Least reliable NXWM services

[Trident 4609]

J789, The buses on the 61/63 are tridents not B7TL's

[j789]

Agree about the lights at Northfield. When I do the 144 I am pretty much always late leaving Northfield outbound because of those sets of lights near the swimming baths, even on a Sunday. When the temporary lights were at the cross roads near McDonalds it was even worse and was taking 15/20 mins to get through Northfield.

I am not being funny but at the leisurely pace you First drivers take tottling down BRSouth I didn't think you had a Running Board!

How much time do you guys get from Lockwood Rd to Longbridge Island? We get 7 minutes and that's not enough.

Haha. I wish but it is very tight for us - 33 mins to get from Rubery to Brum, 5 mins to get from Northfield to Selly Oak.
We get 7 mins from Northfield to Longbridge Island (some peak journeys more/lates less). Even though we are technically limited stop it doesn't save much time as I usually end up stuck behind several 61/63s or get a flood of passengers attempting to board with daysavers. Its worst when driving our tridents as to the untrained eye they look the same as NXWM's B7s on the 61/63 so people just assume they are NXWM buses.

What irritates me tho is when some first drivers-I'm sure its not you-just drive straight past stops they are meant to serve and make a right fuss about accepting network passes-had an argument with one once about this. If we're honest firsts service-note it used to be services-along the bristol road could be providing more competition than they are doing. Must admit tho i like the fast driving and the enviros are brilliant buses just some drivers seem a bit mardy-ignoring stop bells, refusing valid tickets and stopping past the stops so you have to walk from the stop to get on. Not saying all first drivers are like this-just some and I'm sure you're not one of them. To be fair, what do they have to be cheerful about? They are driving for a failing company that is a shadow of its former self and probably fear for their jobs-talking the old redditch first drivers here

To be fair I find that annoying to but it is a very small number who do, 99% stop. I am happy to stop and pick up (it is my job after all!) and we do have a fair few passengers who wait for a 144. You do get a few who think we should stop everywhere like the 63 but generally they are fine. I don't see the problem with Network passes as they are valid and the company gets paid for them. Only issue is the people who think they are valid to Bromsgrove. The 144 used to be every 20 mins to Brum but NXWM have that corridor pretty much covered and the frequency was improved to every 15 mins from Catshill to Worcester so better for passengers in that stretch.
Worcester is a completely different situation compared to Redditch but if they ever do sell I hope NX would buy the company as would be a good fit for them.

[j789]

Agree about the lights at Northfield. When I do the 144 I am pretty much always late leaving Northfield outbound because of those sets of lights near the swimming baths, even on a Sunday. When the temporary lights were at the cross roads near McDonalds it was even worse and was taking 15/20 mins to get through Northfield.

I am not being funny but at the leisurely pace you First drivers take tottling down BRSouth I didn't think you had a Running Board!

How much time do you guys get from Lockwood Rd to Longbridge Island? We get 7 minutes and that's not enough.

Haha. I wish but it is very tight for us - 33 mins to get from Rubery to Brum, 5 mins to get from Northfield to Selly Oak.
We get 7 mins from Northfield to Longbridge Island (some peak journeys more/lates less). Even though we are technically limited stop it doesn't save much time as I usually end up stuck behind several 61/63s or get a flood of passengers attempting to board with daysavers. Its worst when driving our tridents as to the untrained eye they look the same as NXWM's B7s on the 61/63 so people just assume they are NXWM buses.

That has surprised me my friend. I understand about the confusion of bus types, and you can't serve that stop, the one after the Baths, do Diamond run along side your First Service?

And how long is your drop back in town?

No Diamond left a couple of years back after making a mess of their service eg running Bromsgrove to Rubery only!!!
You get 5 mins drop back time in Brum before the 28 mile return journey (8 mins in the peaks) - not a lot!

[PM]

Agree about the lights at Northfield. When I do the 144 I am pretty much always late leaving Northfield outbound because of those sets of lights near the swimming baths, even on a Sunday. When the temporary lights were at the cross roads near McDonalds it was even worse and was taking 15/20 mins to get through Northfield.

