Questions for the NXWM Operations Director

[arrifirststage]

Hello Simon,
Obviously,as OD,you see actual figures but casual observations seem to suggest that the 71A (certainly) and the 638 (possibly)may not be the company's biggest earners.
Would it improve matters if the two were joined (with a slight rerouting in Castle Vale) to form a Sutton-Erdington route.I would suggest additionally routing the 71A out of Sutton via Coleshill Street,Lisures Drive,Far Highfield,Retford Drive,Preston Avenue and Sir Alfreds Way,rejoining the present route on Walmley Road.
This would give a service to the Newhall Estate,presently only having an hourly tendered route by WMSNT.
Also,the large ASDA Minworth store would be reachable from Chester Road and The Yenton.
I should perhaps declare an interest since I live on Newhall Estate,but this merely convinces me such a move,if well advertised,could be feasable.I would even be willing to put leaflets,advertising the route,through letterboxes on Newhall Estate.Perhaps it could be route 70?

[mranon]

Simon,

during this year, the weather conditions have been from one extreme to the other. as a passenger, I travel on wn routes mainly, and am lucky the routes i use are served by newer buses in the wn fleet.

however, in the winter they are cold, and this weather red hot! wouldnt it be worth the investment in an all round climate control system. may cost a little mpg, but surely if you want folk to use your buses instead of other means, a comfortable temperature would improve the experience. i even notice the drivers red hot, sweating buckets, and half of their fans are now missing!

another point is the amount of older buses looking tired, constantly breaking down etc. my wife uses the 82, 26, 27 alot which is normally served by b6's or mercedes. they are constantly breaking down and journeys broken or missed. isnt it time these were got shut of? due to lack of investment a lot of fleet replacement carried out in the previous 2/3 years will end up with the same situation with a large percentage of fleet renewal required at the same time again.

after reading several posts above, one thing that gets my goat is fair evasion. ive never seen revenue except in their regular places in wn. id like to see them target other parts such as molineux/whitmore reans area. tonight ive seen a regular attempt to fool the driver, but when driver said excuse me to call him back he walked! this must cost nx thousands every year. maybe if everyone paid you wouldnt need to raise fares!

glad to see someone from management on here.

[pb2012]

I would like to know are there any demonstrators due for evaluation,also are you planning/considering on using any other manufacturers other than adl/Volvo*wrightbus combination in the new vehicle order,also why havn't you used mcv bodywork for Volvo b7rle instead of just using wrightbus,costs aside.

[NX OD]

Hi Simon,

Pleased to have your input on the forum & thanks for the opportunitiy ;)

A couple of questions/points from me

1. Did NXWM seriously look in to buying both RH & KR operations from First Group in autumn 2012?

2. Have NXWM now finally standardised on the current livery variation with the current shades of both orange/red & cargo white being applied? As there seems to have been a large number of livery variations over the years, with different shades of red / white / full connector bars / small connector bars on fleetnames etc etc

3. I'd also like to see garages making a concerted effort to paint in accident damage with the correct shades of red / white to help improve the appearance/image of the fleet

4. Is it not about time that the TWM brand was finally eliminated from the NXWM fleet across all garages regardless of livery? It has now been six years since the NXWM brand / livery was first introduced by Richard Bowker, Dundee, Bordesley & Coventry have finally managed to do away with the 'Travel' brand, can all TWM logos not be replaced on currently liveries? In WMT / WM Buses & TWM days a large proportion of logos would have been changed over a weekend with the remainder done within a couple of weeks of a name change.

5. Are the remaining 26 x E400's due from NX 2013 orders in addition to the 300 new buses due by June 2015 or included in that quantity?

On a positive note re: livery the latest shades of red/white currently being applied & standards of refurbishment appear far superior, keep up the good work!

