New Deliveries / New Livery & Branding Discussion

[Tony]

Investment in the east ummmmmm, well would sound right casts off I suppose. Wonder if 2020 will be the year they actually take notice of state of buses in the ex lea hall corridors.

Please tell me what is wrong with the state of a freshly refurbished Scania

[Gareth]

Investment in the east ummmmmm, well would sound right casts off I suppose. Wonder if 2020 will be the year they actually take notice of state of buses in the ex lea hall corridors.

Even the unrefurbished Scanias at BY are some of the smartest and well maintained buses in the whole NX fleet. The 94 is now regularly operated by 09 plate E400s. I'd be the first to wish that my local routes had brand new buses on a regular basis, but what we do have is perfectly acceptable. If anything it's the 97 that has had the bum deal, operated almost exclusively by 16 year old vehicles. But even they are not that bad.

[Tony]

Even the unrefurbished Scanias at BY are some of the smartest and well maintained buses in the whole NX fleet. The 94 is now regularly operated by 09 plate E400s. I'd be the first to wish that my local routes had brand new buses on a regular basis, but what we do have is perfectly acceptable. If anything it's the 97 that has had the bum deal, operated almost exclusively by 16 year old vehicles. But even they are not that bad.

The Bordesley Scanias are currently in the process of having e-fans fitted to make them more fuel efficient, SCRT fitted to the exhaust to meet Euro 6, a full internal retrim, repairs to the floors and a full external refurb and repaint, but someone who openly admits he doesn't actually travel on them thinks they are unfit? The fact that Bordesley only has 5 spare buses, but regularly loan buses to BC or PB tells you how reliable they are.

[monkeyjoe]

Compare ex Quinton depot area vs ex Lea Hall / wash wood Heath depots, makes me so angry been around Brum long enough to witness, that's my opinion I await to see a change to convince me otherwise.

[2206]

West and South Birmingham.
Hagley Road, 82/87, 23/24, 50, X20/X21/X22 all have new platinums.  Bristol and Pershore also have relatively new vehicles.

Don't see many in the East on the 67, 94, 97, 55, 17 and 14.

[Tony]

West and South Birmingham.
Hagley Road, 82/87, 23/24, 50, X20/X21/X22 all have new platinums.  Bristol and Pershore also have relatively new vehicles.

Don't see many in the East on the 67, 94, 97, 55, 17 and 14.

I really don't see the problem. Some routes are always going to have older buses. It only makes any difference if the exact route you use gets platinum upgraded. So if you live in Bartley Green but work in Northfield it doesn't make a scrap of difference to you that the 22/23 have platinums. Likewise if the 94 got new platinums it wouldn't make any difference to the 67, 97, 14 route passengers. The area thing is complete nonsense

[GeminiFan1991]

Even the unrefurbished Scanias at BY are some of the smartest and well maintained buses in the whole NX fleet. The 94 is now regularly operated by 09 plate E400s. I'd be the first to wish that my local routes had brand new buses on a regular basis, but what we do have is perfectly acceptable. If anything it's the 97 that has had the bum deal, operated almost exclusively by 16 year old vehicles. But even they are not that bad.

I also second this. I dont see BY Scanias often, but I live off the 97 and while the buses are old as you say, I'd probably go as far as saying, those buses are the quickest in terms of just shifting their mass. I've seen them belting down the Bordesley Green Road.

[monkeyjoe]

In the same way the north of England gets less investment than London, there's a reason and it's not fair. Just a shame no other companies are interested.  To say it's a non sense is kinda of blinkered and being in a bubble in my humble view.

[Tony]

In the same way the north of England gets less investment than London, there's a reason and it's not fair. Just a shame no other companies are interested.  To say it's a non sense is kinda of blinkered and being in a bubble in my humble view.

So The current East Birmingham garage (AG) hasn't got one of the lowest average ages / Most modern fleet in the West Midlands?

[monkeyjoe]

Not serving ex lea hall corridors ( apart from x12) no

[Sh4318]

I wonder if there's much of an uproar/discontent from non-enthusiast bus users in these areas.

Gemini's - for me - are still the best buses in the fleet. There's no doubt in my mind that the MK1 Enviro 400 examples are the best of the bunch. I'm sure the X12, X70 & 11A skirt around these areas whose pre-dominant allocation sees buses no older than 4 years old

I'm argue the 14 & 97 feel a little neglected, then again, the 14, 17 & 55 have always been operated using "the standard buses that the particular garage has" (i.e Dennis Tridents and O405Ns)

[MARKG]

New deliveries 7524 & 7529 in the yard at BC yesterday with 7525 visible inside garage.

[Busboy105]

Does anyone know when the Alexander Dennis contract ends?
And when it does, will NX get buses from another bus manufacturer like Wrightbus?

[Tony]

7530; 7534 & 7536-41 will not be delivered until after next weekend so will now receive '69' registrations. I'll put details on the main site tonight

[Wolves256]

The 19th March 2014 press release stated
"Bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) has signed a £100m deal to produce 600 vehicles for National Express over the next five years.
The vehicles, which will be a mix of double deck and midi buses, will join National Express's fleets in the West Midlands and Dundee."

So I make it 569 ADL buses delivered/ on order over 6 years since the announcement:

2014: 100 x E400 & E200
2015: 171 x E400MMC & E200MMC
2016: 96 x E400 MMC
2017: 38 x E400 MMC
2018: 89 x E400 MMC (includes 14 for Dundee)
2019: 75 x E400 MMC
Wright bus also delivered 5 X streetdeck and 5 x streetlite over this time period

in addition i believe 30 x ADL/BYD EnviroXXX are on order for YW & CV taking the total to 599 ADL products