I am not being funny but at the leisurely pace you First drivers take tottling down BRSouth I didn't think you had a Running Board!

How much time do you guys get from Lockwood Rd to Longbridge Island? We get 7 minutes and that's not enough.

Haha. I wish but it is very tight for us - 33 mins to get from Rubery to Brum, 5 mins to get from Northfield to Selly Oak.
We get 7 mins from Northfield to Longbridge Island (some peak journeys more/lates less). Even though we are technically limited stop it doesn't save much time as I usually end up stuck behind several 61/63s or get a flood of passengers attempting to board with daysavers. Its worst when driving our tridents as to the untrained eye they look the same as NXWM's B7s on the 61/63 so people just assume they are NXWM buses.

That has surprised me my friend. I understand about the confusion of bus types, and you can't serve that stop, the one after the Baths, do Diamond run along side your First Service?

And how long is your drop back in town?

No Diamond left a couple of years back after making a mess of their service eg running Bromsgrove to Rubery only!!!
You get 5 mins drop back time in Brum before the 28 mile return journey (8 mins in the peaks) - not a lot!

I think its weird tho how diamonds service fizzled out-they did well on the 64 and even the 63 when they did that but then it sort of went downhill

[Russ Smith]

Agree about the lights at Northfield. When I do the 144 I am pretty much always late leaving Northfield outbound because of those sets of lights near the swimming baths, even on a Sunday. When the temporary lights were at the cross roads near McDonalds it was even worse and was taking 15/20 mins to get through Northfield.

I am not being funny but at the leisurely pace you First drivers take tottling down BRSouth I didn't think you had a Running Board!

How much time do you guys get from Lockwood Rd to Longbridge Island? We get 7 minutes and that's not enough.

Haha. I wish but it is very tight for us - 33 mins to get from Rubery to Brum, 5 mins to get from Northfield to Selly Oak.
We get 7 mins from Northfield to Longbridge Island (some peak journeys more/lates less). Even though we are technically limited stop it doesn't save much time as I usually end up stuck behind several 61/63s or get a flood of passengers attempting to board with daysavers. Its worst when driving our tridents as to the untrained eye they look the same as NXWM's B7s on the 61/63 so people just assume they are NXWM buses.

What irritates me tho is when some first drivers-I'm sure its not you-just drive straight past stops they are meant to serve and make a right fuss about accepting network passes-had an argument with one once about this. If we're honest firsts service-note it used to be services-along the bristol road could be providing more competition than they are doing. Must admit tho i like the fast driving and the enviros are brilliant buses just some drivers seem a bit mardy-ignoring stop bells, refusing valid tickets and stopping past the stops so you have to walk from the stop to get on. Not saying all first drivers are like this-just some and I'm sure you're not one of them. To be fair, what do they have to be cheerful about? They are driving for a failing company that is a shadow of its former self and probably fear for their jobs-talking the old redditch first drivers here

To be fair I find that annoying to but it is a very small number who do, 99% stop. I am happy to stop and pick up (it is my job after all!) and we do have a fair few passengers who wait for a 144. You do get a few who think we should stop everywhere like the 63 but generally they are fine. I don't see the problem with Network passes as they are valid and the company gets paid for them. Only issue is the people who think they are valid to Bromsgrove. The 144 used to be every 20 mins to Brum but NXWM have that corridor pretty much covered and the frequency was improved to every 15 mins from Catshill to Worcester so better for passengers in that stretch.
Worcester is a completely different situation compared to Redditch but if they ever do sell I hope NX would buy the company as would be a good fit for them.

I must admit I tried using a Network pass from Longbridge to Bromsgrove on the 144 a few weeks ago. I usually always pay for the Diamond or First services to Bromsgrove but this time I was, shall we say, a bit tipsy. The driver was great about it though, he was slightly early so stopped at the last stop in Rubery to tell me my pass wasn't valid, so I went up and bought a ticket. Felt like an idiot for the rest of the night though forgetting that my pass wasn't valid! Would be good to see more of First or a real limited stop NX service along the Bristol Road though.

