Questions for the NXWM Operations Director

[Liverpool Street]

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.

Oh but will the NX elite admit they were wrong to change the perfectly fine TWM livery (or even Toothpaste) to that monstrosity of Red and White? Destroyed what was an excellent brand to something that's barely recognisable. You might be able to redeem yourself if you add some blue back to Birmingham buses, but with the constant war to save money there'll be a near impossible chance that'll happen.

I was told the reason for the livery change was to improve looks after a repair or whatever, but leaving white panels with scratch marks and various other damage looks worse then if they were on blue, or even a whole new panel a different colour.

Whoever designed that livery, must've been a 4 year old, should've asked the people what they thought. But that's not the way it works, does it?

If the company is making record profits, which I can believe, then surely you could've spent some of that cash on decent colours. (Or even going back a bit, you know like the Metrobuses had blue on the lower and around the upper saloon windows, mayble that'll be good as a solid block of colour of red with the middle (between the saloons) can be white?)

Ha, NXWM looks like a joke compared to Stagecoach and Arriva and even First to an extent.

Really that's whats letting NX down, they've exelled with safety and customer service, but brand wise?  Ugh.

Yours,

LS

[Stuharris 6360]

Well i saw Julie yesterday (4177) on the 24 and i think that livery looked brilliant.

I know it makes the bus look like a London one, but what is the problem with that. No white to become dirty after a couple of days.

[Liverpool Street]

Well i saw Julie yesterday (4177) on the 24 and i think that livery looked brilliant.

I know it makes the bus look like a London one, but what is the problem with that. No white to become dirty after a couple of days.

Should've been blue, though.

Obviously we can't do it now with Diamond.

So is it they want just one full colour?

[Liverpool Street]

Simon.

When will you give adequate running time on late nights and Sundays etc?

You know there is an issue with accidents etc and the elephant in the room is the running time.

It is, if anything, more busy of a Sunday then a Saturday due to reduced service,  and with the increasing populace the pressure on public services is being felt and is increasing at an alarming rate.

It seems the Sunday running time especially hasn't been changed since the 80's, and layover time is there for genuine delays not  to be an allowance for incompetence with scheduling.

I doesn't affect me anymore but that was one of my niggles.

Also, don't you wonder the reason for failed DQM's? If all roads had sufficient running time then I'm positive you'll see an increase in A's and B's.

It seems that its another reason to squeeze the marximum out of drivers.

I'm looking forward to your response.

[GB_91]

Hi again Simon, I have a question that might seem bizarre but would be nice to discuss it none the less. Seeing as by now at least half the fleet must have TV screens on board, are there any plans to utilize them to show anything more than just CCTV? I know the previous system operators on the Outer Circle (Crystal Eyes?) went bust but maybe NXWM could run an "inhouse" service that could be used to show useful things aswell as CCTV like for example; service disruptions (like tunnel closures for example or upcoming diversions), fare increases in January, bank holiday services. network reviews etc. Even messages warning people not to smoke or fare dodge(maybe even name and shame people who are caught), mixed with general news and local events? It just seems a shame to me there is potential to have a really useful way of getting things across to the public and more people would take notice of a screen infront of them, than the notices that are stuck by the driver and can only be read whilst passing. I know this is unlikely to happen but it would be nice to hear your views about it.

[Hope you enjoyed your time off btw]

[bususer12]

Just a quick one here on dead running on the 9. Would it be possible or early journeys (before 6am) and late journeys (after midnight), instead of running dead between the garage and Stourbridge to run as a 256E, as it would not add to mileage at all, but I believe there is something about PE drivers not being paid between end of route and depot, would this mean that this route would come at a cost??

[Westy]

Just a quick one here on dead running on the 9. Would it be possible or early journeys (before 6am) and late journeys (after midnight), instead of running dead between the garage and Stourbridge to run as a 256E, as it would not add to mileage at all, but I believe there is something about PE drivers not being paid between end of route and depot, would this mean that this route would come at a cost??

Is there many late night journeys that run dead to garage?

Perhaps, some of the journeys that finish in Walsall & Bloxwich could continue in service along the Bloxwich Road to the depot, or is there a H&S issue?

From memory, arent there buses on the Brum, West Brom  & Dudley routes that arrive back in Walsall after midnight?

[vinh1000]

Hi again Simon, I have a question that might seem bizarre but would be nice to discuss it none the less. Seeing as by now at least half the fleet must have TV screens on board, are there any plans to utilize them to show anything more than just CCTV? I know the previous system operators on the Outer Circle (Crystal Eyes?) went bust but maybe NXWM could run an "inhouse" service that could be used to show useful things aswell as CCTV like for example; service disruptions (like tunnel closures for example or upcoming diversions), fare increases in January, bank holiday services. network reviews etc. Even messages warning people not to smoke or fare dodge(maybe even name and shame people who are caught), mixed with general news and local events? It just seems a shame to me there is potential to have a really useful way of getting things across to the public and more people would take notice of a screen infront of them, than the notices that are stuck by the driver and can only be read whilst passing. I know this is unlikely to happen but it would be nice to hear your views about it.

[Hope you enjoyed your time off btw]

I remember a time they used to show bbc news didn't it?

[NX OD]

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!

Hi Stu,

I am talking to the Commercial Director about this as Customer Relations falls under his command.  I will let you know some more soon.

[NX OD]

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.

