Idea for a (partial) competitor to the 002 and reworking of a current route

[the trainbasher]

Hi All,

So I've been thinking about a missing bit of the NXWM Halesowen network...
... that is why NXWM don't look at taking on a interesting part of the 002

The part I'm thinking of is the Merry Hill to Halesowen bit via Lyde Green...

I was thinking "Why not extend something from Halesowen (possibly something from City/Harborne way) to Merry Hill?" And that when I came up with a idea that the 99 could be a candidate!

The route from Halesowen could follow the 002 (coincidentally, the TWM 109 followed the same route) from Halesowen to Merry Hill.

I think it would be about 25 minutes each way based on current Diamond 002 timings) so would need a extra 3 E200s and could provide a link from the QE/University to Merry Hill or Merry Hill to some of the parts of the 99.

If not, why don't NXWM just start every 15 mins in the 002 in front of diamond?

Any thoughts?

[Kevin]

Not sure, the 99 for me is already long and complicated enough.
But I have to say the 002 is always a route that surprises me, Diamond do so well on it that I have to wonder why NX or any previous versions of them never ran along part of it.

[winston]

Not sure, the 99 for me is already long and complicated enough.
But I have to say the 002 is always a route that surprises me, Diamond do so well on it that I have to wonder why NX or any previous versions of them never ran along part of it.

As Trainbasher said, TWM used to have the 109 which followed the same line of route between Merry Hill & Halesowen then via the 9 route to B'ham, but this was withdrawn

If Diamond don't take the opportunity to introduce an evening service & all day Sunday service i think someone else will. It could also result in whoever does also introducing a Mon - sat daytime service in competition with Diamond, for me it would either be Hanson's to complement their 004 service or NXWM

[sonic84]

I just posted something similar in a thread on the NXWM page before I saw this post.  ;D


Diamond have tried a sunday service on the 002/004 back when they first took over the ludlows operation... however they were timed at every 90 minutes each way (combining to 45 mins between Halesowen and Merry Hill) and were poorly advertised.  No on bus advertisement since the mon-sat operation was still run from Coombes Wood, and the sunday operation from Tividale.

I would say that the WMT 109 failed due to the sheer loyalty of Ludlows passengers.   Who could forget that Ludlows saw off a major threat from BCC back in the late 90's when BCC registered on every single Ludlows route running 5 minutes ahead of their scheduled service.  Despite offering cheaper fares, and even a week where passengers could travel for free within 6 months of so, BCC withdrew completely.

I don't think Diamond have anywhere near as loyal a following as Ludlows did.  Perhaps users of the 4H can confirm this?  So a competitor on this corridor may well stand a better chance. 

The 99 suffers from reliability issues as it is, so perhaps this isn't the route to be extending.  I suspect if the 99 was extended to Merry Hill this would see the end of Hansons 004 route as well.

Thinking about it the 002 carries impressive loads between Bartley Green and Halesowen as well, and so perhaps there could be a competitor on this section of the route.  After all Diamond have a monopoly on it with the 002 and the 202 at the moment.

[Kevin]

Thinking about it the 002 carries impressive loads between Bartley Green and Halesowen as well, and so perhaps there could be a competitor on this section of the route.  After all Diamond have a monopoly on it with the 002 and the 202 at the moment.

God forbid Diamond should have any sort of monopoly

[Dylan4579]

How was Redditch Kevin????

[Kevin]

How was Redditch Kevin????

Was a joke, but never mind

[wilmotm (Matt Wilmot)]

The 002 had at least 2 cadets on it yesterday and from what I saw all day pretty healthy loadings, especially from Halesowen to Merry Hill, 2 left to Merry Hill one after the other, either delayed due to a breakdown perhaps and I expected the 2nd bus to be dead but again that was pretty much at capacity with just a few seats right at the back no one could access