Coventry Garage

[JPC]

I just checked Regional Vehicle Finder which says there are two singles and four doubles on the 16 at the moment on a route that runs every 10 minutes that goes round in 50 minutes leading to my impression it required five buses!
Single deckers seem to appear regularly these days to my native Keresley on the 16, not even as the last buses out when no other serviceable vehicles are available.

4831 was probably the phantom sixth bus, it's tracking data was 'stuck' on 16 for a number of days regardless of what service it was actually doing (but it is now rectified this evening).
....and is 4453 not red enough to be a fifth bus for your 'red route'?  ;)

[Wumpty]

4831 was probably the phantom sixth bus, it's tracking data was 'stuck' on 16 for a number of days regardless of what service it was actually doing (but it is now rectified this evening).
....and is 4453 not red enough to be a fifth bus for your 'red route'?  ;)

See now I like that too - "The Phantom Line" - just in time for Halloween!!!!

[JoNi]

4831 was probably the phantom sixth bus, it's tracking data was 'stuck' on 16 for a number of days regardless of what service it was actually doing (but it is now rectified this evening).
....and is 4453 not red enough to be a fifth bus for your 'red route'?  ;)

Good point about 4453, it's good to see heritage liveries live on in the West Midlands when good ones elsewhere get repainted after a year.

[JoNi]

Travel Centre closed again this morning due to staff sickness.
The TfWM concept having a here to help person at podium has also lost momentum, as one would say in management speak.

[JPC]

There's a few amended (or apparently "temporary") timetables from 21st November, some are now on TravelineSW website

Service 1 moves to xx:32 past every hour, what is the current the service 2 departure time, so I have a feeling service 2 (the timetable is not uploaded yet) will drop to hourly - which at least will fix the imbalanced service in Earlsdon.

Service 19 is re-routed via Kenilworth Road so will no longer stop on Leamington Rd and Kenpas Highway - Unsurprisingly ;).

Services 3, 8/9, 12X, 13, 16, 21 and 85 are the rest of the amended timetables with a minor route change mooted on service 8 presumably in the Potters Green/Walsgrave area.

School service 59 (Eastern Green-West Coventry Academy) will no longer operate.

[paulb1973]

There's a few amended (or apparently "temporary") timetables from 21st November, some are now on TravelineSW website

Service 1 moves to xx:32 past every hour, what is the current the service 2 departure time, so I have a feeling service 2 (the timetable is not uploaded yet) will drop to hourly - which at least will fix the imbalanced service in Earlsdon.

Service 19 is re-routed via Kenilworth Road so will no longer stop on Leamington Rd and Kenpas Highway - Unsurprisingly ;).

Services 3, 8/9, 12X, 13, 16, 21 and 85 are the rest of the amended timetables with a minor route change mooted on service 8 presumably in the Potters Green/Walsgrave area.

School service 59 (Eastern Green-West Coventry Academy) will no longer operate.

Will service 19 still do a loop around the back of the Rail Station - it'll still be possible except it will have to route back towards Kenilworth Rd (instead of going down Leamington Rd).

I haven't visited the Travel Shop in Pool Meadow for a while - I believe it's closed now. But is it possible to obtain paper timetables anywhere? I know with smart phones etc that's old hat now, but still nice to have a paper copy. 

[JPC]

Will service 19 still do a loop around the back of the Rail Station - it'll still be possible except it will have to route back towards Kenilworth Rd (instead of going down Leamington Rd).

Yes, there's also some variation for the inbound 19 route around the rail station too, avoiding congestion on the ring road slip I suppose:

Outbound : J6 > Station Interchange > Warwick Rd > Michaelmas Rd > Stoney Rd etc.

Inbound : Stoney Rd > Manor Rd > Park Rd > J5 > New Union Street etc. - (assume a permanent stop to be conveniently sited close to Manor Rd/Park Rd junction).

[JPC]

So with just 4 days notice we now have service changes on the NXC website (although I have seen some A4 posters with very small text on some buses since last Friday)
https://nxbus.co.uk/coventry/service-updates/timetable-changes-from-monday-22nd-november-2021

The 2 and 19 recently had vehicle seating capacity reduced in half and now virtually half of journeys are deleted, very poor indeed.

