New Deliveries / New Livery & Branding Discussion

[monkeyjoe]

Oh yes, Routes in East Birmingham getting more new investment.

If it's the 37,71 & 72. Further verifies the point I made about same old routes getting the investment.

[Liberator9]

Hang on - the 71/72 run through east Birmingham  ::)

The 94 has got refurbished Geminis working on - with the 55, 55A and 17 all having Scanias refurbished to a very high standard. The 14 now has refurbished Tridents operating on it The 59 has 2012 reg Wright Eclipse Urbans working on it, and the 11 is likely to become all refurbished Geminis in the near future.

I hardly call that a lack of investment for East Birmingham - fine the 97 has not been upgraded but I am sure at some point it will - NX can't upgrade every route at the same time. If they were willing to put new Scanias on in 2008, I'm sure they'd try recent/new buses on the 97.

[The Real 4778]

If it's the 37,71 & 72. Further verifies the point I made about same old routes getting the investment.

We've only had the new plastic on the 71 for about ten minutes.  2112 and its ilk.  Quite frankly they don't need replacement for ages.  It's not like the route has any true modal competition for the epic road-trip it takes between Sutton and Solihull.  No-one with a car would use it from choice, and by train you'd go via Birmingham, so it's not like it can attract many more than the pretty healthy loadings it already has.

[notepanel]

We've only had the new plastic on the 71 for about ten minutes.  2112 and its ilk.  Quite frankly they don't need replacement for ages.  It's not like the route has any true modal competition for the epic road-trip it takes between Sutton and Solihull.  No-one with a car would use it from choice, and by train you'd go via Birmingham, so it's not like it can attract many more than the pretty healthy loadings it already has.

Except the 71/72 does have quite good competition (in terms of frequency) between Solihull and Chelmsley. Don't forget these decisions about new buses are not always made on the route they're going on.

Politics may also play a part - both in terms of the Lode Lane works with Solihull Council and internally (would AG have had any new buses otherwise?)

The likely move is that Scanias will move to WA to replace the B7s and B10s, Scanias being in theory the only vehicle able to negotiate the bridge by Bradford Place, in turn upgrading a number of local Walsall services whilst standardising vehicle types. The B7s at AG may we'll end up at PE, WN or CV to replace Mercs there again whilst standardising vehicle types.

Of course the above are guesses, but Im just trying to show that the decision may be influenced more by the cascades than anything else.

[Trident 4609]

Except the 71/72 does have quite good competition (in terms of frequency) between Solihull and Chelmsley. Don't forget these decisions about new buses are not always made on the route they're going on.

Politics may also play a part - both in terms of the Lode Lane works with Solihull Council and internally (would AG have had any new buses otherwise?)

The likely move is that Scanias will move to WA to replace the B7s and B10s, Scanias being in theory the only vehicle able to negotiate the bridge by Bradford Place, in turn upgrading a number of local Walsall services whilst standardising vehicle types. The B7s at AG may we'll end up at PE, WN or CV to replace Mercs there again whilst standardising vehicle types.


Of course the above are guesses, but Im just trying to show that the decision may be influenced more by the cascades than anything else.

WN no longer have Mercs. WN only need to replace 14 Spectra's and 11 B6's (508 and 638 have died and 582 I'm told will no longer enter service)

[Stu]

The likely move is that Scanias will move to WA to replace the B7s and B10s, Scanias being in theory the only vehicle able to negotiate the bridge by Bradford Place, in turn upgrading a number of local Walsall services whilst standardising vehicle types. The B7s at AG may we'll end up at PE, WN or CV to replace Mercs there again whilst standardising vehicle types.

I presume by 'B7' you mean the Wright Eclipse B7RLEs; AG also have two types of B7TL (Wright Gemini and Plaxton President).  ;)

[monkeyjoe]

It is definitely politics. I am glad the points I make resonate with people, however with reference to my point about Same old routes get the investment. That point was made in isolation and made no reference to to East Birmingham or the 94/97 bla bla.  The fact this statement had synergies between other points/moans I have made earlier, I can't really help that.

I was stating a fact that the same routes get investment time and time again. i.e routes after 5 years and other not for over 12 years ++.  I only really think about it a bit like a Tory government looking out for the middle classes etc. Un equal distribution of wealth, NXWM un equal distribution of resource. I am well aware some routes are more profitable than others, but at the end of the day they all contribute (some more than others yes I know). Spending and resource really needs to start reflecting this.

