Rotala Management - Questions & Answers

[Simon Dunn]

Hi Simon,

Are you able to confirm who the Levantes have been sold too?

Interesting that the 3 x 59 plate Centros are the ex Go Whippet that operate on the guided busway, are these available immediately or are you having to wait for Go Whippet to receive new busway vehicles first?

This seems like the never ending story with the Levantes.  The vehicles should have gone a few weeks back, there has been some delays.  This should go through anyday

We are due to pay for the today/tomorrow/ in the next few days.  My understanding is that the equipment from the busway is being swapped from them to new buses and when this is complete we will pay and take delivery.

[Simon Dunn]

Hi Simon, Have you ever considered introducing a sunday service on the 002 with it being a popular service mon-sat and Merry Hill being as busy if not busier on a Sunday. Also may be extending the finishing time of the service monday-saturday.

The 4M mon-sat is every hour and when I have caught the service seems quite well used are there any plans to increasing the frequency may be to every 30 minutes.

Thank You.

We have set change dates with Centro for service changes.  I will pass on your comments to my Commercial colleagues.

[Simon Dunn]

Why don't you make a timetable leaflet available for the Walsall 301, as the Network WM one only features the NX one? (And put them in Walsall Bus Station travel office. If Arriva can manage it, surely you can too?)

Ever thought about going onto the Walsall 302 as a 'compliment' to the 301?

I used to be able to use my NX pass & pay 50p to use your buses, which came in useful on several occasions.

How come you stopped it?

Surely it would put more bums on seats?

There should be timetable leaflets for the 301, I will correct this

No we haven't.  Why do you believe the 301 will compliment the 301?

The NX travel card is one of the barrier to entry in the West Midlands.   By allowing people to pay 50 pence, we are were re-enforcing its value.  Ultimately there is a multi-operator travel card and we would prefer for people to acquire this.

In addition, accepting travel at 50 pence per passenger this would have a negative impact on concessionary fares reimbursement for all passengers.

How come you never appeared on the Network WM version of the 301 leaflet?

The reason I ask about the 302 is a friend of mine has issues with the reliability of the NX journeys on that service.

( The local perception is that the 301 tends to be looked after better compared with the 302. 302 buses tend to go 'missing' more than 301's)

We opted out of participating in the partnership agreement in the area which covers the 301, this is why we do not feature.

[winston]

Hi Simon,

Are you able to confirm who the Levantes have been sold too?

Interesting that the 3 x 59 plate Centros are the ex Go Whippet that operate on the guided busway, are these available immediately or are you having to wait for Go Whippet to receive new busway vehicles first?

This seems like the never ending story with the Levantes.  The vehicles should have gone a few weeks back, there has been some delays.  This should go through anyday

We are due to pay for the today/tomorrow/ in the next few days.  My understanding is that the equipment from the busway is being swapped from them to new buses and when this is complete we will pay and take delivery.

Thanks Simon,

Sounds as though you are nearly there with the Levantes  ;) obviously they are expensive assets to be sat around doing very little. Do you intend to re-invest the proceeds of the sale of these back in to upgrading the Diamond bus fleet?

One thing that did cross my mind, have Rotala/Diamond ever considered dropping the price of their cash fares to attract more passengers on your commercial competing services? Obviously they are set at exactly the same level as NXWM? And not everyone would be looking to buy a return ticket
Additionally, the Diamond day ticket is priced at £3.90 exactly the same as NXWM, but Diamond doesn't have the same network coverage or hours of operation

Have you ever looked at buying any MAN/Wright Meridian? There seems to be a number of late model examples around, not sure if that is a good thing or not....

[PM]

MPD on the 4H this morning-is there a vehicle shortage at tividale at the moment as really MPDs are way too small for this route

Is MX08NNU VOR at the moment as I havent seen it for ages-my last photo is sometime in june!