[PM]

Agree about the lights at Northfield. When I do the 144 I am pretty much always late leaving Northfield outbound because of those sets of lights near the swimming baths, even on a Sunday. When the temporary lights were at the cross roads near McDonalds it was even worse and was taking 15/20 mins to get through Northfield.

I am not being funny but at the leisurely pace you First drivers take tottling down BRSouth I didn't think you had a Running Board!

How much time do you guys get from Lockwood Rd to Longbridge Island? We get 7 minutes and that's not enough.

Haha. I wish but it is very tight for us - 33 mins to get from Rubery to Brum, 5 mins to get from Northfield to Selly Oak.
We get 7 mins from Northfield to Longbridge Island (some peak journeys more/lates less). Even though we are technically limited stop it doesn't save much time as I usually end up stuck behind several 61/63s or get a flood of passengers attempting to board with daysavers. Its worst when driving our tridents as to the untrained eye they look the same as NXWM's B7s on the 61/63 so people just assume they are NXWM buses.

What irritates me tho is when some first drivers-I'm sure its not you-just drive straight past stops they are meant to serve and make a right fuss about accepting network passes-had an argument with one once about this. If we're honest firsts service-note it used to be services-along the bristol road could be providing more competition than they are doing. Must admit tho i like the fast driving and the enviros are brilliant buses just some drivers seem a bit mardy-ignoring stop bells, refusing valid tickets and stopping past the stops so you have to walk from the stop to get on. Not saying all first drivers are like this-just some and I'm sure you're not one of them. To be fair, what do they have to be cheerful about? They are driving for a failing company that is a shadow of its former self and probably fear for their jobs-talking the old redditch first drivers here

To be fair I find that annoying to but it is a very small number who do, 99% stop. I am happy to stop and pick up (it is my job after all!) and we do have a fair few passengers who wait for a 144. You do get a few who think we should stop everywhere like the 63 but generally they are fine. I don't see the problem with Network passes as they are valid and the company gets paid for them. Only issue is the people who think they are valid to Bromsgrove. The 144 used to be every 20 mins to Brum but NXWM have that corridor pretty much covered and the frequency was improved to every 15 mins from Catshill to Worcester so better for passengers in that stretch.
Worcester is a completely different situation compared to Redditch but if they ever do sell I hope NX would buy the company as would be a good fit for them.

I must admit I tried using a Network pass from Longbridge to Bromsgrove on the 144 a few weeks ago. I usually always pay for the Diamond or First services to Bromsgrove but this time I was, shall we say, a bit tipsy. The driver was great about it though, he was slightly early so stopped at the last stop in Rubery to tell me my pass wasn't valid, so I went up and bought a ticket. Felt like an idiot for the rest of the night though forgetting that my pass wasn't valid! Would be good to see more of First or a real limited stop NX service along the Bristol Road though.

The 963 tho was a bit of a flop in the latter days-it was cancelled late 06 wasnt it? Not sure on that one but it was just the same tridents and the journey was scarcely any quicker and no one knew where it stopped. The X62/64 must count as some of the most pathetic limited stop services ever created though

[j789]

The problem surely is though that the Bristol Road is too busy (and not wide enough through Edgbaston) for a truly limited stop service and there is not enough infrastructure in place eg bus priority lanes etc, for it to work, even the bypasses at Northfield and Selly Oak don't help that much. It is different on a service like the x51 where there is scope for speed on the route!
There used to a be a Motorway express route from Worcester to Brum and it would be good to have it again (operating down Hagley Road from junction 3 M5 rather than the Bristol Road. Traffic conditions would probably make it unreliable though.

[the trainbasher]

Could always number the X64 to 62 and make it all stops? :-)

[Stuharris 6360]

Could always number the X64 to 62 and make it all stops? :-)

Don't really need to renumber it, the X96 has stopped at all stops for a while and has never been renumbered.

