The Green Bus

[nitromatt1]

204 on the 22 today

Has anyone seen what the loadings are like on the 22? As I saw a Trident leave Merry Hill at about 4pm yesterday in front of an 002 & it only had 2 passengers on board

They were quite busy last week when it was free, but now, despite being considerably cheaper than Diamond/NX, it seems to be falling out of favour.

Did you see how many got on the 002 behind?

[Stu]

This was posted on my Facebook page yesterday by Jason Kelly:

Went on the 22(TGB) today. Should have left Brum at 1735, but left six mins late. Arrived at Merry Hill nine mins late. Nobody else got on the bus apart from me. I wonder if it will prove successful or not

Just needs a bit more promotion. Once more people are aware of this route's existence, and that cash fares are cheaper than NX & Diamond, it might start to take off.

[winston]

204 on the 22 today

Has anyone seen what the loadings are like on the 22? As I saw a Trident leave Merry Hill at about 4pm yesterday in front of an 002 & it only had 2 passengers on board

They were quite busy last week when it was free, but now, despite being considerably cheaper than Diamond/NX, it seems to be falling out of favour.

Did you see how many got on the 002 behind?

No sorry, was walking back to my car when TGB Trident went past

[PM]

204 on the 22 today

Has anyone seen what the loadings are like on the 22? As I saw a Trident leave Merry Hill at about 4pm yesterday in front of an 002 & it only had 2 passengers on board

They were quite busy last week when it was free, but now, despite being considerably cheaper than Diamond/NX, it seems to be falling out of favour.

Did you see how many got on the 002 behind?

Personally I am glad so far that NX and Diamond are holding their own on the 22/002. I am really not surprised though as both routes have a fair proportion of pass holders, whether it be NX travelcards or the Diamond Week ticket which a lot of people seem to have in the Black Country. Bizarre... no one really seems to know the timetable and I am just surprised TGB haven't really used any marketing strategy at all.

Having said that, 2 passengers leaving Merry Hill is appalling-the -004 once an hour gets considerably more than that!

[nitromatt1]

Seems passengers are starting to prefer the 22 over the 002, seen countless people asking how often they run and what times, and remarking on how good value it was (word is quickly spreading, with £1 single/£1.25 day ticket being displayed on the front LEDs). One gent on 117 this afternoon used some colourful language to describe how terrible he thinks Diamond are on the 002.

Business is looking good, I think.

[PM]

Seems passengers are starting to prefer the 22 over the 002, seen countless people asking how often they run and what times, and remarking on how good value it was (word is quickly spreading, with £1 single/£1.25 day ticket being displayed on the front LEDs). One gent on 117 this afternoon used some colourful language to describe how terrible he thinks Diamond are on the 002.

Business is looking good, I think.

Some people will always say that though... It seems moaning about diamond has become the new sport in Redditch,ever since they took over, again, much of it exaggerated and rude. I'm not being funny though but diamond are far more frequent, far newer buses and have more of a network in the black country so I'm surprised "countless" people prefer them. The truth of the matter is people will not wait behind another 15 minutes for a TGB when diamond aren't expensive in the first place. The fares are probably nothing more than an initial gimmick anyway...

[nitromatt1]

Seems passengers are starting to prefer the 22 over the 002, seen countless people asking how often they run and what times, and remarking on how good value it was (word is quickly spreading, with £1 single/£1.25 day ticket being displayed on the front LEDs). One gent on 117 this afternoon used some colourful language to describe how terrible he thinks Diamond are on the 002.

Business is looking good, I think.

Some people will always say that though... It seems moaning about diamond has become the new sport in Redditch,ever since they took over, again, much of it exaggerated and rude. I'm not being funny though but diamond are far more frequent, far newer buses and have more of a network in the black country so I'm surprised "countless" people prefer them. The truth of the matter is people will not wait behind another 15 minutes for a TGB when diamond aren't expensive in the first place. The fares are probably nothing more than an initial gimmick anyway...

The fares are an introductory offer, not a 'gimmick'. Even the full fare day, week and month tickets will still be considerably cheaper than Diamond and NX.