Are the primos going to re-enter service

Where is W335VGX as again havent seen that for a long while

Thanks

We have a large number of Long Single decks off the road including MX08NNU.  It is our intention to put the Primo's back into service.  W335VGX has been withdrawn.

Thanks for your reply and my comment about MX08NNU is now a bit irrelevant as it was on the 002 today presumably after repairs. Thanks for the info about W335VGX-where is it at the moment? And about the primos-shame they are going to reenter service as it would be nicer to get shot of them and get more longer buses in the fleet as that seems to be what is needed. And will other esteems be sold in the future if rotala isnt keen on them? Will preston therefore need some more single deckers soon?

[PM]

On Bank Holiday monday when on the 50 line of route, I saw 30004 BX07AXO-I'm sure of it but havent seen it since. I was wondering if you could tell me if it was at long acre, if I was imagining things or got the reg totally wrong and if it is at long acre whether it will be out again

Thanks Simon

[Ash]

Hi Simon, Have you ever considered introducing a sunday service on the 002 with it being a popular service mon-sat and Merry Hill being as busy if not busier on a Sunday. Also may be extending the finishing time of the service monday-saturday.

The 4M mon-sat is every hour and when I have caught the service seems quite well used are there any plans to increasing the frequency may be to every 30 minutes.

Thank You.

We have set change dates with Centro for service changes.  I will pass on your comments to my Commercial colleagues.

Hi Simon, When can we expect any service changes notices to be released to the public. Also are there certain cadets that seem to get used on the 4/4H/4M as it's rare to find 30209 on the 4 for example.

Thank You.

[Dylan4579]

Why don't you extend the 226 to west bromwich daily?

[Sh4318]

Why don't you extend the 226 to west bromwich daily?

Read page 1  ;)

[Dylan4579]

Why don't you extend the 226 to west bromwich daily?

Read page 1  ;)

I mean try commercialy to try to get more passengers on that corridor, and in west brom

[Isle of Stroma]

Why don't you extend the 226 to west bromwich daily?

Read page 1  ;)

I mean try commercialy to try to get more passengers on that corridor, and in west brom

From memory, there's problems tacking commercial bits onto a supported route. We had one such route where there was significant layover if the tendered bit was retimed to a more realistic schedule, and sought a fill-in trip for the bus. There was no question of additional funding as the only feasible trip was already covered by another route & there was no commercial alternative that I could suggest anyway that was likely to cover the diesel!

[bususer12]

Fair enough for Diamond regarding the taking on the tender, but the 226W in my opinion is such a bad idea for a route. Just a waste of diesel one day a week, especially when the 74 leaves 5 minutes before it.

[Cedric]

when will you be starting a review for Kidderminster area

[Ash]

Fair enough for Diamond regarding the taking on the tender, but the 226W in my opinion is such a bad idea for a route. Just a waste of diesel one day a week, especially when the 74 leaves 5 minutes before it.

The 226W is supposed to provide a link to the Russell's Hall Hospital from West Bromwich and agree between West Bromwich and Dudley it's hardly used, although if it was a service provided monday to saturday as well as Sunday's it would be much more popular. If this was to be the case you could extend the 42 service from Dudley with an express service to the hospital (non-stop) which would not increase the journey time by much.

[PM]

Fair enough for Diamond regarding the taking on the tender, but the 226W in my opinion is such a bad idea for a route. Just a waste of diesel one day a week, especially when the 74 leaves 5 minutes before it.

The 226W is supposed to provide a link to the Russell's Hall Hospital from West Bromwich and agree between West Bromwich and Dudley it's hardly used, although if it was a service provided monday to saturday as well as Sunday's it would be much more popular. If this was to be the case you could extend the 42 service from Dudley with an express service to the hospital (non-stop) which would not increase the journey time by much.

It seems to me that the 40/42/43 are the routes most in need of upgrade. Its a mismatch of solos and old darts some of which arent great along with MPDs in many liveries. Could rotala buy some more smaller enviro200 darts like the ones at wessex to replace the euro2 MPDs some of which look a bit dated?