Birmingham Central Garage

[Trident 4194]

Trident on 22

[Mike K]

Trident on 22

There are always one or two on there on a Saturday.

[Trident 4609]

4623 and 4625 noted today with 14 branding.

[Alex]

4623 and 4625 noted today with 14 branding.

Here's a picture of 4625 in new branding:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127701512@N04/16114994900/

[Tony]

Further proof ex Lea Hall services being left with the crap old buses then.

You're beginning to sound like Bob now. The route get's dedicated buses, the batch chosen is one of the most reliable in BC garage, and then unlike most routes which get a solid number series, the 14 is getting buses which have been through Walsall and had a complete internal retrim most recently as well as a repaint, but they are still 'crap old buses'

I'm not bothered how I sound to be fair, it just angers me how West Brum get branded new vehicles everytime and in the East we get the bottom of the crop. That is my view, can't see if changing any time soon.  :)

900 new buses twice in 3 years
957 new buses twice in 3 years
60 lots of new buses on.
71/72 (ex Lea Hall routes that never get new buses) New buses allocated 2 years ago
58/59 again 2 year old buses
Bordesley garage which operates services in East Birmingham has the youngest fleet of any NXWM garage

Oh Sorry, the road that road that heads East out of Birmingham doesn't actually qualify as an East Birmingham route does it?

Yeh East Birmingham getting ignored

[Ronnoc]

Further proof ex Lea Hall services being left with the crap old buses then.

You're beginning to sound like Bob now. The route get's dedicated buses, the batch chosen is one of the most reliable in BC garage, and then unlike most routes which get a solid number series, the 14 is getting buses which have been through Walsall and had a complete internal retrim most recently as well as a repaint, but they are still 'crap old buses'

I'm not bothered how I sound to be fair, it just angers me how West Brum get branded new vehicles everytime and in the East we get the bottom of the crop. That is my view, can't see if changing any time soon.  :)

900 new buses twice in 3 years
957 new buses twice in 3 years
60 lots of new buses on.
71/72 (ex Lea Hall routes that never get new buses) New buses allocated 2 years ago
58/59 again 2 year old buses
Bordesley garage which operates services in East Birmingham has the youngest fleet of any NXWM garage

Oh Sorry, the road that road that heads East out of Birmingham doesn't actually qualify as an East Birmingham route does it?

Yeh East Birmingham getting ignored

Although the newer buses are a little more reliable in terms of fuel and etc, the problem is I think they have something in them that makes them slower, so the old buses are good too in terms of speed.

[Trident 4194]

Further proof ex Lea Hall services being left with the crap old buses then.

You're beginning to sound like Bob now. The route get's dedicated buses, the batch chosen is one of the most reliable in BC garage, and then unlike most routes which get a solid number series, the 14 is getting buses which have been through Walsall and had a complete internal retrim most recently as well as a repaint, but they are still 'crap old buses'

I'm not bothered how I sound to be fair, it just angers me how West Brum get branded new vehicles everytime and in the East we get the bottom of the crop. That is my view, can't see if changing any time soon.  :)

900 new buses twice in 3 years
957 new buses twice in 3 years
60 lots of new buses on.
71/72 (ex Lea Hall routes that never get new buses) New buses allocated 2 years ago
58/59 again 2 year old buses
Bordesley garage which operates services in East Birmingham has the youngest fleet of any NXWM garage

Oh Sorry, the road that road that heads East out of Birmingham doesn't actually qualify as an East Birmingham route does it?

Yeh East Birmingham getting ignored

Although the newer buses are a little more reliable in terms of fuel and etc, the problem is I think they have something in them that makes them slower, so the old buses are good too in terms of speed.

The hybrids are extremely fast if you get a good, late driver

[monkeyjoe]

View still unchanged, but gives a bit more of a perspective to the bigger picture.

[B.C Driver]

Further proof ex Lea Hall services being left with the crap old buses then.

You're beginning to sound like Bob now. The route get's dedicated buses, the batch chosen is one of the most reliable in BC garage, and then unlike most routes which get a solid number series, the 14 is getting buses which have been through Walsall and had a complete internal retrim most recently as well as a repaint, but they are still 'crap old buses'

I'm not bothered how I sound to be fair, it just angers me how West Brum get branded new vehicles everytime and in the East we get the bottom of the crop. That is my view, can't see if changing any time soon.  :)

900 new buses twice in 3 years
957 new buses twice in 3 years
60 lots of new buses on.
71/72 (ex Lea Hall routes that never get new buses) New buses allocated 2 years ago
58/59 again 2 year old buses
Bordesley garage which operates services in East Birmingham has the youngest fleet of any NXWM garage

Oh Sorry, the road that road that heads East out of Birmingham doesn't actually qualify as an East Birmingham route does it?

Yeh East Birmingham getting ignored

I can understand where monkeyjoe is coming from.
It's the main 3 routes which serve Chelmsley Wood that get old buses ie 14, 94 and 97

[Liverpool Street]

Just about the age of the vehicles on the 14 and 97... There is nothing wrong with 44xx and 46xx vehicles when refurbished!!!!