It may not be under your direct control, but I personally would like to see NX Group expand its UK bus division in to other areas of the UK through acquisitions

Hi Winston,

1. No comment.

2. Yes we have and the latest repaints are the standard version.

3. I quite agree and this is being looked at.

4. Logo's - The programme of eliminating all intermediate logos [twin peaks - part of National Express Group.] from the fleet was completed last weekend. We have already completed removal of all TWM logos on vehicles at Bordesley, and TC logos at Coventry except for two vehicles which are due for withdrawal. It is now the intention to move on to replacing the Travel West Midlands logos on vehicles at the other garages very shortly.

5. The 26 E400's do form part of the 300.  No orders have been placed for remaining vehicles and it is unlikely that any detail will be confirmed until next year.

Hope that helps.

Thanks again.

[NX OD]

Thanks Rat.

Over the past 18 months or so the Revenue Inspector team has gone up from 13 to 22 people.  Buses checked and passengers checked have risen some 22% so we are doing more and being more successful.

We have seen some really good results since January 2013 on some corridors, most notably the Coventry Road where the level of fraudulent travel has dropped significantly.

The investment we have made in the PDA machines (that look up people's addresses to make sure they are who they say they are) and the PDQ machines (that allow people to pay their fine by credit/debit card) have meant that we are now recovering a lot more money from people who we catch.

As ever we are driven by drivers pressing the anomaly button on the ticket machine as well as known hotspots.  I am not sure it will ever be possible to have daily checks on all routes but our strategy is to target the major corridors to catch the most people for around 80% of the teams time and spend around 20% on the rest of the network.

I think Smartcards will help but as long as we still issue paper tickets and have some members of public with the mentality that it is OK to 'steal' their travel then we will have fraud.

Thank you for the detailed response, Simon.

Sorry if my post seemed a little 'short' with you, but you must understand that when a so-called passenger walks past you flashing month old tickets, it really does get you down. Its OK for Walsall and training office etc to say let it go over your head but its easily said then done. Every single journey you get the same type of scum; tracksuits, missing teeth, gold chains, etc and its the same people who go upstairs and start smoking, usually marijuana. I know you shouldn't tar everyone with the same brush but on this occasion, I can make an exception.

There is, I've noticed, a sharp increase of mothers refusing to pay for the children over 5. And as always the 2 pushchair rule causes conflict.

But, thanks again Simon, nice to hear a down to earth voice from the top.

Any news you know of for the South West Brum Review? I've posted in the thread on this forum the ones I've heard, can you confirm 100% if those will be finalised?

How much input do you have in such affairs?

Thanks for the reply.

I think the level of fraud varies greatly by route.  I drive half a shift every month and some trips I carry 100% payers.  I drove on Saturday on the 24 and the 60 and had nobody with a fraudulent ticket (unless they were very good copies) and nobody who tried not to pay.  Last month I was driving on the 37 and took a travelcard from a passenger which had expired in March 2013.

There are no final plans as yet for South Birmingham.  The plans in the other thread have all been discussed and are being evaluated.  All or none of it might happen!  I am very much involved in the process and decisions - you can blame me!

It must be that white shirt you wear, Simon! Haha

But a couple of things for the South Birmingham Review is the x64 mainly.. as has been mentioned hundreds of times before.

And if the decisions are stupid, don't worry - we will all blame you haha

Thanks for your input, Simon.

I always wear a normal uniform when I drive  ;)

[NX OD]

Hello Simon

Can you please confirm what vehicles are on order for the remainder of 2013?
I assume it is 41 (89 delivered) as previous press releases have staed 130 new vehicles for 2013

26   ADL E400
15   ????

In addition is it fair to assume these vehicles are part of the Bus Travel partnership with Centro investment of 300 vehicles between now and July 2015?

Hi Wolves.

The 26 are the only ones left for 2013 and do form part of the 300.

[uniquicity]

1592 still has the intermediate logos Simon ;) unless it still has them because it is due to be withdrawn.

