route ONE awards

[Dylan4579]

not all has been annouced, but so far the only operator from around here that is on the shortlist is rotala

[PM]

not all has been annouced, but so far the only operator from around here that is on the shortlist is rotala

Fair play to them-they have won a lot of awards before so not really surprised

[winston]

not all has been annouced, but so far the only operator from around here that is on the shortlist is rotala

Fair play to them-they have won a lot of awards before so not really surprised

Scott Dunn & team won most of the awards whilst at Diamond. That's unlikely to happen this time round.......

[PM]

not all has been annouced, but so far the only operator from around here that is on the shortlist is rotala

Fair play to them-they have won a lot of awards before so not really surprised

Scott Dunn & team won most of the awards whilst at Diamond. That's unlikely to happen this time round.......

Diamond is still run by a very competent management team who succeed in making money where one of the uk's supposed top 5 companies failed epically when in charge.

[winston]

not all has been annouced, but so far the only operator from around here that is on the shortlist is rotala

Fair play to them-they have won a lot of awards before so not really surprised

Scott Dunn & team won most of the awards whilst at Diamond. That's unlikely to happen this time round.......

Diamond is still run by a very competent management team who succeed in making money where one of the uk's supposed top 5 companies failed epically when in charge.

If Diamond are making so much money, where are all the new buses from re-investing the profits back in the business. 4 new & 3 second-hand B7RLE doesn't even scratch the surface.

[PM]

not all has been annouced, but so far the only operator from around here that is on the shortlist is rotala

Fair play to them-they have won a lot of awards before so not really surprised

Scott Dunn & team won most of the awards whilst at Diamond. That's unlikely to happen this time round.......

Diamond is still run by a very competent management team who succeed in making money where one of the uk's supposed top 5 companies failed epically when in charge.

If Diamond are making so much money, where are all the new buses from re-investing the profits back in the business. 4 new & 3 second-hand B7RLE doesn't even scratch the surface.

I didnt say they were making so much money-I said that at last a decent sized competitor in the w mids area is making money unlike go ahead managed-did they buy so much as one new dart for the operation at a time when oxford was getting new citatos? No. And also, there has been investment-newish second hand buses, more hybrids as a % of fleet strength than NX can manage and new buses are on the way. Indeed, I gather there would have been more buses on the way for redditch and kiddie had the oft not put the brakes on the acquisition process.

[winston]

not all has been annouced, but so far the only operator from around here that is on the shortlist is rotala

Fair play to them-they have won a lot of awards before so not really surprised

Scott Dunn & team won most of the awards whilst at Diamond. That's unlikely to happen this time round.......

Diamond is still run by a very competent management team who succeed in making money where one of the uk's supposed top 5 companies failed epically when in charge.

If Diamond are making so much money, where are all the new buses from re-investing the profits back in the business. 4 new & 3 second-hand B7RLE doesn't even scratch the surface.

I didnt say they were making so much money-I said that at last a decent sized competitor in the w mids area is making money unlike go ahead managed-did they buy so much as one new dart for the operation at a time when oxford was getting new citatos? No. And also, there has been investment-newish second hand buses, more hybrids as a % of fleet strength than NX can manage and new buses are on the way. Indeed, I gather there would have been more buses on the way for redditch and kiddie had the oft not put the brakes on the acquisition process.

Go-Ahead Group gave in far too easily, I think if they would have stuck it out and invested in the Go West Midlands fleet as they did will other subsidiaries it would have been a different story and NX would have had much stronger competition on core routes that Go West Midlands operated at the time. The Hybrids were never ordered for either Diamond or Preston; they were all intended for Wessex (surprise, surprise) possibly even the Bristol Park & Ride contracts which Wessex didn't win in the end. That is why up until they have recently found a home/been re-branded for Signature services Diamond have always struggled to found a suitable route to allocate them to.

What new buses on are the way? Other than three more second-hand B7RLE/Wright ex Wessex

[Ash]

not all has been annouced, but so far the only operator from around here that is on the shortlist is rotala

Fair play to them-they have won a lot of awards before so not really surprised

Scott Dunn & team won most of the awards whilst at Diamond. That's unlikely to happen this time round.......

Diamond is still run by a very competent management team who succeed in making money where one of the uk's supposed top 5 companies failed epically when in charge.

If Diamond are making so much money, where are all the new buses from re-investing the profits back in the business. 4 new & 3 second-hand B7RLE doesn't even scratch the surface.

I didnt say they were making so much money-I said that at last a decent sized competitor in the w mids area is making money unlike go ahead managed-did they buy so much as one new dart for the operation at a time when oxford was getting new citatos? No. And also, there has been investment-newish second hand buses, more hybrids as a % of fleet strength than NX can manage and new buses are on the way. Indeed, I gather there would have been more buses on the way for redditch and kiddie had the oft not put the brakes on the acquisition process.

Go-Ahead Group gave in far too easily, I think if they would have stuck it out and invested in the Go West Midlands fleet as they did will other subsidiaries it would have been a different story and NX would have had much stronger competition on core routes that Go West Midlands operated at the time. The Hybrids were never ordered for either Diamond or Preston; they were all intended for Wessex (surprise, surprise) possibly even the Bristol Park & Ride contracts which Wessex didn't win in the end. That is why up until they have recently found a home/been re-branded for Signature services Diamond have always struggled to found a suitable route to allocate them to.

