the simplest route in the garage, with the turning point having never been changed since it started all those years ago. When you have a parked car near the turning point you will have to use reverse. Management is aware of this so I dare say the route with get changed. There's a nice turning point about 2mins away from where it is now.

Coventry (957 900 900E) - Fast road (Meaning over 40mph along the A45, Do Not Exceed Speed Limit), not bad as they avoid small heath. Longer routes are better in my opinion and neither routegoes tthrough bad areas. Solihull is a nice terminus for the 957, and sufficent running time. 900 of a Sunday is a bit of a rush though. Coventry late night is sought after. Fairly good duties across the board, but you'll find you'll be doing cranes park work though.

Chelmsley (97A 97B 97C) - Personally, crap road. Deadly. Other drivers like this route cause your always rushing but rush and have a bump/complaint you'll be filling in your diamond application!! Death threats; 'nuff said. Also a "fast road" (Meaning short running time/you rarely get to wait your time, but again take your time dont worry about the running card!!!)

Coleshill (56 90) - The 56 is basically a 59 of a Sunday and late night, nothing to say about that really. 90 is a good long run, enjoyable too. Again its sought after especially the late nights. For pure driving 'fun' I guess, the late night Coleshill is where its at.

Tile Cross (14) - Simple route; poor areas. Another route I don't do; see 97. The vast majority of the drivers for these poor routes are ex Lea Hall anyway.

Sorry for any mistakes on this post I'm lacking a keyboard at the moment.

Nothing said in the above post was to offend anyone or anything just my opinion. I really do enjoy working for NX.

Best Regards,

[nitromatt1]

Great post. :)

How long did that take to 'type', without a keyboard?

[BCMobile]

Great post. :)

How long did that take to 'type', without a keyboard?

Too damn long!! Seriously, about 25minutes. It looks like a novel on this phone screen but on a monitor I bet its small lol. If I remember anything else I'll just add it as a new post.

[BCMobile]

Forgot to say about the Great Park is the duties are quite poor to be honest. With a massive rota you'll get like 30mins break and stuff, but because GP has a max of every 20min service, you have large breaks even in morning. Not really much work to do on thier. If it wern't for the parked vehicles causing issues it'll be like being part time haha

[andy]

Here's what I think of the Acocks Green rotas, not that I am there anymore and haven't been for some time...

Warwick (37)

The best rota in my opinion. The duties were the best, the relief point has good facilities and is easy for the garage and for car parking, the Omnilinks are decent buses to drive and warm in the winter. The frequency is good so you're never overwhelmed, although you are always pretty busy but there are always plenty of buses. Plenty of time on the route and a fairly straightforward run, although Solihull Town Centre can get dicey at times. Very rarely any space on the rota.

Widney (5)

Old man's rota. The 5 is probably the easiest route in the garage and again the duties are pretty good. The downside is having to do the length of the Stratford Road through Sparkhill and at peak times getting in and out of Solihull from the church end of the High Street is a major pain, although running time is pretty generous with good layovers. Again, you won't get on this rota.

Olton (31, 31A)

Hated this rota!! All the hassle of Sparkhill traffic and bus stops, and the Gospel Lane estates. I have NEVER had so much trouble from little gobshites as what I got round here, I was stuck one night as they kept pressing the emergency open from outside, interlocking the bus while I was trying to pull away. They are evil. And it's quite a boring and pointless route, also gets stuck in Shirley and doesn't have the same recovery time as the 5.

Solihull (73, 966, S1)

My other least favourite. All you drive is knackered Presidents and the odd Gemini, all the routes are 'if you see a turn take it' and you have to suffer Small Heath and Kingshurst all day every day. There is no time on these routes either, the 73 was my least favourite route to drive full stop. Hated it. Can also never get on the stop by Selfridges without and Inspector trying to move you as they only care about the 50. All reliefs in Solihull where you can't park your car and they have duties that start in Solihull and finish at garage.

Moseley (1, 71, 72)

In terms of routes this was my favourite, or it would have been if they didn't interwork the 71 and 72 because it doesn't work, you are always late setting off on a 71 and have to belt it all the way to Sutton and back. The 1 is alright out of peak but it's a horrible route to drive in the peak, you are constantly late and lose half your break, plus it's Presidents. Reliefs are all over the place so parking and travelling is an issueand also the worst rota for split shifts.

Outer Circle Clockwise (11C)

The worst of the two Outer Circle rotas as the 'C' seems to get clobbered more on traffic and late running. Out of the two rotas the duties on this one are slightly better for some reason though.

Outer Circle Anti (11A)

Anticlockwise was definitely the best direction on the Outer Circle, can't really put my finger on why but it was always nicer. Relief points on these two are garage although breaks could be quite dicey with laterunning and you do double circuits sometimes which you don't want. Plus of course it's mainly Presidents now.

Basically if it wasn't for being lumbered with all the Presidents, many of which shouldn't even be on the road, the majority of the work would be OK.  Except for the 31 which should be scrapped or rerouted.

[wbdriver]

like BC mobile said, there's good and bad on all rotas.

At WB, there are currently 9 rotas (as of today, changing AGAIN at the end of the month):

Soho Road - 74, 75, 80, 48 and 49 - all the soho road and cape hill fare dodgers, but the 48 makes up for it

Dudley Road - 82 and 87 - pick up all the Dudley Road idiots and no running time. why anyone goes on this rota is beyond me.

Oldbury - 83, 89, 127/8/9 - been told its one of the best rotas at the garage, but never been on it, that what the drivers tell me.

West Bromwich - 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47/A, 121 - if you take out the 42 and 43, not a bad little rota. (42 and 43 chav central in Tipton)

Sutton - 5 and 121 - the rota i'm on. 4 day working week and in my opinion, easiest rota to be on. 5 trips a day to Sutton max, 4 min. lovely.