I still cannot envisage the 1 beyond Canley Station being used much, Chapelfields and Coundon has a myraid of regular more direct routes to the City Centre, the link to Earlsdon is now it's only purpose, I feel the 1 should of been cut to off-peak hours only in order to retain a half-hourly service on service 2 at peak times.

TfWM have hinted these changes are 'temporary', but then again nothing is permanent nowadays. ;)

[paulb1973]

So with just 4 days notice we now have service changes on the NXC website (although I have seen some A4 posters with very small text on some buses since last Friday)
https://nxbus.co.uk/coventry/service-updates/timetable-changes-from-monday-22nd-november-2021

The 2 and 19 recently had vehicle seating capacity reduced in half and now virtually half of journeys are deleted, very poor indeed.

I still cannot envisage the 1 beyond Canley Station being used much, Chapelfields and Coundon has a myraid of regular more direct routes to the City Centre, the link to Earlsdon is now it's only purpose, I feel the 1 should of been cut to off-peak hours only in order to retain a half-hourly service on service 2 at peak times.

TfWM have hinted these changes are 'temporary', but then again nothing is permanent nowadays. ;)

Some subtle cuts in the frequency of services 3, 16 and 21 it would appear too. Is that based on demand or a shortfall in the number of drivers.

[Lukeeee2018]

It appears that 4837 did the 20B earlier this afternoon which was very surprising to see. It just missed out Wilsons Lane & Woodshires Road on the route due to the low bridge, but still served Oban Road.

https://bustimes.org/vehicles/179014?date=2021-11-18#journeys/184192095

[Sandy Lane]

So with just 4 days notice we now have service changes on the NXC website (although I have seen some A4 posters with very small text on some buses since last Friday)
https://nxbus.co.uk/coventry/service-updates/timetable-changes-from-monday-22nd-november-2021

The 2 and 19 recently had vehicle seating capacity reduced in half and now virtually half of journeys are deleted, very poor indeed.

I still cannot envisage the 1 beyond Canley Station being used much, Chapelfields and Coundon has a myraid of regular more direct routes to the City Centre, the link to Earlsdon is now it's only purpose, I feel the 1 should of been cut to off-peak hours only in order to retain a half-hourly service on service 2 at peak times.

TfWM have hinted these changes are 'temporary', but then again nothing is permanent nowadays. ;)

Driver shortage so says the CT.
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/driver-shortage-fuels-huge-changes-22226186

[Sandy Lane]

With the SC merger / takeover there will be 3 garages in the triangle - Coventry, Nuneaton and Rugby.
Wonder if a new super depot could be built in the middle of the triangle and the old ones sold off to make lots of cash?

[Justin Tyme]

With the SC merger / takeover there will be 3 garages in the triangle - Coventry, Nuneaton and Rugby.
Wonder if a new super depot could be built in the middle of the triangle and the old ones sold off to make lots of cash?

I believe it has been announced that no garages will close as a result of the takeover/merger.  The combined business will still need drivers from wherever they can get them, so it makes sense to keep garages in Nuneaton and Rugby which would no doubt be more likely to recruit drivers living there.

Also, earlier this year Nuneaton's Peak Vehicle Requirement was 58, and Rugby's PVR was 28.  Only a minority of each are for services to/from Coventry, so a "super depot" 10-15 miles away would require a huge amount of dead running - and therefore increased costs.

[Wumpty]

Excellent photo of 4464 on the main website, which has got me thinking about how long these were meant to be a transfer/cover or if they'll see out the remainder of their service?

http://wmbusphotos.com/NXWM/4225-4474/4464.html

[JPC]

Had a visit to the delightful Treacle Town today and scored two platinums to boot on service 20 - 6965 and 7540...
All going good until about 10 minutes into the journey on the way back towards Coventry then lo and behold crowds of industrial workers were waiting at two stops, one before and one after Griff roundabout (near Bermuda Industial Estate), the bus went from about 15 passengers to about 80 - some standing upstairs and on the staircase, so for the rest of the journey I was uncomfortably sat in the corner of the upper deck, this was the 14:36 from Nuneaton, apparently it seems to be usual occurence for this journey every day.  There was a Stagecoach 48C dart about minute in front of the 20 and another 48C gold overtook whilst the 20 was loading the first crowd but they picked up next to nothing out of the crowd, naturally all the passengers were probably day/faresaver ticket users which has the advantage of many more onward links within Coventry and also much cheaper.
So if you're planning a run out to Nuneaton this is one journey I advise to avoid.