What area of the centro operating area has the worst buses

[bwsau cymru]

I was travelling over to Wolverhampton today, saw travel express and this question popped into my head. what area in the centro area has the worst quality buses? for me Wolverhampton ticked that box. why....nx are operating the oldest double deckers in there west midlands fleet here and it seems it is a dump for older buses past there prime (O405N, B6, Spectras). Then you have Arriva Wednesfield, diamond who only seem to provide darts in wolves and finally banga and travel express.

poll is easy to answer but comments comments would be great to tell us why you think its the worst area and maybe tell us what you think the area with the best quality buses is


For me best quality buses would be Walsall and in second place Solihull

[Trident 4609]

Wolverhampton have 21 Hybrids, 48-49 B7RLE's and Transbus Tridents, Many of which have recently repainted/Refurbed. I live in Wolverhampton and i totally disagree with what you say apart from Travel Express which don't paint any of there buses.

I would say it is Sandwell and Dudley as NX WB and PE have the oldest fleet on average. WN are now i think the 3rd Youngst Fleet at NX

[bwsau cymru]

Im not just on about nxwm there are other operators besides then and they are 'god' as some people make out. Yes I fully agree they have got some smart new buses but there needed them! And the new buses are plain, no air conditioning not even driver air con nor high back seats nor leather.
The fact is though in wolverhampton there are the oldest double deckers and even oldest single decks (p reg libarators). Wolves is the only area where nx have both old single amd double decks operating wb and dudley dont have that. Then other operators wolves has more step entry buses than any other area and arriva and diamond dont particulary send new or good buses there either only new ones are versas on 890/1/2, and most people hate them anyway.

But!! I do fully agree tye recent investment level by nx in new buses is superb but long over due. Thanks for your voice!!

[bwsau cymru]

Also iust out of interest which part of sandwell and dudley would you say is the worse?

[Sh4318]

Also iust out of interest which part of sandwell and dudley would you say is the worse?

Is Sandwell and Dudley really bad? 06' reg Geminis, Omnilinks, B7RLEs, refurbed '53, '54 Geminis, E200s

[Stu]

Solihull does see a lot of older Presidents and Y-plate Tridents, not forgetting the 'tat' operated by Sunny Travel and VIP.

[winston]

Im not just on about nxwm there are other operators besides then and they are 'god' as some people make out. Yes I fully agree they have got some smart new buses but there needed them! And the new buses are plain, no air conditioning not even driver air con nor high back seats nor leather.
The fact is though in wolverhampton there are the oldest double deckers and even oldest single decks (p reg libarators). Wolves is the only area where nx have both old single amd double decks operating wb and dudley dont have that. Then other operators wolves has more step entry buses than any other area and arriva and diamond dont particulary send new or good buses there either only new ones are versas on 890/1/2, and most people hate them anyway.

But!! I do fully agree tye recent investment level by nx in new buses is superb but long over due. Thanks for your voice!!

Danny,

Wolves have the following buses:

Single Deckers:
11 x Volvo B6LE/Wright Crusader (R/S reg)
2 x Optare Excel (687 & 711)
22 x Merc 0405N (T reg)
48 x Volvo B7RLE (61 & 12 reg)

Double Deckers:
21 x Optare Spectra (R-T reg)
1 x Trident/ALX400 (4135 Y-reg)
3 x Trident/ALX400 (4310-12 51-reg)
75 x Trident/ALX400 (53/04 & 54-reg)
12 x ADL E400H (13-reg)
9 x Volvo B5LH/Wright (13-reg)

Allocation 204 buses, of which only 29% are over 9 years old (hence why WN now has the third youngest average age)

Pensentt have the following buses:

Single Deckers:
8 x Volvo B6LE/Wright Crusader (P/R reg)
8 x ADL Enviro 200's (62-reg)
50 x Merc 0405N (R-V reg)
22 x Volvo B7RLE (12 & 13 reg)

Double Deckers:
29 x ADL Enviro 400 (09-reg)

Allocation 117 buses, of which 49.6% are 13 years old & older

West Bromwich have the following buses:

Single Deckers:
12 x Volvo B6LE/Wright Crusader (P-S reg)
13 x ADL Enviro 200's (62-reg)
34 x Merc 0405N (R-V reg)
8 x Dart/ALX200 (W-reg)

