Rotala in the West Midlands

[arrifirststage]

Would it not show more enterprise if the Rotala Group operated a few new services instead of merely competing on those of other operators and on tendered services.
Can any members think of any routes which Rotala have pioneered.
Companies like this do not really deserve to prosper.

[MW]

The 123.

[Ossie]

Was going to say the 108, but thinking about it, that was an old North Birmingham Bus route ...

[Tony]

The 123.

The 123 was just two routes taken over and joined together. The Perry Barr to Bearwood section has a very long history (WMPTE 40 until deregulation, then Midland Red West 440)

[MW]

The 123.

The 123 was just two routes taken over and joined together. The Perry Barr to Bearwood section has a very long history (WMPTE 40 until deregulation, then Midland Red West 440)

Ahh.

I agree, Rotala are just a worthless (sentimentally) and crap company. They also have been, ever since they took over NBB and Zaks initially and had those dreadful and hideous Plaxton Primos everywhere.

They are one of the few companies I would like to see out of business, with their Blue Diamond & Black Diamond operations sold on.

Arriva might be able to do something about them!

[Ash]

Other companies such as Claribels compete with the same services as NXWM and are not very enterprising, for me just becuase NXWM compete on a service doesnt mean another operator cant, it good for compeition gets cheaper return tickets and with the likes of claribels cheaper single tickets. Monopolies are not good. Also certain rotala services have been operated by the companies such as Pete's travel and Birminghan coach company, companies that that were bought out and later sold to Rotala for years, i think the 404E was 1994/5 and the 16 by the BCC i believe was later. Diamond used to operate the 300,310 all failed so with the current costs of fuel they probs feel operate profitable commerical services meanwhile but for me they need to invest in new vehicles as there better routes are getting a mixture of old, mixed colours, past their age buses. For example the 404E keeps seeing upto 3 solo's a day which get packed out and today 1 black diamond bus, 3 red diamond buses, 2 versa's, an all over white bus (ready for sale :)) 1 white,red (all diamond livery). A black diamond route should have black diamond buses only and pref 1 type of bus if available. It's too confusing for passengers as i know some passengers get confused between red diamond buses and NXWM buses.

[Lukeee]

The 123.

Also Choice ran the 123 before using small MPD's and Petes operated before that.

[D10]

The 123.

Also Choice ran the 123 before using small MPD's and Petes operated before that.

The 123 is still a Centro tendered route, and I think it is up for renewal in October, so who knows who will be running it from then.....

[winston]

I thought originally The Birmingham Coach Company took it over commercially along with the 443 after MRW shut down Digbeth garage & withdrew from the West Midlands

[winston]

Rotala were quite good with their marketing / branding etc. But as the guy who did that has since moved on, it's pretty much dried up. Rotala seem to be contracting on all fronts of late, the fleet has been shrinking for the past couple of years, with Diamond loosing all those Centro tenders to Arriva and the latest loss being Flights Hallmark loosing the NEC shuttle contract to DeCourcey. They don't sound like they are preforming too well on the NX work they won off Veolia Birmingham either.

Unfortunately Rotala don't seen to be willing to try anything new on their own, instead just happy to cream off some of NXWM's more profitable routes, anyone can copy something that already exisits......

The Black Diamond fleet is better than Blue Diamond, but there are still quite a few elderly Dart SLF's knocking around, the proportion of newer vehicles has reduced since the MAN/MCV's have been sold on.

Would it not show more enterprise if the Rotala Group operated a few new services instead of merely competing on those of other operators and on tendered services.
Can any members think of any routes which Rotala have pioneered.
Companies like this do not really deserve to prosper.