40 - 40 (old 410) - about 100 trips through friar park every day. not everyones cup of tea.

4 day Soho Road - as Soho road above, but longer hours.

Part Time and Schools rota - part timers get whatever crap duties left over 3 days a week, and schools same routes Mon to Fri, mainly on 74s and 75s, with a couple on the 42 and 43.

[Ash]

like BC mobile said, there's good and bad on all rotas.

At WB, there are currently 9 rotas (as of today, changing AGAIN at the end of the month):

Soho Road - 74, 75, 80, 48 and 49 - all the soho road and cape hill fare dodgers, but the 48 makes up for it

Dudley Road - 82 and 87 - pick up all the Dudley Road idiots and no running time. why anyone goes on this rota is beyond me.

Oldbury - 83, 89, 127/8/9 - been told its one of the best rotas at the garage, but never been on it, that what the drivers tell me.

West Bromwich - 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47/A, 121 - if you take out the 42 and 43, not a bad little rota. (42 and 43 chav central in Tipton)

Sutton - 5 and 121 - the rota i'm on. 4 day working week and in my opinion, easiest rota to be on. 5 trips a day to Sutton max, 4 min. lovely.

40 - 40 (old 410) - about 100 trips through friar park every day. not everyones cup of tea.

4 day Soho Road - as Soho road above, but longer hours.

Part Time and Schools rota - part timers get whatever crap duties left over 3 days a week, and schools same routes Mon to Fri, mainly on 74s and 75s, with a couple on the 42 and 43.

Did you ever drive the 404 WB driver as quite a few of the now 5 drivers seem to have come off the 404 when it got moved to Walsall.

[Mike K]

Interesting posts chaps, very informative.

@ BC mobile - I'd thought that the 99 was on its own rota separate from the 98 and X64 (Quinton rota?). Is that something that's changed recently?

[JackC]

40 - 40 (old 410) - about 100 trips through friar park every day. not everyones cup of tea.

I can't imagine Friar Park being anyone's cup of tea. I remember being in college at West Brom and having to go through Friar Park twice a day for three days a week - not the best of times.

[Ash]

The 410 used to have major timetable issues when there were only 5 buses used on the service, since changing to the 40 they seem to have added an extra bus as before 30 minutes didn't seem enough time to get from West Bromwich to Wednesbury especially with all the roadworks that were happening at the time at All Saints way which could delay the bus anywhere from 10 minutes.

[JackC]

The 410 used to have major timetable issues when there were only 5 buses used on the service, since changing to the 40 they seem to have added an extra bus as before 30 minutes didn't seem enough time to get from West Bromwich to Wednesbury especially with all the roadworks that were happening at the time at All Saints way which could delay the bus anywhere from 10 minutes.

The extra bus was added long before the 410 became the 40 and good lord it was a godsend - the route went from one end of the scale to the other in terms of reliability. Although nowadays, 30 minutes seems more than enough - usually makes it in around 25 minutes.

[wilmotm (Matt Wilmot)]

like BC mobile said, there's good and bad on all rotas.

At WB, there are currently 9 rotas (as of today, changing AGAIN at the end of the month):

Soho Road - 74, 75, 80, 48 and 49 - all the soho road and cape hill fare dodgers, but the 48 makes up for it

Dudley Road - 82 and 87 - pick up all the Dudley Road idiots and no running time. why anyone goes on this rota is beyond me.

Oldbury - 83, 89, 127/8/9 - been told its one of the best rotas at the garage, but never been on it, that what the drivers tell me.

West Bromwich - 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47/A, 121 - if you take out the 42 and 43, not a bad little rota. (42 and 43 chav central in Tipton)

Sutton - 5 and 121 - the rota i'm on. 4 day working week and in my opinion, easiest rota to be on. 5 trips a day to Sutton max, 4 min. lovely.

40 - 40 (old 410) - about 100 trips through friar park every day. not everyones cup of tea.

4 day Soho Road - as Soho road above, but longer hours.

Part Time and Schools rota - part timers get whatever crap duties left over 3 days a week, and schools same routes Mon to Fri, mainly on 74s and 75s, with a couple on the 42 and 43.

Where do the  140/241 morning peak workings fit, as far as I can tell its the same guy every morning and he's great with passengers and one of the smoothest drivers I know

[nitromatt1]

like BC mobile said, there's good and bad on all rotas.

At WB, there are currently 9 rotas (as of today, changing AGAIN at the end of the month):

Soho Road - 74, 75, 80, 48 and 49 - all the soho road and cape hill fare dodgers, but the 48 makes up for it

Dudley Road - 82 and 87 - pick up all the Dudley Road idiots and no running time. why anyone goes on this rota is beyond me.

Oldbury - 83, 89, 127/8/9 - been told its one of the best rotas at the garage, but never been on it, that what the drivers tell me.

West Bromwich - 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47/A, 121 - if you take out the 42 and 43, not a bad little rota. (42 and 43 chav central in Tipton)

Sutton - 5 and 121 - the rota i'm on. 4 day working week and in my opinion, easiest rota to be on. 5 trips a day to Sutton max, 4 min. lovely.

40 - 40 (old 410) - about 100 trips through friar park every day. not everyones cup of tea.

4 day Soho Road - as Soho road above, but longer hours.

Part Time and Schools rota - part timers get whatever crap duties left over 3 days a week, and schools same routes Mon to Fri, mainly on 74s and 75s, with a couple on the 42 and 43.

Where do the  140/241 morning peak workings fit, as far as I can tell its the same guy every morning and he's great with passengers and one of the smoothest drivers I know

Yes I must agree he is a very good driver and seems a very likeable person