Hi matt,

I think this is unlikely due to the extra time it would take to operate the 140 service and get it back to Pensnett versus the very low passenger numbers that could be expected to make use of the Blackheath to Quinton section.

[NX OD]

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

Hi Bob,

Anything is possible but we have no plans at present.  The Walsall Manager is having some success on getting the X51 timetables in to Cannock bus station and we have the X56 tender starting soon so maybe there will an increase in demand and we can lay on extra journeys.

[NX OD]

Simon.

When will you give adequate running time on late nights and Sundays etc?

You know there is an issue with accidents etc and the elephant in the room is the running time.

It is, if anything, more busy of a Sunday then a Saturday due to reduced service,  and with the increasing populace the pressure on public services is being felt and is increasing at an alarming rate.

It seems the Sunday running time especially hasn't been changed since the 80's, and layover time is there for genuine delays not  to be an allowance for incompetence with scheduling.

I doesn't affect me anymore but that was one of my niggles.

Also, don't you wonder the reason for failed DQM's? If all roads had sufficient running time then I'm positive you'll see an increase in A's and B's.

It seems that its another reason to squeeze the marximum out of drivers.

I'm looking forward to your response.

Hi LS,

We have put extra running time in to many routes over the last 5 years.  I have done so myself when in charge of specific garages and know that this has happened over many routes.  We have spent a large amount of resource ensuring that running times are realistic and I believe many now are.

My own driving experiences show this to be true.  When I first drive for TWM as a student in 2000/2001 I did mainly late nights and they were an absolute racetrack with very little time to do the job properly.  My most recent (in the last 6 months) experience of late night driving on the 37 and 60 have shown me that the time is a lot more realistic.  I was able to keep to time on both services all evening and if I can do it then they must be OK!

I will never condone breaking the law when driving a bus.  Those of us who hold a PCV licence are professional drivers with an enormous responsibility carrying precious human lives.  When we forget this and drive dangerously we are putting lives at risk and that is not acceptable.

Of course if any employee or customer wants to let us/me know of any routes that are not achiveable then we will look in to it.  With the AVL system now on 100% of the buses we have an immense amount of data on actual running times which we look at every week with the MD, Head of Network Planning and others.  I would be more than happy to look in to (or go and drive) any routes that you may have concerns about.

I am afraid that I am not going to talk publicly too much about the DQM process but am happy to talk to any current employee about this if they want to contact me.  The one thing I will say is that our driving standards are some of the best in the UK now and the vast majority of our employees achieve excellent scores from DQMs.  A recent project at BC has shown this to be the case yet again and I am so impressed by the number of drivers there who have scored very well, particularly given we have some of the toughest operating conditions in the country in my opinion.

I would just say as well that I don't 'know there is an issue with accidents' as you claim.  Would I like to see less accidents then the answer is yes but we still have some very good statistics in terms of accident reductions in recent years and are certainly not vastly different from other bus companies.

[NX OD]

Hi again Simon, I have a question that might seem bizarre but would be nice to discuss it none the less. Seeing as by now at least half the fleet must have TV screens on board, are there any plans to utilize them to show anything more than just CCTV? I know the previous system operators on the Outer Circle (Crystal Eyes?) went bust but maybe NXWM could run an "inhouse" service that could be used to show useful things aswell as CCTV like for example; service disruptions (like tunnel closures for example or upcoming diversions), fare increases in January, bank holiday services. network reviews etc. Even messages warning people not to smoke or fare dodge(maybe even name and shame people who are caught), mixed with general news and local events? It just seems a shame to me there is potential to have a really useful way of getting things across to the public and more people would take notice of a screen infront of them, than the notices that are stuck by the driver and can only be read whilst passing. I know this is unlikely to happen but it would be nice to hear your views about it.

[Hope you enjoyed your time off btw]

Hi GB,

We are looking at the Crystal Eyes kit at the moment to try and get the screens back and working.  I think we favour the screens showing the CCTV images live in the bus as this gives passengers reassurance that the system is working and that the CCTV is recording should anything untoward happening.  It is therefore unlikley that we would display anything else but you never know.

[NX OD]

I will try and summarise the livery position as there have been a few comments about it.

We have, internally, debated the livery many times over the last couple of years.  Some people like it and some do not and that is always the case with bus colours - some of the ones I have liked the most others have not.

The position we have agreed on is to get all the remaining non red and white buses in to that livery so we can have, for the first time in a long time, the whole fleet in one livery (granted there have been some variations of the red and white).  We believe that having one simple identity is beneficial for passengers and will give us a strong, clear brand.

It also means that rather than starting a whole debate about the livery and then taking up the paint shop throughput putting on a new livery we can spend time on things that passengers value more and get more buses painted than would otherwise be the case.

I have strong views on bus livery, branding and other presentation issues (as do many of my colleagues, employees and enthusiasts)  but the truth is that the vast majority of our passengers want the bus to be clean, well driven and on time rather than worrying if it has a blue skirt or a grey back (or whatever variation we might all come up with).  It is on these things that we have been spending our time and energy rather than designing and implementing a new livery.

[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

Hi Bob,

Anything is possible but we have no plans at present.  The Walsall Manager is having some success on getting the X51 timetables in to Cannock bus station and we have the X56 tender starting soon so maybe there will an increase in demand and we can lay on extra journeys.

Hi

Thats great about the timetable,  at least people will know the bloody thing runs :-), the X56 doesnt go anywhere near Cannock lol?