[Trident 4609]

Lots of buses delayed and diverted in Wolverhampton today after a man jumped off the ring road bridge onto the bus lane below! Confirmed by NX that one of their buses was going up the bus lane at the time as well!

[Mike K]

Could always number the X64 to 62 and make it all stops? :-)

Better still, start it from Colmore Row, send it via Five Eays and the QE to Selly Oak and number it 21 again. The 21 was never broken and didn't need fixing.

Whereabouts were the stopping places for the X62? I know the X64 was / is a bit of a waste of time as a limited stop service but I honestly don't know where the stopping points of the X62 were.

And yes, having these 2 services terminate at Town Hall when the all stop Bristol Rd services terminated elsewhere was always going to be a recipe for disaster.

[nitromatt1]

J789, The buses on the 61/63 are tridents not B7TL's

Yes he said that the Tridents on the 61/63 look like B7TLs to the untrained eye.

[Liverpool Street]

Rubbe author=j789 link=topic=1631.msg43726#msg43726 date=1371062771]

Agree about the lights at Northfield. When I do the 144 I am pretty much always late leaving Northfield outbound because of those sets of lights near the swimming baths, even on a Sunday. When the temporary lights were at the cross roads near McDonalds it was even worse and was taking 15/20 mins to get through Northfield.

I am not being funny but at the leisurely pace you First drivers take tottling down BRSouth I didn't think you had a Running Board!

How much time do you guys get from Lockwood Rd to Longbridge Island? We get 7 minutes and that's not enough.

Haha. I wish but it is very tight for us - 33 mins to get from Rubery to Brum, 5 mins to get from Northfield to Selly Oak.
We get 7 mins from Northfield to Longbridge Island (some peak journeys more/lates less). Even though we are technically limited stop it doesn't save much time as I usually end up stuck behind several 61/63s or get a flood of passengers attempting to board with daysavers. Its worst when driving our tridents as to the untrained eye they look the same as NXWM's B7s on the 61/63 so people just assume they are NXWM buses.

That has surprised me my friend. I understand about the confusion of bus types, and you can't serve that stop, the one after the Baths, do Diamond run along side your First Service?

And how long is your drop back in town?

No Diamond left a couple of years back after making a mess of their service eg running Bromsgrove to Rubery only!!!
You get 5 mins drop back time in Brum before the 28 mile return journey (8 mins in the peaks) - not a lot!

I think its weird tho how diamonds service fizzled out-they did well on the 64 and even the 63 when they did that but then it sort of went downhill
[/quote]

What about those First liveried Diamond Logo'd E300's on the corridor?

Are you on Tacho?



Oh and I can pretty much garuntee an express service from Holly Hill via Rubery Morrison's, ('Bournville College') Longbridge, (one stop on Northfield bypass), 40mph none stop till Selly, bypass, Belgrave and then New Street will work. And save time. And eliviate pressure off 63 service. And like the above post said make the x64 go via the qe hospital and problem solved. If you see the passenger numbers you'll know it will work. It is one of the busiest roads in the garage. Try a 63 at 1036 from Holly, you're 15down by BNS.

[j789]

What about those First liveried Diamond Logo'd E300's on the corridor?

Are you on Tacho?
[/quote]

The Diamond E300s are those sold to them when they bought Redditch garage and are on the 146 route which runs from the city centre along Bristol Road to Pebble Mill before turning off and joining Pershore Road to Redditch. I guess eventually they will repaint them.

No Tachos as the distance is under tacho requirements.

[Liverpool Street]

What about those First liveried Diamond Logo'd E300's on the corridor?

Are you on Tacho?

The Diamond E300s are those sold to them when they bought Redditch garage and are on the 146 route which runs from the city centre along Bristol Road to Pebble Mill before turning off and joining Pershore Road to Redditch. I guess eventually they will repaint them.

No Tachos as the distance is under tacho requirements.

Oh sorry, I always get those 144 & 146 routes confused.

And yeah 31miles for Domestic, been a good long while since I did EC Ruling work!!