Double Deckers:
11 x Volvo B7TL/President (V/W-reg)
30 x Volvo B7TL/ALX400 (51-reg)
30 x Volvo B7TL/Wright (03/53-reg)
8 x Volvo B7TL/Wright (54-reg)
18 x Volvo B7TL/Wright (06-reg)

Allocation 164 buses, of which 39.6% are 13 years old & older or 76% are 9 years & older

[BU07 LGO]

I voted for Birmingham city but think its a bit vague, a lot of routes into Birmingham have old worn out Tridents on them. I think south Birmingham is worse with an influx of presidents and other decade old buses

[nitromatt1]

Can't see why Wolverhampton got so many votes, when WN garage has the third-youngest age of the ten garages. I voted for Coventry but would pick south Birmingham if there was an option for it for obvious reasons. Maybe it's just because it's my local garage but I think that from an enthusiast's point of view, if you ignore the boring B7RLEs then Pensnett has the best buses, the beastly Trident-Enviros, screaming B6s and plenty of Mercs, along with the new E200s and no horrible B7TLs

[winston]

Can't see why Wolverhampton got so many votes, when WN garage has the third-youngest age of the ten garages. I voted for Coventry but would pick south Birmingham if there was an option for it for obvious reasons. Maybe it's just because it's my local garage but I think that from an enthusiast's point of view, if you ignore the boring B7RLEs then Pensnett has the best buses, the beastly Trident-Enviros, screaming B6s and plenty of Mercs, along with the new E200s and no horrible B7TLs

Pensnett could be in line to receive further quantities of new vehicles in the next 1-2 years due to the amount of mark 1 Mercs & B6LE's it still operates & its current percentage of elderly vehicles. The only other option would be to cascade newer single deckers from other garages, which would more than likely be Omnilinks rather than the 56 plate B7RLE's from WA. Only AG presently operates both B7RLE & Omnilinks though.....

[bwsau cymru]

Can't see why Wolverhampton got so many votes, when WN garage has the third-youngest age of the ten garages. I voted for Coventry but would pick south Birmingham if there was an option for it for obvious reasons. Maybe it's just because it's my local garage but I think that from an enthusiast's point of view, if you ignore the boring B7RLEs then Pensnett has the best buses, the beastly Trident-Enviros, screaming B6s and plenty of Mercs, along with the new E200s and no horrible B7TLs

well for me I know its got a large amount of new buses but what I am picking up on is the fact that whilst it may have a young average aged fleet it still has the oldest buses in the fleet operating in the city. and its not just nx to think about too! Banga Bus, Costal liner, Travel Express all have junk on wheels and diamond don't seem to be bother about wolves too and arriva to think about. All of those have very little in the way of new buses and are just cluttering up the streets. For people who visit the city and see those buses still running they must think that they are still in the 20th century!!!

[nitromatt1]

Can't see why Wolverhampton got so many votes, when WN garage has the third-youngest age of the ten garages. I voted for Coventry but would pick south Birmingham if there was an option for it for obvious reasons. Maybe it's just because it's my local garage but I think that from an enthusiast's point of view, if you ignore the boring B7RLEs then Pensnett has the best buses, the beastly Trident-Enviros, screaming B6s and plenty of Mercs, along with the new E200s and no horrible B7TLs

well for me I know its got a large amount of new buses but what I am picking up on is the fact that whilst it may have a young average aged fleet it still has the oldest buses in the fleet operating in the city. and its not just nx to think about too! Banga Bus, Costal liner, Travel Express all have junk on wheels and diamond don't seem to be bother about wolves too and arriva to think about. All of those have very little in the way of new buses and are just cluttering up the streets. For people who visit the city and see those buses still running they must think that they are still in the 20th century!!!

I was voting from an enthusiast's point of view. Even though I was barely alive in it, it's nice to see buses from the 20th century still flying around the streets

[JoNi]

Coventry suffers as a result of receiving batches of new buses then nothing for five years, rather than sustained investment of 10 buses per annum,
Route branding results in new vehicles not being used to best effect for all of the cities bus users during evenings and Sundays when policy results in these buses standing spare.

Comments are made regarding average vehicle age for a whole garage allocation rather than aligning it to the number of vehicles in service at specific times of the day. Evening and Sunday services ought to be operated by vehicles under five years old if investment across the whole fleet was fair and consistent.

[nitromatt1]

Can an option for South Birmingham be created please, will switch votes from Coventry to that

[ilovetea4370]

I agree, easily South Birmingham. I'd also say Walsall has the best.