NXWM 2016 Orders

[Steve3229vp]

I would expect to see Platinum buses on 902, 904 and 905.
The 907 and 914 possibly but I doubt it, my route is the 907 and I can't see this neglected route gaining Platinum buses.
The 126 must be a contender, perhaps with a route change to make it faster (how I don't know !!!)

[GeminiFan1991]

It'll be quite the route upgrade if the 5 went from Plaxtons to Platinums  !

[2900]

All I,ve ever heard from the people that use buses to blackheath is we never get any new buses it's always hand me downs from the Birmingham garages , I should point out these comments come from people who used the old 128/129 and now the 89 service.
Saying that a few years a go while waiting in blackheath I had refurbished plaxton the chap I was chatting to couldn't believe it was a 15 year old bus, he was most impressed, when done properly refurbs work just as well as a new bus. A new bus has a much bigger carbon foot print than one already knocking about.
Plaxtons on the 83/89 have become rare now.

[Gareth]

All I,ve ever heard from the people that use buses to blackheath is we never get any new buses it's always hand me downs from the Birmingham garages , I should point out these comments come from people who used the old 128/129 and now the 89 service.
Saying that a few years a go while waiting in blackheath I had refurbished plaxton the chap I was chatting to couldn't believe it was a 15 year old bus, he was most impressed, when done properly refurbs work just as well as a new bus. A new bus has a much bigger carbon foot print than one already knocking about.
Plaxtons on the 83/89 have become rare now.

How would the average passenger know which garage a bus has come from? They could easily have come from any garage on the system.

[2900]

How would the average passenger know which garage a bus has come from? They could easily have come from any garage on the system.

you don't have to be a bus nut to see what's going on ,Birmingham garages do tend to have the newer buses , some of these pensioners have more knowledge about the bus network and buses than most on this forum. Not all are just your average passenger.
There was a time when most deckers at west brom garage were from Hockley, Perry Barr, acocks green, central ,yardley wood, all Birmingham garages , only new deckers to west brom up to till 18 months a go were the 4700 Gemini
Hope that answers your ?

[don]

It'll be quite the route upgrade if the 5 went from Plaxtons to Platinums  !

Albeit nice condition, fully branded Plaxtons. I don't think it's sustainable for all the new buses to go on routes where the buses are already nearly new, given the level of investment happening currently. It becomes a waste of resources and time changing branding (which is why I can't see the 529 being upgraded).

It would be interesting if the Bristol Road had new buses - either crimson ..... could it be platimun (I doubt it) - it seems to have gone out of favour for new vehicles on the Bristol Road in recent years, having some of the oldest buses in the fleet currently. Back in the day (60s and 1970), by quirk of fate, the Bristol Road had new buses three years on the run - crew operated, non driver only fitted KOX F (Park Royals), replaced by NOV-G (one man driver only conversion on the same day man landed on the moon); SOE-H Jumbos (larger capacity driver only buses) - one of the quirks of fate was the buses intended for the 8 couldn't be used on it because the normal approved height for buses for Government grant assistance wouldn't go under some of the bridges (increasing bus height was possibly another LT driven disaster, they had yet to experience front-loading, rear engined buses except as an experiment at the time) - the subsequent standard WMPTE bus was a lower height, approved by the Ministry for grant assistance and solved the problem - the SO NOV-Gs went to the Pershore Road, replacing the CE Met Camm KOX-F (the garage had the entire batch as more or less its sole allocation from new - possibly unique in the West Midlands) many of which went to LS and HY for the 8! And WMPTE led the country in learning that to operate safely (there was a fatality on the Bristol Road), 2 door buses required interlocks which rendered them slower to load/unload than a one door bus, leading to 2 door buses going out of fashion largely the country over (notable exception, London....)

Back on topic......

The reason I have said 4, 5 and 126 is that the 4 travels through the districts of Walsall, Sandwell and Dudley, the 126, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and City of Birmingham and I don't believe NXWM would dare claim that platinum serves all the black country districts without at least one route travelling through the centre of each - the 4 and 126 would meet that expectation except West Bromwich, hence saying WB 5 also - we will see in due course!!

[Trident 4609]

Albeit nice condition, fully branded Plaxtons. I don't think it's sustainable for all the new buses to go on routes where the buses are already nearly new, given the level of investment happening currently. It becomes a waste of resources and time changing branding (which is why I can't see the 529 being upgraded).