What new buses on are the way? Other than three more second-hand B7RLE/Wright ex Wessex

To be fair if you look at the diamond fleet list it's no that bad in terms of age of vehicles the problem is there mostly mpd's and solo's and there is investment from Rotala just not for diamond and 4 new b7rle's and 3 ex midland class b7rle's doesn't even cover half the PVR of the 4/4H and 4M.

[winston]

not all has been annouced, but so far the only operator from around here that is on the shortlist is rotala

Fair play to them-they have won a lot of awards before so not really surprised

Scott Dunn & team won most of the awards whilst at Diamond. That's unlikely to happen this time round.......

Diamond is still run by a very competent management team who succeed in making money where one of the uk's supposed top 5 companies failed epically when in charge.

If Diamond are making so much money, where are all the new buses from re-investing the profits back in the business. 4 new & 3 second-hand B7RLE doesn't even scratch the surface.

I didnt say they were making so much money-I said that at last a decent sized competitor in the w mids area is making money unlike go ahead managed-did they buy so much as one new dart for the operation at a time when oxford was getting new citatos? No. And also, there has been investment-newish second hand buses, more hybrids as a % of fleet strength than NX can manage and new buses are on the way. Indeed, I gather there would have been more buses on the way for redditch and kiddie had the oft not put the brakes on the acquisition process.

Go-Ahead Group gave in far too easily, I think if they would have stuck it out and invested in the Go West Midlands fleet as they did will other subsidiaries it would have been a different story and NX would have had much stronger competition on core routes that Go West Midlands operated at the time. The Hybrids were never ordered for either Diamond or Preston; they were all intended for Wessex (surprise, surprise) possibly even the Bristol Park & Ride contracts which Wessex didn't win in the end. That is why up until they have recently found a home/been re-branded for Signature services Diamond have always struggled to found a suitable route to allocate them to.

What new buses on are the way? Other than three more second-hand B7RLE/Wright ex Wessex

To be fair if you look at the diamond fleet list it's no that bad in terms of age of vehicles the problem is there mostly mpd's and solo's and there is investment from Rotala just not for diamond and 4 new b7rle's and 3 ex midland class b7rle's doesn't even cover half the PVR of the 4/4H and 4M.

Ash, I'd agree with what you say regarding the age profile and the proportion of midi buses within the fleet. From your ob's and ob's from others, all the following Diamond services should really be operated solely by full size single deckers with MPD & Solo's banned from those routes unless used as last resort due to a breakdown. i.e. 4/4H/4M, 50, 56, 57/58 in Redditch, 301 & X3 in Kiddi. The 002 & 202 manage to normally keep full size deckers allocated. The Pointer 2 SLF Darts are better than early SLF / step entrance Darts, but they don't match the ride quality of heavy duty full size single deckers

[Ash]

I agree fully Winston the solo's and mpd's should only be used as cover for the services mentioned and in the worst case the 4 would be better having the odd mpd or solo compared to the 301 due to the high frequency not sure the solo's would last the day on the 4H or 4M with the inclines and hardly any breaks to rest the vehicles before starting the journey in the other direction, hence why 30218 decided to break down for 5 minutes in Cradley Heath today fortunately it got going again. 

[winston]

I agree fully Winston the solo's and mpd's should only be used as cover for the services mentioned and in the worst case the 4 would be better having the odd mpd or solo compared to the 301 due to the high frequency not sure the solo's would last the day on the 4H or 4M with the inclines and hardly any breaks to rest the vehicles before starting the journey in the other direction, hence why 30218 decided to break down for 5 minutes in Cradley Heath today fortunately it got going again.

By the sounds of it the Cadets are becoming increasingly unreliable & starting to look tired. To be fair, the original 12 x 51/02 examples new to BCC were always worked hard 7 days a week  /18 hours a day on commercial routes / then moving on to tendered routes in the evening & on Sundays

[Ash]

30213 front head light casing was dropping off today when it was on the 4 and the air breaks on this bus are always going off constantly. Also a lot of the cadets seem to be going up and down at the front when stationary of their own accord so obviously some sort of problem and the hand break on 30216 seems to be difficult to release as most drivers have to have several attempts to take if off before the bus moves off.

[PM]

Personally I would standarise on MPDs for tendered routes, get shot of the solos as they are awful buses. I would reduce the number of MPDs by buying short term DDA compliant darts and getting shot of older MPDs. I think the danger is that having smaller buses for tendered routes means you lack the flexibility to put any bus on any route. More full length buses as has been said are needed for the west midlands-perhaps a good plan would be shut long acre for a start and at tividale establish 2 divisions with 2 pools of buses. First pool older MPDs for tendered stuff painted one colour that are kept entirely on tendered stuff or put onto routes like 56 as extras afterwards and then a separate division of everything else for all other routes made up entirely of full size buses

Thats true winston about the cadets-the darts seem more reliable

[Ash]

Diamond have tried to get rid of the cadets before but no one was interested Rotala should have taken more of the full length 52 reg darts instead of 4 as there reliable buses the only downside is the urban 90 seating.

[winston]

Diamond have tried to get rid of the cadets before but no one was interested Rotala should have taken more of the full length 52 reg darts instead of 4 as there reliable buses the only downside is the urban 90 seating.

Cadets seem fairly popular, you don't see that many for sale, they are effectively a Wright bodies Dart, I may be Rotala wanted too much money for them? All the vehicles on the Rotala for sale list seem slow to actually sell if at all