Questions for the NXWM Operations Director

[Trident 4609]

Hi simon?

Just wondering is what centro is saying that the 33 new buses provided for Coventry are also part of the 300 confirmed new buses that are due?

If so are the 19x BC, 5 x WA, 1xPN also part of this order, that would leave us with 216 buses for 2014/15 including the 26 due later this year?

Thanks.

Winston already answered this and No the 33 CV buses plus 2154 and 4880-4913 are not part of th 300

[nitromatt1]

Hi simon?

Just wondering is what centro is saying that the 33 new buses provided for Coventry are also part of the 300 confirmed new buses that are due?

If so are the 19x BC, 5 x WA, 1xPN also part of this order, that would leave us with 216 buses for 2014/15 including the 26 due later this year?

Thanks.

Winston already answered this and No the 33 CV buses plus 2154 and 4880-4913 are not part of th 300

Will it start with the 63-plate vehicles then?

[winston]

Hi simon?

Just wondering is what centro is saying that the 33 new buses provided for Coventry are also part of the 300 confirmed new buses that are due?

If so are the 19x BC, 5 x WA, 1xPN also part of this order, that would leave us with 216 buses for 2014/15 including the 26 due later this year?

Thanks.

Winston already answered this and No the 33 CV buses plus 2154 and 4880-4913 are not part of th 300

Will it start with the 63-plate vehicles then?

Looks that way Matt, as Tony now has body numbers for 4914-4939 on his fleetlist, I suspect production isn't that far away if body numbers have been allocated

[NX OD]

Hi Simon,

Just a small issue but one which has proved very annoying for me.

In the second half of the evening, the 9 has a half hour frequency, departing Stourbridge at 20 and 50 minutes past the hour. However, the final 9 departs Stourbridge at 23:45 - 5 minutes earlier than you'd expect it to. The other night I forgot that the last 9 runs 5 minutes early and just missed it, meaning I had to walk all the way home.

Would it be possible for the final 9 to depart at 23:50, not 23:45, so it fits the pattern and stops people from making the same mistake?

Thanks for this.  It is a bit odd and having looked at the running boards it is the same from Birmingham.  There is no real reason for it so it is now on the list for looking at next time we change the 9 (not September as this is already registered).

[NX OD]

Hello, I have just discovered this site, and would like to thank everybody involved for their efforts in making it available. Hope this gets through this time...

My concern is about the proposal to join the 71A to the 638, and how this would work in practice given that both routes - for good reason in IMHO - go round Castle Vale in a clockwise loop. Heading from Sutton, the two routes do of course run into each other rather nicely, but in the other direction it doesn't work quite as well: running a 638 into a 71A at the Tyburn House would result in missing Castle Vale out altogether.

So assuming the combined route heads into Castle Vale via either Kingsbury or Chester Road, how does it get back out again?
Spitfire Island and Chester Road would be to go round a long circle and waste a lot of time;
The right turn from Yatesbury Avenue into Kingsbury Road didn't work last time, and nothing has changed since;
Minworth via Park Lane is a long way round, prone to disruption and would dictate use of single-deckers.
I was told it had been a long-standing ambition of the company to use double-deckers on the 71, and given that they re-appeared on the 71A after the changes in June I take it this is still valid?

My latest journey on a 71A, on Saturday afternoon from Sutton Parade, was typical in that the bus arrived at the stop seconds after a 71 had left, carrying nearly all the people who had been waiting. When we passed the other 71A, heading in the opposite direction, that too was trailing a 71 which again would have taken all the waiting trade - there being very few places for buses to pass. Of course, for three months of the year one of the 71As is doomed anyway because it is actually timetabled to be right behind a 71. I'm sure if all the buses left Sutton on time the 71A would see improved numbers; either way both variants should be considered together, rather than as separate routes.

For me, the 71A is there to provide capacity and reliability to the 71 and so am concerned about changes which may affect these factors. The 71 is far too long a route, and passes through too many congested areas, to be operating reliably (if at all) by the time it gets to Sutton, so it would be bad news if the 71A were also to import delays from further afield. The 71A is used for journeys to school from the western end of Castle Vale, as it is far quicker than the 71; what would be the effect on these users of any change, for example?

The 71A may well be something and nothing, but I think it most important that the role it does play continues beyond any proposed changes. The danger is that if the combined route doesn't work out the 71 gets overloaded and all three routes get messed up, and buses stuck in traffic in Castle Vale means no service in and out of Sutton - particularly in the evening peak.

Following on, what are the plans for the 71/71A/72 for Autumn? Haven't these routes been messed around enough already in the last few years?

Oh, and one last thing. Wouldn't a Sutton - Castle Vale - Erdington route take the number 68?? To go with 66, 67, that kind of thing.

Hi,

There are no plans to link the 71 and 638 together.  We have thought about it and looked quite hard at it but it is not something that we are planning to do at the moment.  The Autumn plans for the 71/71A/72 are still taking shape so I can't comment at the moment.

[NX OD]

Hi all,

I am back from my annual leave and have answered the questions that were posted while I was away.  I will keep an eye out for any more that are posted.