It would be interesting if the Bristol Road had new buses - either crimson ..... could it be platimun (I doubt it) - it seems to have gone out of favour for new vehicles on the Bristol Road in recent years, having some of the oldest buses in the fleet currently. Back in the day (60s and 1970), by quirk of fate, the Bristol Road had new buses three years on the run - crew operated, non driver only fitted KOX F (Park Royals), replaced by NOV-G (one man driver only conversion on the same day man landed on the moon); SOE-H Jumbos (larger capacity driver only buses) - one of the quirks of fate was the buses intended for the 8 couldn't be used on it because the normal approved height for buses for Government grant assistance wouldn't go under some of the bridges (increasing bus height was possibly another LT driven disaster, they had yet to experience front-loading, rear engined buses except as an experiment at the time) - the subsequent standard WMPTE bus was a lower height, approved by the Ministry for grant assistance and solved the problem - the SO NOV-Gs went to the Pershore Road, replacing the CE Met Camm KOX-F (the garage had the entire batch as more or less its sole allocation from new - possibly unique in the West Midlands) many of which went to LS and HY for the 8! And WMPTE led the country in learning that to operate safely (there was a fatality on the Bristol Road), 2 door buses required interlocks which rendered them slower to load/unload than a one door bus, leading to 2 door buses going out of fashion largely the country over (notable exception, London....)

Back on topic......

The reason I have said 4, 5 and 126 is that the 4 travels through the districts of Walsall, Sandwell and Dudley, the 126, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and City of Birmingham and I don't believe NXWM would dare claim that platinum serves all the black country districts without at least one route travelling through the centre of each - the 4 and 126 would meet that expectation except West Bromwich, hence saying WB 5 also - we will see in due course!!

The 4 serves West Bromwich

[Dutsey]

The Platinum concept I agree could be rolled out on just your average key corridors like the Walsall 4. But the 529 as much as it's a key link, it's rife with anti social behaviour and fare evasion. It would be like having a Stagecoach Gold route in Salford.

I believe Stagecoach West had a spate of issues I think on the 10 which is Gold and threatened to pull the buses off the route if vandalism continued. From what I understand the threat worked as they are still on there now.

[don]

The 4 serves West Bromwich

True - for some bizarre reason I thought it went through Wednesbury!! The other thing against the 4 being converted is what would be done with the displaced single deckers - short of converting existing double deck routes to single deck or selling the oldest single deckers, neither of which would seem sensible, it seems to pose a problem!! Cascade of B7s to Dundee possibly? Some double deckers replaced single deckers up there recently?

[Trident 4609]

True - for some bizarre reason I thought it went through Wednesbury!! The other thing against the 4 being converted is what would be done with the displaced single deckers - short of converting existing double deck routes to single deck or selling the oldest single deckers, neither of which would seem sensible, it seems to pose a problem!! Cascade of B7s to Dundee possibly? Some double deckers replaced single deckers up there recently?

I would have thought the 4 would have been 'Crimsoned' with its Omnilinks. If the 4 were to have new buses, i would have also said about the remaining B7RLE's at WA joining the rest of the batch at Dundee.

[Kiewii]

i would have also said about the remaining B7RLE's at WA joining the rest of the batch at Dundee.

Replacing what?

[Trident4590]

As I see it, Platinum doesn't have to be restricted to express or limited-stop services, but if it is to be expanded across the Black Country, I can see it being rolled out to what people would consider 'key' link routes between Black Country towns/areas.

For example, while I'm not that familiar with the 529 route, it could be seen as a 'key' bus link between Walsall and Wolverhampton. And likewise, the 4 could be seen also as a 'key' link, moving people between Walsall, West Bromwich, Oldbury and Blackheath (as well as onto Halesowen/Merry Hill).

I could also see the 126 being considered for the Platinum concept, being as it links Wolverhampton, Dudley, Oldbury (to an extent) and Birmingham.

However I'm not sure though whether Platinum could/would be rolled out to single-deck routes, as I believe that would leave NX with a surplus of single-deck vehicles that do not yet need to be withdrawn, not while there are so many older double-decks that need to be dealt with.

Isn't the 9 a key route? Can't see that going platinum

[2206]

Albeit nice condition, fully branded Plaxtons. I don't think it's sustainable for all the new buses to go on routes where the buses are already nearly new, given the level of investment happening currently. It becomes a waste of resources and time changing branding (which is why I can't see the 529 being upgraded).

Why can't you see the 529 being upgraded. It uses 11 year old tridents which were branded in March 2013. (Nearly 3 years ago)
The E400s new to BC in 2013 were branded for the 957 and 900 in August 2013 and they are no longer branded for the 900/957 and branded for the Pershore Road.

[JoNi]

Arriva successfully upgrades existing vehicles to Sapphire standard, but there is never any mention of NX upgrading existing vehicles just slap on a bit of paint on the outside!

[Westy]

Arriva successfully upgrades existing vehicles to Sapphire standard, but there is never any mention of NX upgrading existing vehicles just slap it of paint on the outside!

They change the seats over though!