Coventry Garage

[Danthebusman]

Is the 20A interworked with the 20B? If so, that is why they are single deckers.

The others I cannot comment on.

No, the 20A interworks with a 20 that terminates in Foleshill

[stellasteve]

Interesting how the 5 gets DDs now when pretty much every bus I've seen on it has max 15 people on when there are routes like the 14/17/18/20A that have far more patronage, I'm a regular user of the 17 and the overcrowding can get a bit much with everyone crowding down the front of the bus and becomes a real nightmare with people having to get off for a second to let buggies on and off.

I also see the 14/18 getting just as crowded particularly at peak hours and the 20A obviously for making links all the way up Foleshill Rd until turning off towards Bell Green and eventually UHCW.

All in all, is not the best feeling being on an overcrowded B7RLE and you see an empty DD heading the other way. I know NX probably has their reasons for this and I'm not taking a dig at the garage, but is just something I wanted to get off my chest.

2/19 also get regular DDs especially with the DD 85 boards interworking and while I understand there are consistent workers trying to get to Torrington Ave and making links to Earlsdon (the 11 also exists there), and schoolkids going to Westwood Academy, I have still never seen a 2 or 19 jam packed full of people, same with the 5!

I'm curious as to what people think of this and like I said NX more than likely do have their reasons for this and I'm not cussing out the garage for no particular reason.

I've regularly used the 5/5A and latterly the 5/7/75 through Coundon at least once weekly and currently daily for over a decade. Back when the 5/7 used to run every 10 minutes up Barkers Butts Lane in peaks you would be able to fill a B7RLE on the 5 (a bit too much sometimes!) and the 7 would fill an ALX400 quite easily likewise with a decent passenger usage off peak to constitute DDs. However, the eclipses have always seemed to run late on the 5 since they were ordered, and many people I know just stopped taking the bus because it either arrived too late or was unreliable. If I remember correctly you could get a full 5 done on a good day in 30 minutes, but just before it was cancelled past Coundon in January I believe it was 45 minutes. The extended journey times and unreliable service put people off the bus or they just walked to other services (16/13/3 etc.)  or just stopped getting the bus altogether. The final nail in the coffin was last year when on multiple occasions there were no service 5 buses running all day. What used to be an extremely busy service has faded away but it seems like when they put the B7RLE or E200 vehicles on, everyone gets the bus whilst nobody gets it when they put DDs on.

There's recently been many B7RLEs on the 16 (which I also get from time to time) which has been incredibly uncomfortable in the peaks despite not having the largest usage with the combination of 2 schools and all of the general public going to work. Multiple times in the past month I've been either denied boarding due to overcrowding, completely skipped, stood with 2 other people in the width of the gangway and even been told by a driver 'I'm not stopping until City Centre because the schoolchildren are being annoying and you won't be able to get off anyway because it's too busy - whilst standing within 2 metres of the door.'

The 20A is another good example as mentioned. Running B7RLEs on such a busy corridor is laughable and whilst there isn't an infinite supply of DDs available, chucking them on the 2/5/5A/19/85s when other buses are perfectly sufficient for those routes isn't the smartest move from my perspective (I've never been on an 85 in peaks so please correct me if I am wrong).

As you say, management probably have their own reasons and skewed passenger statistics but if these people actually went out onto the routes then I'm sure they would reallocate buses to where they are most needed. Hopefully they can sort all this out soonish so even more people aren't driven away from the buses and onto the congested roads in cars!

[Stu]

There's recently been many B7RLEs on the 16 (which I also get from time to time) which has been incredibly uncomfortable in the peaks despite not having the largest usage with the combination of 2 schools and all of the general public going to work. Multiple times in the past month I've been either denied boarding due to overcrowding, completely skipped, stood with 2 other people in the width of the gangway and even been told by a driver 'I'm not stopping until City Centre because the schoolchildren are being annoying and you won't be able to get off anyway because it's too busy - whilst standing within 2 metres of the door.'

The 20A is another good example as mentioned. Running B7RLEs on such a busy corridor is laughable and whilst there isn't an infinite supply of DDs available, chucking them on the 2/5/5A/19/85s when other buses are perfectly sufficient for those routes isn't the smartest move from my perspective (I've never been on an 85 in peaks so please correct me if I am wrong).

As you say, management probably have their own reasons and skewed passenger statistics but if these people actually went out onto the routes then I'm sure they would reallocate buses to where they are most needed. Hopefully they can sort all this out soonish so even more people aren't driven away from the buses and onto the congested roads in cars!

You can see my own and others experiences in the West Midlands boards - the problem appears to be still that NX as a whole has far too many single decks than are actually required, BUT they still need to be used somewhere in active service.

In the short-term, its going to be something that we have to put up with, certainly while Coventry garage is undergoing a 'transition' with the arrival of all these new electric double-decks, there are probably valid reasons why single-decks are being allocated the way they are.

[Tony]

So NXC shouldn't put double decks on the 85 when tenders require them for certain journeys to cope with school loadings? In fact for one board a 73 seat vehicle is specified, so even an electric doesn't meet the spec.

[Danthebusman]

So NXC shouldn't put double decks on the 85 when tenders require them for certain journeys to cope with school loadings? In fact for one board a 73 seat vehicle is specified, so even an electric doesn't meet the spec.

I understand the DD 85 boards, just don't understand why they get thrown onto the 2/19 afterwards 

[Coventrybususer95]

I understand the DD 85 boards, just don't understand why they get thrown onto the 2/19 afterwards

I always thought the 2/85 interwork with each other

[Rachvince53]

Is the 20A interworked with the 20B? If so, that is why they are single deckers.

The others I cannot comment on.

Accordjng to bustimes.org it would seem that the 20 and 20A and 20B  interwork at certain times. However it would appear that it's mostly the 20 & 20A that interwork.

[Danthebusman]

A lot of the 20 branded B7RLEs being used on other routes today with only 1 of them actually being on the 20/A/B

[Danthebusman]

Can't see any mention of this on here but 4414 has been sold for preservation.

[Sandy Lane]

I know they meet the criteria on the spreadsheet at the moment, but the X30 is currently normally double decks

OK thks for the info. What's the reason as it was rare to see a decker on the X30?

[Danthebusman]

OK thks for the info. What's the reason as it was rare to see a decker on the X30?

Yes especially since most of them run empty 🤣

[Danthebusman]

This 9/17 interworking seems to be confusing the drivers at times
https://bustimes.org/vehicles/tcvw-e051?date=2023-02-26#journeys/390229776

[windy miller]

This 9/17 interworking seems to be confusing the drivers at times
https://bustimes.org/vehicles/tcvw-e051?date=2023-02-26#journeys/390229776

Can anyone tell me how long these new Coventry Electric vehicles are generally held at BC before being passed to Coventry ?   and do they need any further tests before entering service?

[Tony]

Can anyone tell me how long these new Coventry Electric vehicles are generally held at BC before being passed to Coventry ?  and do they need any further tests before entering service?

There's no fixed time, the cycling through will get a lot quicker once Coventry can start accepting them again next week 

[Danthebusman]

2173 tracking today for first time in nearly a year