Joe's Travel - Outer Circle

[Sh4318]

It's a pity they don't operate a more frequent service, still it will be nice having Proper darts on my route now! The ex Brighton and Hove ones are knackered.

I'm quite a fan of those darts, not the best. But they're quite nippy :) - albeit this is helped by the amount of people waiting at bus stops with NXWM bus passes/daysavers ;)

[PM]

tbh They do alright on the 11.

I'm glad and looking forward to going on them tomorrow!

[trident4370]

I'm quite a fan of those darts, not the best. But they're quite nippy :) - albeit this is helped by the amount of people waiting at bus stops with NXWM bus passes/daysavers ;)

One of the Pointers is quite good, but most are just bags of nails :P I guess it depends on the driver as much as the vehicle to be fair, but they are tired inside and out though!

[Stu]

It is likely to be R404FFC as that was with little gem manchester who leased it and then they folded so it is likely to have returned along with R530YRP to the west midlands

Yes, that's the one, still had little gem on the side, in Diamond livery, definately an FFC

Saw it today, and I can confirm it was R404FFC, in Little Gem livery.

While I was waiting for the NXWM 11A to go to Stechford, a Joes 11 turned up a few minutes before, and picked up a nice loading, even if most were OAPs.

[Liverpool Street]

It is likely to be R404FFC as that was with little gem manchester who leased it and then they folded so it is likely to have returned along with R530YRP to the west midlands

Yes, that's the one, still had little gem on the side, in Diamond livery, definately an FFC

Saw it today, and I can confirm it was R404FFC, in Little Gem livery.

While I was waiting for the NXWM 11A to go to Stechford, a Joes 11 turned up a few minutes before, and picked up a nice loading, even if most were OAPs.

Isn't that where most of their income comes from? Concessionary cards etc

[Stu]

Isn't that where most of their income comes from? Concessionary cards etc

Quite possibly, but at least they're picking up passengers. Saw another one earlier while waiting for the 37 to Solihull, displaying 11E Soho Road, and that was quite full.

For someone like me, who only has an NXWM Faresaver, means the next 11 is less likely to be ram packed!  ;D

[PM]

They were doing well on there today that's for sure. R404FFC was on there-nice to get on an ex diamond short crusader again to be honest. Full from kings heath to bournville with a lot of oaps but with some cashpayers. One question though for Tony or someone else knowledgable about this: can an operator charge £3.90 for an nbus? The driver was extremely polite, helpful and friendly and I think the low floor darts could help them enormously on there.

[Tony]

They were doing well on there today that's for sure. R404FFC was on there-nice to get on an ex diamond short crusader again to be honest. Full from kings heath to bournville with a lot of oaps but with some cashpayers. One question though for Tony or someone else knowledgable about this: can an operator charge £3.90 for an nbus? The driver was extremely polite, helpful and friendly and I think the low floor darts could help them enormously on there.

He will still have to pay Centro the going rate, not sure how much commission there is on selling these at the moment

[PM]

They were doing well on there today that's for sure. R404FFC was on there-nice to get on an ex diamond short crusader again to be honest. Full from kings heath to bournville with a lot of oaps but with some cashpayers. One question though for Tony or someone else knowledgable about this: can an operator charge £3.90 for an nbus? The driver was extremely polite, helpful and friendly and I think the low floor darts could help them enormously on there.

He will still have to pay Centro the going rate, not sure how much commission there is on selling these at the moment

That's interesting so they would just be lowering their commission as opposed to anything else. To be fair, this person got on and wanted a daysaver and so was going to get off and then the driver said he could do an anybus ticket for the same price. Tbh joe's seem a good company and I really enjoyed today's trip on one of their buses. It's nice to see someone trying out a route that isn't a traditional target for competition eg 50, 16, 17, 97, 94, 63 etc

[the trainbasher]

They were doing well on there today that's for sure. R404FFC was on there-nice to get on an ex diamond short crusader again to be honest. Full from kings heath to bournville with a lot of oaps but with some cashpayers. One question though for Tony or someone else knowledgable about this: can an operator charge £3.90 for an nbus? The driver was extremely polite, helpful and friendly and I think the low floor darts could help them enormously on there.

He will still have to pay Centro the going rate, not sure how much commission there is on selling these at the moment

Wasn't that what AMPM were supposedly doing?

[fleetline6477]

They were doing well on there today that's for sure. R404FFC was on there-nice to get on an ex diamond short crusader again to be honest. Full from kings heath to bournville with a lot of oaps but with some cashpayers. One question though for Tony or someone else knowledgable about this: can an operator charge £3.90 for an nbus? The driver was extremely polite, helpful and friendly and I think the low floor darts could help them enormously on there.

This should cause a problem because the driver's cash and the total amount registered from ticket sales won't tally, unless driver's are actively told to do this and assuming such checks are in place.

[OH25]

I was meant to post this a few days back
I saw two of their buses together both were in service at about 8am in Bearwood
very off timing  ???

[PM]

I was meant to post this a few days back
I saw two of their buses together both were in service at about 8am in Bearwood
very off timing  ???

On a service like the 11 there will always be bunching-NX do it and run as 11E's to get things back on track.
This has been going on for years-BaMMOT recreated famous outer circle bunching with standards in October. It was happening then and is happening now and unfortunately the effect is heightened for a smaller company without expensive AVL equipment.

[trident4370]

I have seen three together before now although one did turn around randomly and start the reverse journey, while the other 2 carried on to Acocks Green. Rare but it does happen, I've also seen 2 turn up at the King Edward School together before now at 3:20, 11s were all held up hence the grouping, there hadn't been an NX for ages and both darts left with standing loads!

[OH25]

Joe's Travel has a repair van
SJ03 LUD
it was dealing with a bus on City Road the other day