Depot alternative access

[Westy]

I guess that this would have been addressed by senior management at some point, but us 'general public' probably wouldn't give it a thought, but do depots have alternative emergency access arrangements, if normal access arrangements are unavailable?

For example, I've only ever seen Walsall vehicles enter in & out via Bloxwich Road & the vehicles starting & finishing service over west Walsall normally use Leamore Lane to & from Bloxwich Road.

If Bloxwich Road is unavailable for some reason & I seem to recall there was an incident for a few hours not so long back(I'm not refering to the bridge by the Go Kart place, I'm talking further up past Forest Lane, which involved Bloxwich Road services being diverted via Coalpool or Green Lane!), is there some sort of rear access from Green Lane instead?

Or would other depots have to cover the services somehow for the period?

[Central Buses]

Most businesses usually have a Major Incident Plan or similar for deployment in emergency situations.

[Roy]

First in Bath certainly didn't have a contingency plan in January when a fatal accident blocked the entrance to their depot.  All buses were trapped in the depot and the only First services running in Bath were long distance ones operated by other depots (e.g. Bristol and Wells).  Services were disrupted from start of day until about 3 pm. http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/update/2017-01-12/buses-affected-by-fatal-crash-in-bath/

[Tony]

First in Bath certainly didn't have a contingency plan in January when a fatal accident blocked the entrance to their depot.  All buses were trapped in the depot and the only First services running in Bath were long distance ones operated by other depots (e.g. Bristol and Wells).  Services were disrupted from start of day until about 3 pm. http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/update/2017-01-12/buses-affected-by-fatal-crash-in-bath/

It's different if your buses are trapped in than out. Nx have a full contingency plan if buses are unable to return to any depot

[Westy]

It's different if your buses are trapped in than out. Nx have a full contingency plan if buses are unable to return to any depot

Which presumbly involves other depots then?

I take it other depots would have enough buses to borrow to maintain a basic service if buses were trapped?

Is there a similar arrangement to the railways / Metro, where other operators tickets are accepted in an emergency, thus minimising the impact?

[karl724223]

A few years back pensnett had a problem with its fuel pumps so all buses had to fuel up at west brom  engineers and drivers who could help drove buses to and from west brom

[Tony]

There is a site in Birmingham no I cannot say where, that if any garage was not available for a night the buses would be parked after being fuelled at the other garages.
Birmingham Central
Perry Barr
Walsall
Wolverhampton
West Bromwich
all have two different entrances

[Westy]

There is a site in Birmingham no I cannot say where, that if any garage was not available for a night the buses would be parked after being fuelled at the other garages.
Birmingham Central
Perry Barr
Walsall
Wolverhampton
West Bromwich
all have two different entrances

If the alternative Walsall entrance begins with a C, surely they would still have a problem if Bloxwich Road was completely shut?

[Tony]

If the alternative Walsall entrance begins with a C, surely they would still have a problem if Bloxwich Road was completely shut?

Why would the whole road be shut?

Any point of it yes, but the chance of being shut North of the normal entrance and South of Carl Street is highly unlikely.

Carl Street has had to be used a couple of times

[fleetline6477]

Some years ago Green Bus and Midland Rider had their depots on the same industrial estate behind Sandwell & Dudley Station. One evening a Green Bus double decker reversed into one of the horizontal posts in their depot which caused major structural damage. Both Green and Midland Rider parked up at the former Pete's Travel depot in Hill Top for a couple of days.

[the trainbasher]

If I remember rightly, apart from the final stretch off Second Avenue, PN has the stallings Lane entrance at well as the A4101 entrance to the trading estate.

[Stuharris 6360]

It's different if your buses are trapped in than out. Nx have a full contingency plan if buses are unable to return to any depot

In the very rare case, do NX also have a plan if buses for some reason were trapped in a depot?