Petition to get Diamond out of Redditch

[bensweeney14]

Personally, I would say Diamond are screwed.

Bus condition wise - I have had 3 Versas lately, fairly new buses coming in at 4 years old.. They were YJ61CHH, YJ61CHK and YJ12GUD. YJ61CHH is fine, it may sound like a combine harvester, but truthfully it is fine, it goes nicely and no warning lights. Howeverm YJ61CHK is the slowest bus I have ever had, I done an 82 on it and for the WHOLE journey the bus was beeping with warnings, not to mention about 6 warning lights on the dashboard, and also.. not to mention the amazing top speed of 15mph (Video here - - Bus is in Limp road, NOT roadworthy)

Then there was YJ12GUD, the Hybrid (Or Sh**ebrid) - ABS warning light, and you could feel it, with the bus juddering VERY bad to a stop, in my opinion, dangerous and CERTAINLY not roadworthy.

Diamond said they are making an improvement; clearly not if buses in a state like YJ61CHK/YJ12GUD are in.

[barry619]

But that is my point. Even if it is pointless and fruitless, the local councillors have a responsibility to write to the TC and voice the concerns of local residents.

I have no knowledge of goings on in Redditch, but from what I have seen posted on here, in local news and statements by Diamond themselves there are far more problems than the so and so service not turning up etc.

Well, that's strange. Two posts ago your point was that councillors should be passing recommendations on to the TC's office. Now it's that they should be raising their constituents' concerns with it, which they are perfectly entitled to do. Bit of a difference between the two, though.

I'd also hope that those alleging that Rotala is running unroadworthy vehicles have something to back up their position(s) too... If not it may pay to keep such suggestions away from a place where identification of the poster(s) is not difficult!

[StourportSam]

Well, that's strange. Two posts ago your point was that councillors should be passing recommendations on to the TC's office. Now it's that they should be raising their constituents' concerns with it, which they are perfectly entitled to do. Bit of a difference between the two, though.

I'd also hope that those alleging that Rotala is running unroadworthy vehicles have something to back up their position(s) too... If not it may pay to keep such suggestions away from a place where identification of the poster(s) is not difficult!

No difference, councillors are voicing their constituents' concerns by writing to the TC and recommending the licence being reviewed or whatever based on the resident's concerns. Whether the TC does or not is up to them but the councillors have done their job by voicing concerns and presenting a possible solution to those responsible for such decisions, the TC.

This is all a guesswork anyway, we don't KNOW what the councillors are actually doing, the above is just what I assumed they were doing as that's the logical thing to do.

[Liberator9]

Personally, I would say Diamond are screwed.

Bus condition wise - I have had 3 Versas lately, fairly new buses coming in at 4 years old.. They were YJ61CHH, YJ61CHK and YJ12GUD. YJ61CHH is fine, it may sound like a combine harvester, but truthfully it is fine, it goes nicely and no warning lights. Howeverm YJ61CHK is the slowest bus I have ever had, I done an 82 on it and for the WHOLE journey the bus was beeping with warnings, not to mention about 6 warning lights on the dashboard, and also.. not to mention the amazing top speed of 15mph (Video here - - Bus is in Limp road, NOT roadworthy)

Then there was YJ12GUD, the Hybrid (Or Sh**ebrid) - ABS warning light, and you could feel it, with the bus juddering VERY bad to a stop, in my opinion, dangerous and CERTAINLY not roadworthy.

Diamond said they are making an improvement; clearly not if buses in a state like YJ61CHK/YJ12GUD are in.

@bensweeney14

Glad I'm not the only one who finds the Versas shocking half the time. There's been loose wheels, suspension at the front not raising up causing it to judder, the low air pressure warnings, and the engines sounding like they're on death's door. The Solo SRs ain't much better - MFY cooling fan, MFZ slow as hell, having to use the manual gear settings to get the revs up to get up hills, however MFV and MFX are fine - although MFV is only due to the 'new' engine its got considering it spent most of 2015 OOU.

They've always been tempermental buses - one of the SRs when a year old had engine issues which took ages to resolve. I honestly hope the Streetlites on order replace this lot on the Signatures, although I'd much rather be seeing some Volvo B8s coming in considering Volvo are durable. I've always compared the ageing of the Solo SRs to the couple of months older NX Scanias at YW - the Scanias are still pretty much the same as when new - seats and paint are due a refurb but mechanically doing well and ride wise still the same as when delivered I've found!