[Tony]

Just about the age of the vehicles on the 14 and 97... There is nothing wrong with 44xx and 46xx vehicles when refurbished!!!!

Yes, there are a lot of routes run by operators who people on here praise as being almost perfect that a 10 year old freshly refurbished Trident would be a massive improvement

[winston]

Just about the age of the vehicles on the 14 and 97... There is nothing wrong with 44xx and 46xx vehicles when refurbished!!!!

The other issue that people are missing, it that BC have only had 29 new E400's 13 & 14 plate & 18 Volvo B5LH/Wright hyrbids since the 46-- Tridents were delivered back in 2004. BC has a large concentration of Tridents dating from 2001-2004. Until there is a big allocation of new double deckers at BC, I'm afraid it's Tridents for the majority of BC's double decker routes.

[Liverpool Street]

Just about the age of the vehicles on the 14 and 97... There is nothing wrong with 44xx and 46xx vehicles when refurbished!!!!

Yes, there are a lot of routes run by operators who people are here praise as being almost perfect that a 10 year old freshly refurbished Trident would be a massive improvement

Precisely. I don't understand why they would compare it. Yes its nice to have brand new bus or whatever, but like the company will just let decent vehicles go for 'newness' when refurbished vehicles do the job well?

Remember the old NX coaches, like 20-odd years old still going strong? If it wasn't for their dated bodies you wouldn't know the difference. And them MCW Metroliners? Timeless! Refurbished they'd be good, if not better, then the plastic new crap you get today.

Just about the age of the vehicles on the 14 and 97... There is nothing wrong with 44xx and 46xx vehicles when refurbished!!!!

The other issue that people are missing, it that BC have only had 29 new E400's 13 & 14 plate & 18 Volvo B5LH/Wright hyrbids since the 46-- Tridents were delivered back in 2004. BC has a large concentration of Tridents dating from 2001-2004. Until there is a big allocation of new double deckers at BC, I'm afraid it's Tridents for the majority of BC's double decker routes.

Exactly. The Bristol Road hasn't had new buses since 2002 with the 43's... 13 years with no new buses? Isn't that something worth moaning about in comparison to the 97 which had them branded Omnilinks?

And I'll reiterate my point... THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH TRIDENTS. I travelled on 4179 with the E5 engine, fantastic bus.

[Trident 4194]

Just about the age of the vehicles on the 14 and 97... There is nothing wrong with 44xx and 46xx vehicles when refurbished!!!!

Yes, there are a lot of routes run by operators who people are here praise as being almost perfect that a 10 year old freshly refurbished Trident would be a massive improvement

Precisely. I don't understand why they would compare it. Yes its nice to have brand new bus or whatever, but like the company will just let decent vehicles go for 'newness' when refurbished vehicles do the job well?

Remember the old NX coaches, like 20-odd years old still going strong? If it wasn't for their dated bodies you wouldn't know the difference. And them MCW Metroliners? Timeless! Refurbished they'd be good, if not better, then the plastic new crap you get today.

Just about the age of the vehicles on the 14 and 97... There is nothing wrong with 44xx and 46xx vehicles when refurbished!!!!

The other issue that people are missing, it that BC have only had 29 new E400's 13 & 14 plate & 18 Volvo B5LH/Wright hyrbids since the 46-- Tridents were delivered back in 2004. BC has a large concentration of Tridents dating from 2001-2004. Until there is a big allocation of new double deckers at BC, I'm afraid it's Tridents for the majority of BC's double decker routes.

Exactly. The Bristol Road hasn't had new buses since 2002 with the 43's... 13 years with no new buses? Isn't that something worth moaning about in comparison to the 97 which had them branded Omnilinks?

And I'll reiterate my point... THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH TRIDENTS. I travelled on 4179 with the E5 engine, fantastic bus.

The tridents are better than the adl crap they keep producing. In fact with a shiny red and white and good exterior people would probably think the tridents were newer. Even the alx400 look new, with the shiny paintwork. The pe enviros look wrecked in comparison.

[PM]

Just about the age of the vehicles on the 14 and 97... There is nothing wrong with 44xx and 46xx vehicles when refurbished!!!!

The other issue that people are missing, it that BC have only had 29 new E400's 13 & 14 plate & 18 Volvo B5LH/Wright hyrbids since the 46-- Tridents were delivered back in 2004. BC has a large concentration of Tridents dating from 2001-2004. Until there is a big allocation of new double deckers at BC, I'm afraid it's Tridents for the majority of BC's double decker routes.

I agree, there's clearly an issue due to lack of investment. It's a crying shame that only now vehicles 10 years old are being refurbished, some for the first time. I agree with @Liverpool Street that there's no problem with good refurbished tridents but until recently some were unrefurbed Y reg's with window etching and horrid seats. I don't buy passengers thinking of them as as modern as the PE enviros-they're obviously not, given the number of rattles some of them have...

@Tony Which operators are you referring to?