YJ51 EKF which we passed a couple of times doesn't look too modern to me. That's the magic of TGB, despite being 13+ years old, the unsuspecting passenger would not know the age difference between their Tridents and a B7RLE, let alone a knackered DAF... I'm limited as to what I should say on a public forum, but I do not think Diamond set a particularly high standard of competition

[PM]

Seems passengers are starting to prefer the 22 over the 002, seen countless people asking how often they run and what times, and remarking on how good value it was (word is quickly spreading, with £1 single/£1.25 day ticket being displayed on the front LEDs). One gent on 117 this afternoon used some colourful language to describe how terrible he thinks Diamond are on the 002.

Business is looking good, I think.

Some people will always say that though... It seems moaning about diamond has become the new sport in Redditch,ever since they took over, again, much of it exaggerated and rude. I'm not being funny though but diamond are far more frequent, far newer buses and have more of a network in the black country so I'm surprised "countless" people prefer them. The truth of the matter is people will not wait behind another 15 minutes for a TGB when diamond aren't expensive in the first place. The fares are probably nothing more than an initial gimmick anyway...

The fares are an introductory offer, not a 'gimmick'. Even the full fare day, week and month tickets will still be considerably cheaper than Diamond and NX.

YJ51 EKF which we passed a couple of times doesn't look too modern to me. That's the magic of TGB, despite being 13+ years old, the unsuspecting passenger would not know the age difference between their Tridents and a B7RLE, let alone a knackered DAF... I'm limited as to what I should say on a public forum, but I do not think Diamond set a particularly high standard of competition

I'm sorry but an "introductory offer" must be the definition of a gimmick: a cheap one off that won't last long. That is 1 out of the 6 buses on the 002, the same age as TGB's newest vehicles and I can assure you YJ51EKF is the one of the best DAFs and hasn't been knackered in London like TGB's tridents. I think the average passenger could work out a b7rle/centro is newer than a cold, damp ex London decker...!

In other news, a TGB decker will be put into a vinyl livery for KEFW and is being prepared for it.

[Steveminor]

Diamond do have newer buses than TGB, but I will side with Matt on the fact that the average passenger wouldn't really be able to tell that a trident is that much older than a b7.
To me it just seems that double Deckers age slower than single Deckers in the passengers eyes & I think that is a true fact I mean what lasted longer & aged better metrobuses or mk 2 nationals.

The one thing diamond do not do well is compete, they have lost a lot of head to head competative routes & much smaller operators have had quite a lot of success against them.
Time for diamond to up their game?

[Trident 4609]

Its one of the NK51's being prepared for a wrap advert

[winston]

Diamond do have newer buses than TGB, but I will side with Matt on the fact that the average passenger wouldn't really be able to tell that a trident is that much older than a b7.
To me it just seems that double Deckers age slower than single Deckers in the passengers eyes & I think that is a true fact I mean what lasted longer & aged better metrobuses or mk 2 nationals.

The one thing diamond do not do well is compete, they have lost a lot of head to head competative routes & much smaller operators have had quite a lot of success against them.
Time for diamond to up their game?

I think they need too, the 002 is an important route for Diamond. they need to fight back against TGB before they establish a customer base.

Diamond have never been as aggressive at competing as BCC used to be, the number of direct competing routes against NX has fallen dramatically over the years..... yet others like Claribels have gone from strength to strength

[nitromatt1]

Seems passengers are starting to prefer the 22 over the 002, seen countless people asking how often they run and what times, and remarking on how good value it was (word is quickly spreading, with £1 single/£1.25 day ticket being displayed on the front LEDs). One gent on 117 this afternoon used some colourful language to describe how terrible he thinks Diamond are on the 002.

Business is looking good, I think.

Some people will always say that though... It seems moaning about diamond has become the new sport in Redditch,ever since they took over, again, much of it exaggerated and rude. I'm not being funny though but diamond are far more frequent, far newer buses and have more of a network in the black country so I'm surprised "countless" people prefer them. The truth of the matter is people will not wait behind another 15 minutes for a TGB when diamond aren't expensive in the first place. The fares are probably nothing more than an initial gimmick anyway...

The fares are an introductory offer, not a 'gimmick'. Even the full fare day, week and month tickets will still be considerably cheaper than Diamond and NX.