[winston]

@bensweeney14

Glad I'm not the only one who finds the Versas shocking half the time. There's been loose wheels, suspension at the front not raising up causing it to judder, the low air pressure warnings, and the engines sounding like they're on death's door. The Solo SRs ain't much better - MFY cooling fan, MFZ slow as hell, having to use the manual gear settings to get the revs up to get up hills, however MFV and MFX are fine - although MFV is only due to the 'new' engine its got considering it spent most of 2015 OOU.

They've always been tempermental buses - one of the SRs when a year old had engine issues which took ages to resolve. I honestly hope the Streetlites on order replace this lot on the Signatures, although I'd much rather be seeing some Volvo B8s coming in considering Volvo are durable. I've always compared the ageing of the Solo SRs to the couple of months older NX Scanias at YW - the Scanias are still pretty much the same as when new - seats and paint are due a refurb but mechanically doing well and ride wise still the same as when delivered I've found!

The 8 x Streetlites due soon are for the 57/58 not Signature

[Tomf1993]

Personally, I would say Diamond are screwed.

Bus condition wise - I have had 3 Versas lately, fairly new buses coming in at 4 years old.. They were YJ61CHH, YJ61CHK and YJ12GUD. YJ61CHH is fine, it may sound like a combine harvester, but truthfully it is fine, it goes nicely and no warning lights. Howeverm YJ61CHK is the slowest bus I have ever had, I done an 82 on it and for the WHOLE journey the bus was beeping with warnings, not to mention about 6 warning lights on the dashboard, and also.. not to mention the amazing top speed of 15mph (Video here - - Bus is in Limp road, NOT roadworthy)

Then there was YJ12GUD, the Hybrid (Or Sh**ebrid) - ABS warning light, and you could feel it, with the bus juddering VERY bad to a stop, in my opinion, dangerous and CERTAINLY not roadworthy.

Diamond said they are making an improvement; clearly not if buses in a state like YJ61CHK/YJ12GUD are in.

Ive seen buses today Darts mainly at the rear with black oil marks, driver say Diamond dont fix things properly and that drivers keep telling VOSA who ever they are.

[StourportSam]

VOSA who ever they are.

History of VOSA
VOSA was an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for Transport.

It existed from 3 April 2003 to 31 March 2014.

VOSA merged with the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) to create DVSA.

[winston]

http://redditchstandard.co.uk/news/redditch-woman-fail-apprenticeship-thanks-diamond-bus/

http://redditchstandard.co.uk/news/keep-eyes-redditch-buses-us/

[Kevin]

http://redditchstandard.co.uk/news/redditch-woman-fail-apprenticeship-thanks-diamond-bus/

He also said that the introduction of eight new buses for the town had been delayed to carry out modifications so they could accommodate five spaces for pushchairs instead of just one, specifically for Redditch

Everything you need to know about Redditch right there....

[Ashley 60171]

Everything you need to know about Redditch right there....

LOL, and the rest.

[T840MAK]

Everything you need to know about Redditch right there....

Standing room only then ;)
Seriously? Who in their right mind would value the custom of pushchairs more than passengers needing a seat. Fold the pushchair, get on. Simple logic.

[StourportSam]

http://redditchstandard.co.uk/news/redditch-woman-fail-apprenticeship-thanks-diamond-bus/

http://redditchstandard.co.uk/news/keep-eyes-redditch-buses-us/

That paper really has it in for Diamond.

[PM]

That paper really has it in for Diamond.

Glad that's become the general consensus, exaggerated, desperate nonsense to try to sell a flagging local paper and desperate Labour councillors determined to cause trouble for a Conservative-run WCC to make political hay!!

[Kevin]

Slightly related note...
I notice in the Metro today there's an advert for a Service Advisor role at Diamond, with mention of dealing with complaints...
Why do see the words "in at the deep end" come clearly into mind?

[Cedric]

some people are happy with diamond in Redditch 

https://www.facebook.com/diamondbuses/?fref=nf

https://www.facebook.com/diamondbuses/?fref=nf