On the other hand their is nothing wrong with a bit of debate on these threads make things a bit different rather than hearing about a bus was late or a Trident was used instead of a Volvo.

The point about India, hardly comparable as we in a totally different economy with totally differing levels of infrastructure behind the public transport network. Again could be some distribution of resource synergies to be made here. However I have not been so cannot confirm.

I am only typing this because I am procrastinating on stuff I need to do for work. If you still reading. Happy days let the debates still flourish. Peace out.

:) ;) :D

[winston]

You may find that there are existing quality partnership agreements in place that dictate why certain routes have to have their fleets updated more frequently than others, hence why the same old appear to keep getting the new fleets. Other factors such as which routes will provide the most passenger growth from having a new fleet, what the competition are doing and the NXWM / Centro Partnership agreement for introduction of  Gold Corridors are dictating where the remainder of the new fleet is going. All the 9--- series limited stop services appear to be being upgraded to Platinum, most already have buses on them no older the 2-4 years old, but the new Platinum's will offer a different level of passenger comfort & other extra features. Newish buses made surplus from those routes will be used to upgrade other routes elsewhere. There is always limit to how many new buses that NX can buy each financial year & how many routes that can be upgraded.

Going forward for East Birmingham, the 14, 94 & 97 will all have to be re-equipped with either new or a newer fleet within the next two years, as the buses used on both of those routes will not comply with the new min Euro 4 emission ruling within B'ham City Centre come May 2017. The same will also apply to Pershore Rd (45/47) & Bristol Rd services (61/63), those routes haven't had a new fleet for some years as well.

[GeminiFan1991]

As a frequent traveler of the 97 bus, I'm in two minds about seeing it upgraded. I still remember going to secondary school catching the 97 (And the 96, Good Ol Days), They had Tridents then and it's still the same fast forward me nearly finishing off uni. You'd think 1 of BC's most frequent bus routes deserves this much and I reckon it deserves an upgrade onto the MMC or at the very least Enviro 400s. Tridents has always struck me as reliable buses seeing as they're so abundant within the fleet.

I can't be the only person who thinks the 11A/C requires new buses and some good branding ?! You'd think NXWM's longest route and probably best known deserves something better than some old unreliable Plaxton's (Which I weirdly like). I was quite the fan when they had the Geminis branded for the route and the branding consisted of the driver side depicting a large circle with the areas around it.

[Trident 4609]

As a frequent traveler of the 97 bus, I'm in two minds about seeing it upgraded. I still remember going to secondary school catching the 97 (And the 96, Good Ol Days), They had Tridents then and it's still the same fast forward me nearly finishing off uni. You'd think 1 of BC's most frequent bus routes deserves this much and I reckon it deserves an upgrade onto the MMC or at the very least Enviro 400s. Tridents has always struck me as reliable buses seeing as they're so abundant within the fleet.

I can't be the only person who thinks the 11A/C requires new buses and some good branding ?! You'd think NXWM's longest route and probably best known deserves something better than some old unreliable Plaxton's (Which I weirdly like). I was quite the fan when they had the Geminis branded for the route and the branding consisted of the driver side depicting a large circle with the areas around it.

Well it does seem likely that when the Dudley Road E400's come from YW, 4700-4717 will be transferred to AG to make the Outer Circle Gemini operated.

[Stuharris 6360]

Well it does seem likely that when the Dudley Road E400's come from YW, 4700-4717 will be transferred to AG to make the Outer Circle Gemini operated.

Where do we think that the Presidents would go to if this happened?

[GeminiFan1991]

They'd need more than 18 Geminis to make the outer circle fully Gemini operated

[Sh4318]

Surely it makes more sense (if any Gemini's were to leave WB) for it to be 4503-4514, 4521-4522

[Liverpool Street]

Can someone recap for me please;

How many E200MMC's are AG getting and if it gets rid of their B7RLE allocation where will they go and will they lose any Scanias to anywhere?

Yes I'm hinting at BC getting the Scanias back for a while (won't happen)

Yes, sorry for asking but I've lost track of this thread and crap posts seem to clog up the pages again...

[Stuharris 6360]

Can someone recap for me please;

How many E200MMC's are AG getting and if it gets rid of their B7RLE allocation where will they go and will they lose any Scanias to anywhere?

Yes I'm hinting at BC getting the Scanias back for a while (won't happen)

Yes, sorry for asking but I've lost track of this thread and crap posts seem to clog up the pages again...

Tbh i am totally confused to, has it been officially annouced that AG are getting these buses or is it still speculation?