Gold Corridors

[RR378]

Which routes are a part of the 10 corridors and what areas do each corridor run from?

[Alex]

The two that i know of are the X51 [and presumably the 997, because of the interworking] and the 900/957, hope that was of some help

[andrew1991]

A41, A4123, A459

[Stu]

"Smart Network, Smarter Choices  focuses on ten key corridors across Birmingham and Solihull, the Black Country and Coventry:"
http://www.mynetwork.org.uk/Programme.aspx

[monkeyjoe]

The only one I don't get the the A452 corridor are they referring the 71 or some new form of 994/962 route??

[Stu]

The only one I don't get the the A452 corridor are they referring the 71 or some new form of 994/962 route??

It's not just about 'new buses':

North Solihull Regeneration route

The A452 Chester Road is home to such major employers as Birmingham Business Park, Birmingham Airport, the NEC and Jaguar Land Rover, all of which require staff early or late in the day. Public transport improvements have been introduced and a cycle network completed as a result of European funding. This will be supported by workplace travel planning and WorkWise public transport and cycling support.

The 71/72 were recently upgraded with new buses, and we've also already seen the introduction of the 24hr 97A service, as well as additional 49 and 957 journeys to Land Rover Solihull. Further roadworks are taking place on the Chester Road, so we'll probably see further improvements to bus services when they are completed.

Warwick Road

The A41 south has good bus services not used to their full potential due to local congestion; walking and cycling (including access to rail stations) is hampered by excessive car use. Employer needs and potential further growth means supporting access to Tyseley and Acocks Green through Smarter Choices initiatives and infrastructure improvements.

Works have commenced today on the A41 Warwick Road through Acocks Green, which are expected to last 29 weeks, so its quite possible also we'll see improvements to the 37 service once completed.

[winston]

Quite a decent selection of routes chosen there, has no one told NWM that the 404 was renumbered ???

Interesting that the Hagley Rd isn't due to become a gold corridor in conjunction with Sprint....

[monkeyjoe]

I get all that; guess they are using the word corridor show i guess has to relate to a group of routes

[leewhayward29]

this is what I've seen on the website link left by stu. p.s. I've only put what i've seen on the site

"Smart Network, Smarter Choices  focuses on ten key corridors across Birmingham and Solihull, the Black Country and Coventry:"
http://www.mynetwork.org.uk/Programme.aspx

Smart Network, Smarter Choices  focuses on ten key corridors across Birmingham and Solihull, the Black Country and Coventry:

• Airport and NEC Corridor (A45 Coventry Road)
• South Birmingham Technology Corridor (linking the Birmingham City Centre Enterprise Zone with Longbridge, Bristol Road and Pershore Road)
• Warwick Road Corridor (A41 south)
• North Solihull Regeneration Corridor (A452 Chester Road )
• Walsall Road Corridor (A34 north)
• Black Country West (the A4123/A459 between Wolverhampton, Dudley and Quinton)
• The A41 Wolverhampton - West Bromwich Growth Corridor
• Corridor 404 between Walsall and Merry Hill
• Connecting Dudley with Birmingham along the A457 Dudley Road
• North Coventry Corridors

[paulb1973]

Could that mean more fiddling with the bus shelters/stops in the city-centre (and on the Foleshill Rd corridor) in Coventry?!

[tank90]

Quite a decent selection of routes chosen there, has no one told NWM that the 404 was renumbered ???

Would saying 404 include Rotala Midlands (Diamonds) 404E?
So saying the 404 would also send a message to Rotala and NXWM?

[winston]

Quite a decent selection of routes chosen there, has no one told NWM that the 404 was renumbered ???

Would saying 404 include Rotala Midlands (Diamonds) 404E?
So saying the 404 would also send a message to Rotala and NXWM?

There is no 404E, Diamond re-numbered their services 4 & 4H

The Gold Corridors are as a result of the Centro/NX partnership, but I would think that Diamond may need to do something with the buses they use on the 4 / 4H, even if it's just ensure the routes are allocated B7RLE throughout as minimum

[tank90]

Quite a decent selection of routes chosen there, has no one told NWM that the 404 was renumbered ???

Would saying 404 include Rotala Midlands (Diamonds) 404E?
So saying the 404 would also send a message to Rotala and NXWM?

There is no 404E, Diamond re-numbered their services 4 & 4H

The Gold Corridors are as a result of the Centro/NX partnership, but I would think that Diamond may need to do something with the buses they use on the 4 / 4H, even if it's just ensure the routes are allocated B7RLE throughout as minimum

You are right I'm very much wrong.
Yes, but Rotala can't sit back on this one as they do run on the 4 corrridor. If Rotala don't upgrade buses on the 4/4H then I can see them losing passengers and having to pull off of the 4. But I could be wrong. And for allocating B7RLE's to do that Redditch would have to loose all of it's much needed B7's to do that, but they don't stand up to new buses as they are 07-08 plates and are starting to look there age inside.

[Steveminor]

Why would rotala lose out if they don't upgrade. I remember petes travel & red arrow express purposely competing with the line 33 just to make the point that "all this bus priority quality partnership is a waste of money".
They pulled off when it became obvious that centro & WM were just ignoring the figures that were being presented to them.
The fact is they were cheaper & so even though the buses were by far inferior to WM they were attracting a large amount of passengers.
What do passengers want.
They want to know they don't have to wait too long for a bus that's going where they want & that it isn't going to cost that much when it arrives. In winter yes they do want a warm bus but everything else is just trimmings and is unnecessary.  The recent success of Sunny Travel vs Clarinets on the 71 should prove that. Clarinets have much better buses & drivers yet Sunny have on the whole more passengers as they are more frequent have have those cheap day & weekly tickets.

[Tony]

Why would rotala lose out if they don't upgrade. I remember petes travel & red arrow express purposely competing with the line 33 just to make the point that "all this bus priority quality partnership is a waste of money".
They pulled off when it became obvious that centro & WM were just ignoring the figures that were being presented to them.
The fact is they were cheaper & so even though the buses were by far inferior to WM they were attracting a large amount of passengers.
What do passengers want.
They want to know they don't have to wait too long for a bus that's going where they want & that it isn't going to cost that much when it arrives. In winter yes they do want a warm bus but everything else is just trimmings and is unnecessary.  The recent success of Sunny Travel vs Clarinets on the 71 should prove that. Clarinets have much better buses & drivers yet Sunny have on the whole more passengers as they are more frequent have have those cheap day & weekly tickets.

No both examples you use get passengers by racing in front of other operators to get to stops first and cash payers will nearly always just get on the first bus. What tat operators don't do is increase passenger numbers overall like operators like Claribels have done on the 94.

The only thing that will attract people out of their cars is quality, that includes timekeeping, driving standards and vehicles. NX gets plenty of critisism for the quality of its services, the state of the vehicles, and timekeeping and is trying to do something about both at the moment, although the timekeeping bit is more difficult. They are investing record amounts in new vehicles and talking direct to councils about pinch spots on routes to try an improve traffic flows. They are helping finance some safer travel police officers and also financing a Birmingham CEO to help with parking enforcements on bus routes. I didn't see either of the opertors you mention doing any of those things