YJ51 EKF which we passed a couple of times doesn't look too modern to me. That's the magic of TGB, despite being 13+ years old, the unsuspecting passenger would not know the age difference between their Tridents and a B7RLE, let alone a knackered DAF... I'm limited as to what I should say on a public forum, but I do not think Diamond set a particularly high standard of competition

I'm sorry but an "introductory offer" must be the definition of a gimmick: a cheap one off that won't last long. That is 1 out of the 6 buses on the 002, the same age as TGB's newest vehicles and I can assure you YJ51EKF is the one of the best DAFs and hasn't been knackered in London like TGB's tridents. I think the average passenger could work out a b7rle/centro is newer than a cold, damp ex London decker...!

In other news, a TGB decker will be put into a vinyl livery for KEFW and is being prepared for it.

I'm not sure you entirely know what you're talking about, I can assure you TGB's deckers are not cold or damp. Some Tridents are seatbelted and all are comfortable and clean. Not forgetting their extra deck, too. As I already said, all tickets other than single fares will remain considerably better value than Diamond/NX.

I was wondering how long until somebody found out about the vinyl wrap. It's an NK51 Trident, 112 I think.

[Stuharris 6360]

Diamond do have newer buses than TGB, but I will side with Matt on the fact that the average passenger wouldn't really be able to tell that a trident is that much older than a b7.
To me it just seems that double Deckers age slower than single Deckers in the passengers eyes & I think that is a true fact I mean what lasted longer & aged better metrobuses or mk 2 nationals.

The one thing diamond do not do well is compete, they have lost a lot of head to head competative routes & much smaller operators have had quite a lot of success against them.
Time for diamond to up their game?

But surely the winner in all this is the passenger, they have gained additional services between Birmingham & Woodgate & between Woodgate & Halesowen/Merry Hill. That can only be good.

Personally i think that Diamond do compete well with other companies, look at services like 4/4H & 226. Only saw a Diamond 4H heading out of Halesowen on Monday Lunchtime towards Walsall and there must have been 30 people on it, i don't remember the 417 doing that well when they ran it and now of course NE run the 4H to.

With the 226, now that Diamond run every a 15 minute frequency with Hanson, you tend to see buses equally loaded. Once again people on the 226 route benefit from an improved service.

Going to catch a 22 from Merry Hill on Friday and take it all the way to Birmingham, see what the loadings are like?

[bususer12]

Seems passengers are starting to prefer the 22 over the 002, seen countless people asking how often they run and what times, and remarking on how good value it was (word is quickly spreading, with £1 single/£1.25 day ticket being displayed on the front LEDs). One gent on 117 this afternoon used some colourful language to describe how terrible he thinks Diamond are on the 002.

Business is looking good, I think.

Some people will always say that though... It seems moaning about diamond has become the new sport in Redditch,ever since they took over, again, much of it exaggerated and rude. I'm not being funny though but diamond are far more frequent, far newer buses and have more of a network in the black country so I'm surprised "countless" people prefer them. The truth of the matter is people will not wait behind another 15 minutes for a TGB when diamond aren't expensive in the first place. The fares are probably nothing more than an initial gimmick anyway...

The fares are an introductory offer, not a 'gimmick'. Even the full fare day, week and month tickets will still be considerably cheaper than Diamond and NX.

YJ51 EKF which we passed a couple of times doesn't look too modern to me. That's the magic of TGB, despite being 13+ years old, the unsuspecting passenger would not know the age difference between their Tridents and a B7RLE, let alone a knackered DAF... I'm limited as to what I should say on a public forum, but I do not think Diamond set a particularly high standard of competition

TGB's offering is very appealing to the corridor it is serving. Whilst the 002 branding was good, it seems it is touched up with any type of green, bits of window branding is missing, dented skirts and reliability issues. The TGB service i caught today was on time, had no skirt damage and had a friendly driver who greeted you on entry. Whilst their priority is schools and therefore the service suffers in the peaks  (where the day ticket may lose its appeal), but otherwise it seems a great job.

They're also making good use of their blinds to display promo fares, one thing that Diamond were good at...

[Trident 4609]

Matt, people knew about the vinyl wrap on the 11* trident as you posted it further up in the thread.....