Thanks

Simon

[JB93]

Hi Simon, welcome back :)

I don't know if this has been asked before but truth be told, I can't be bothered to read through 15 pages of posts to check - are there any plans to dual-source double deckers at the present time? Maybe buy some new deckers from Wright, Volvo or Scania?

[Stu]

Welcome back Simon, hope you enjoyed your break! And nice to see that people have been considerate enough here to not leave a mountain of questions to plough through on your return!

This may not be your department, so to speak, so I appreciate if you cannot answer this one.

With regards to customer service, I see that National Express take this quite seriously, as without customer feedback, there is no way that you can be aware of issues on your services that customers feel the need to complain about.

How much does NX value feedback that is submitted through 'third-party' websites? I was a volunteer 'anorak' for a time, and still make contributions, on the FixMyTransport website, where users can submit problems with bus stops, stations as well as individual routes, and then gain support from fellow transport users, as well as get responses directly from transport operators.

I'm pleased to say that National Express have so far been fully supportive, with most queries reported there receiving a satisfactory response from your customer service team. Worth noting that your competitor Arriva are generally not so supportive, choosing instead to ask the customer to contact them directly, rather than through a third-party.

To take things to the next level, we wonder if it would be beneficial if customer services would be interested in setting up an account on FixMyTransport, to directly engage with other users on issues that have been raised. I can see this only as being beneficial to both parties, as FixMyTransport is a rapidly growing community, and it would great to be seeing NX fully backing up their own customer service feedback forms, with feedback tools provided by third-parties.

I appreciate this may be outside the scope of your normal operations, but I can provide contact details if you wish to proceed.

Many thanks!

[NX OD]

Hi Simon, welcome back :)

I don't know if this has been asked before but truth be told, I can't be bothered to read through 15 pages of posts to check - are there any plans to dual-source double deckers at the present time? Maybe buy some new deckers from Wright, Volvo or Scania?

Hi JB,

Anything is possible really.  We set a spec for buses and then Group Purchasing work with the Engineering department to procure vehicles to that spec.  No decisions are made on who we want to buy from until we know the prices from the manufacturers of what they are offering and that it meets our spec.  We don't set out by saying we will buy from manufacturer A or B or even A and B.

[RW]

Hi Simon, not sure whether this question falls within your remit but who chose white to be two thirds of NXWM's livery. The red is excellent looks great and retains its sheen well but the white....! After a short period of time it goes 'off' and starts to look distinctly shabby especially during the winter months when even following a wash by the time a vehicle reaches its 'start' point it can look a mess. Even at this late stage I would hope that at some point in time the use of white will be reviewed. May be a cheap option but then NX are going to be faced with more frequent repaints of their vehicles to maintain a satisfactory external appearance.

[winston]

Hi Simon, not sure whether this question falls within your remit but who chose white to be two thirds of NXWM's livery. The red is excellent looks great and retains its sheen well but the white....! After a short period of time it goes 'off' and starts to look distinctly shabby especially during the winter months when even following a wash by the time a vehicle reaches its 'start' point it can look a mess. Even at this late stage I would hope that at some point in time the use of white will be reviewed. May be a cheap option but then NX are going to be faced with more frequent repaints of their vehicles to maintain a satisfactory external appearance.

The NXWM brand, livery & application were decided when the NX Group was headed by Richard Bowker back in 2007

[nitromatt1]

Hi Simon,

Another quick one - would it be possible for the final 140 (23:45 from Dudley), which is a short journey to Blackheath, to be extended to Quinton Church?

This would create a useful connection with the 9: it would arrive at Quinton Church around midnight - there are three more 9's towards Stourbridge due after this time and one more 9 towards Birmingham.

[RW]

Hi Simon, not sure whether this question falls within your remit but who chose white to be two thirds of NXWM's livery. The red is excellent looks great and retains its sheen well but the white....! After a short period of time it goes 'off' and starts to look distinctly shabby especially during the winter months when even following a wash by the time a vehicle reaches its 'start' point it can look a mess. Even at this late stage I would hope that at some point in time the use of white will be reviewed. May be a cheap option but then NX are going to be faced with more frequent repaints of their vehicles to maintain a satisfactory external appearance.

The NXWM brand, livery & application were decided when the NX Group was headed by Richard Bowker back in 2007

But I assume NX Group Members are presumably not bound by that decision and I'm pretty sure some would think something similar regarding the use of so much white.

[Bob]

Any chance you could introduce one or two extra extensions to birmingham/cannock on the X51 in the future?  During shopping hours? The train service isn't always very reliable and I think that advertised properly it could be a hit

[B.C Driver]

Hi Simon, not sure whether this question falls within your remit but who chose white to be two thirds of NXWM's livery. The red is excellent looks great and retains its sheen well but the white....! After a short period of time it goes 'off' and starts to look distinctly shabby especially during the winter months when even following a wash by the time a vehicle reaches its 'start' point it can look a mess. Even at this late stage I would hope that at some point in time the use of white will be reviewed. May be a cheap option but then NX are going to be faced with more frequent repaints of their vehicles to maintain a satisfactory external appearance.

Couldnt agree more, was following 4744 and couldnt miss the ammount of oily fingerprints around the bonnet area, if it was a bus in TWM livery the fingerprints would barely be noticable.