[winston]

Hi Simon,

Pleased to have your input on the forum & thanks for the opportunitiy ;)

A couple of questions/points from me

1. Did NXWM seriously look in to buying both RH & KR operations from First Group in autumn 2012?

2. Have NXWM now finally standardised on the current livery variation with the current shades of both orange/red & cargo white being applied? As there seems to have been a large number of livery variations over the years, with different shades of red / white / full connector bars / small connector bars on fleetnames etc etc

3. I'd also like to see garages making a concerted effort to paint in accident damage with the correct shades of red / white to help improve the appearance/image of the fleet

4. Is it not about time that the TWM brand was finally eliminated from the NXWM fleet across all garages regardless of livery? It has now been six years since the NXWM brand / livery was first introduced by Richard Bowker, Dundee, Bordesley & Coventry have finally managed to do away with the 'Travel' brand, can all TWM logos not be replaced on currently liveries? In WMT / WM Buses & TWM days a large proportion of logos would have been changed over a weekend with the remainder done within a couple of weeks of a name change.

5. Are the remaining 26 x E400's due from NX 2013 orders in addition to the 300 new buses due by June 2015 or included in that quantity?

On a positive note re: livery the latest shades of red/white currently being applied & standards of refurbishment appear far superior, keep up the good work!

It may not be under your direct control, but I personally would like to see NX Group expand its UK bus division in to other areas of the UK through acquisitions

Hi Winston,

1. No comment.

2. Yes we have and the latest repaints are the standard version.

3. I quite agree and this is being looked at.

4. Logo's - The programme of eliminating all intermediate logos [twin peaks - part of National Express Group.] from the fleet was completed last weekend. We have already completed removal of all TWM logos on vehicles at Bordesley, and TC logos at Coventry except for two vehicles which are due for withdrawal. It is now the intention to move on to replacing the Travel West Midlands logos on vehicles at the other garages very shortly.

5. The 26 E400's do form part of the 300.  No orders have been placed for remaining vehicles and it is unlikely that any detail will be confirmed until next year.

Hope that helps.

Thanks again.

Simon,

Many thanks for your response, much appreciated. I wasn't really expecting any response re - question 1, but thought it was still worth a bash anyway  ;)

If details of order aren't being confirmed until next year, I take it NX are considering going for Euro 6 models straight off the drawing board, rather than trialing demonstrators first?

[NX OD]

Hi Simon, quick question from me.

Would it be possible to improve the reliability of the 28 route, not just peaks but evenings and, in particular Sundays as it is often 10-15 minutes late on Sunday afternoons. Unlike what has been suggested further up I wouldn't suggest splitting the route in two as it does provide some useful links.

Thanks for your input.

Hi Lukee,

There is a new 28 timetable in place from 1st September.  I will check if this includes the Sundays.

[NX OD]

Hey Simon!

I know you'll be busy replying to all the questions before this, but I just thought I'd ask if there are any plans to improve or upgrade East Birmingham's services in the near future? i.e. new buses, improved frequencies, new routes etc.? I only ask because it seems a lot of the focus lately has been on North Birmingham, Walsall and Wolverhampton and it seems they've had their fill of brand new buses if I'm honest. You can't go up the Birchfield Road without 90% of buses being an Enviro400, and if you go into East Birmingham it just seems to be decade-old Tridents, similarly aged ALX400s on the 94, and the odd unrefurbished Omnilink dotted about. I know the Coventry Road has just received new Enviros for 2 of it's routes but the point remains, you go anywhere in East Birmingham and the only routes you'll see with brand spanking new buses are the 71/72, and maybe the 94 if an Enviro creeps out of North Birmingham. Even the 97, which I thought would become a high profile route now being the only one to run 24 hours and connecting many areas to the airport, is using, albeit branded, old Tridents. It seems that since Lea Hall closed down, the standards and upkeep of East Birmingham's routes have been neglected.
I just thought maybe some investment in the future is needed to bring East Birmingham up to the standards that Walsall, Wolverhampton and North Birmingham (especially Pheasey) are now enjoying.

Kind Regards :)

Hi JB,

I will use this reply to answer all the posts about East Birmingham.

I don't think that we view East Birmingham as being neglected.  The 71/72 have had new buses and the Coventry Road Enviro's are in place now as well.  The buses on the 97 have all been refurbished as well.  The 17 and 55 have also benefited recently from having been converted to all Scania recently, some of which are being repainted at the moment.