[Ash]

The only recent marketing is for the hyrid versa's but there just in the black diamond livery with just a bit of extra branding. I think both blue and black diamond needs to review it's fleet and to start with all the vehciles they are keeping paint into the correct livery, then sell off or scrap the older, uneeded vehicles, the all over white buses eg R410FFC have been like it for a while now and have been in full service with no intention of sale. Vehicle allocation to routes seems to have gone astray using solo's on the busier diamond routes such as the 16,301 and 401/4E means they could be losing potential customers as the buses fill up easily in the busier parts of the day they seem to have replaced the mcv's with solo's and smaller darts for me this is not a replacement for the buses lost there no where near the same vehicle in terms of capacity. Also the 16 and 404E have gone from vehicles that were a year old to vehicles that are around 15 years old. So ensure the larger vehicles are put on the routes. The 417 sees the royale centro's which could be used on much busier services so put the wright cadets back on the 417 which used to be ideal. Branding for me was good but not a major concern having red diamond buses and all over white buses with no company name on is confusing and not setting a good image for the company its suppose to be promoting. If they have lost these contracts and had versa's, solo's and smaller darts as replacements for the mcv's why havent the older darts been withdrawn.

[winston]

Ash I agree! Rotala made a promising start when they first took over, however standards and fleet presentation seem to have slipped somewhat of late with all the various liveried buses around. the level of investment in the fleet also seems to have dropped, I'd like to think they would also some new buses over & above the Hybid Versa's to replace all the MAN's that have been sold. The passengers of the 16, 142 & 404 have gone back to older buses

The only recent marketing is for the hyrid versa's but there just in the black diamond livery with just a bit of extra branding. I think both blue and black diamond needs to review it's fleet and to start with all the vehciles they are keeping paint into the correct livery, then sell off or scrap the older, uneeded vehicles, the all over white buses eg R410FFC have been like it for a while now and have been in full service with no intention of sale. Vehicle allocation to routes seems to have gone astray using solo's on the busier diamond routes such as the 16,301 and 401/4E means they could be losing potential customers as the buses fill up easily in the busier parts of the day they seem to have replaced the mcv's with solo's and smaller darts for me this is not a replacement for the buses lost there no where near the same vehicle in terms of capacity. Also the 16 and 404E have gone from vehicles that were a year old to vehicles that are around 15 years old. So ensure the larger vehicles are put on the routes. The 417 sees the royale centro's which could be used on much busier services so put the wright cadets back on the 417 which used to be ideal. Branding for me was good but not a major concern having red diamond buses and all over white buses with no company name on is confusing and not setting a good image for the company its suppose to be promoting. If they have lost these contracts and had versa's, solo's and smaller darts as replacements for the mcv's why havent the older darts been withdrawn.

[Ash]

The 404E in particluar lost the mcv's and got the royale plaxton centro's so probably a better bus fair enough then these were put on the 417 and the '51' and '02' cadets seem to be allocated with normally a versa aswell now all we get is about 2 versa's and 15 year old mixed branded darts if lucky as it's often a solo or smaller dart. Also i have noticed the 301 seems to be getting the smaller darts and solo's to and the cadets now on the 401/2 and 410 services which to be fair also need the these types of vehicle but can get away more with the odd use of a solo.

[Nathan4775]

The 123.

Also Choice ran the 123 before using small MPD's and Petes operated before that.

The 123 is still a Centro tendered route, and I think it is up for renewal in October, so who knows who will be running it from then.....

It wouldnt surprise me if arriva took over that route, but it would be nice to see NXWM operate it aswell

[Stu]

The 123.

The 123 was just two routes taken over and joined together. The Perry Barr to Bearwood section has a very long history (WMPTE 40 until deregulation, then Midland Red West 440)

Ah, so that explains why we still have the '40X' service operated by Hi-Ride between Bearwood and Perry Barr then (which pretty much follows the 123 route).

The 123 is still a Centro tendered route, and I think it is up for renewal in October, so who knows who will be running it from then.....

It wouldnt surprise me if arriva took over that route, but it would be nice to see NXWM operate it aswell

It wouldn't surprise me if the route disappears as part of the Sandwell Review and gets replaced by something else. As it is now, it is a very long and convoluted route, and I can't imagine anyone ever travelling the full route to get from one major shopping centre (Merry Hill) to another one (Perry Barr One Stop).