We are planning on upgrading the 94 for early 2014 but this will be through cascades of newer buses from other routes rather than brand new.

[NX OD]

Thanks driver.

The 205 and 297 are Pensnett services that are almost under constant review and we are looking at the impact of the recent changes to them.  The other routes that we are having a look at are the 243/44 which seem to be attracting a lot of complaints at the moment - nothing might come of it but they are worth our consideration. 

The 222 is much improved on timekeeping since the change in June.

In terms of buses there are the moves of double deckers across for the 246 but nothing else planned.

Great to have you with us Simon.

My nearest garage is Pensnett and  notice you are still looking at routes 297 & 205. Never had a problem with the 297, but the 205 does seem to run late more often than never. With very little or run time at either end, i am surprised it works as well as it does. Surely it would be better if it was split in half?

My other question concerns the condition of some of the buses, some of the Mercs like 1633, 1645 & 1646 and others seem in a very poor external condition.

Is there any chance some money could be put aside to give these buses a freshen up.

Hi Stu,

I think the sum of all the parts of the 205 is what makes it work.

In terms of 1633, 1645 and 1646 we feel that the resources available to us for repainting and refurbishment are best used on vehicles which will remain in service for some years to come and hence give us and customers the greatest benefit. The priority for repaints at Pensnett in the coming months will therefore be the three newly transferred Tridents still in old TWM livery

[NX OD]

Thanks for joining the forum Simon, and many thanks so far for the interesting answers you've provided to the questions being asked.

On my Facebook page, something that crops up fairly often are suggestions of extending or introducing new routes that travel far out of the current operating area (Birmingham to Leamington, Stafford, Lichfield, Stratford etc etc).

Is it fair to assume that NX route policy is to concentrate on developing and streamlining the existing network within the West Midlands operating area? Rather than introducing 'nice lengthy routes to far away places' that people simply wouldn't use, and wouldn't be commercially viable while there are long-distance coach routes and existing train lines that people would rather use as they would be quicker!

Hi Stu,

I think that is a fair summary of our position although if we thought there was something worth doing that made sense then we would do it.  I have not seen or heard any ideas that fall in to this category though.

[NX OD]

Hi Simon, always good to see a friendly face on here. Welcome to the forum!

I think Winston and JB93 have already raised my questions, but I too would have asked about the East Birmingham services. As JB93 had said since Lea Hall closed they just seem to be outcasts at other garages and no longer seem important, even though they have huge passenger numbers.

My other comment would have been about the exterior state of the buses. Different colour shades, vinyl wrap around liveries, multiple fleet names and multiple fonts and lettering. There seems to be no brand identity or pride in the fleet. Miller Street garage has a NX logo on the wall by its yard, yet Head Office in Bordesley stil has the 'Travel' logo. Surely a few hundred pounds could be spent on vinyls covering the old TWM logos on buses?

Gareth

Hi Gareth - thanks for the welcome.

Logo's - The programme of eliminating all intermediate logos [twin peaks - part of National Express Group.] from the fleet was completed last weekend. We have already completed removal of all TWM logos on vehicles at Bordesley, and TC logos at Coventry except for two vehicles which are due for withdrawal. It is now the intention to move on to replacing the Travel West Midlands logos on vehicles at the other garages very shortly.

[NX OD]

Hi Simon,

Are there any plans for the 289? Patronage is poor between Rowley Regis Hospital and Old Hill, and residents of Brickhouse Farm don't have a direct (NXWM) service to Merry Hill anymore

Hi Sh4166,

We are still monitoring the 289 from the recent change so no plans at present.

[jnl1984]

Hi Simon.

Can i start by commenting how commendable i think it is that you come on here and answer questions in the way you are.

Which leads me on to...

With the supposed South West Birmingham review due to take place, is there any thought or been mention of re-introducing the 'Network Harborne' branding for the 22/23/24/29/29A/99 and any potential new route?