West Bromwich Garage

[Ash]

I saw 4533 either on the 75 or the 80 at West Brom bus station any idea if this has transferred or how many more are going to get transferred and what they are replacing, also has 1584 transferred to BY or on loan

[Stu]

WB have been receiving Geminis from AG and PB in order to upgrade the 127 and 128 to double-decker operation, following customer complaints about overcrowding and reliability.

The Geminis from AG have been replaced by Presidents from BC, and the Geminis from PB have been replaced by brand new Enviro 400s.

I believe this may also be in anticipation of the new bus emission requirements due to come into force in the summer for buses travelling within the city centre.

At the moment, without necessary modifications, the current batch of Presidents used by Birmingham Central, Acocks Green and West Bromwich do not meet the emissions requirements set out . This was mentioned in a forum post here before the forum died again recently, and it was suggested that the Presidents would mostly transfer to Acocks Green, in order to operate the 11A/C services, which do not enter the city centre, and Gemini buses would transfer out of Acocks Green in exchange for buses that go into Birmingham, such as West Bromwich's 74, 75, 82, 87,  127 and 128 services, or remain there to be used on the 1, 5,  31/31A and 37 services which do serve the city centre. 

[Ash]

Does the alx 400 '51 reg' buses fit in with new emmission requirements as these are the buses normally used on the soho road services

[MW]

Does the alx 400 '51 reg' buses fit in with new emmission requirements as these are the buses normally used on the soho road services

Yes

[Ash]

Does the alx 400 '51 reg' buses fit in with new emmission requirements as these are the buses normally used on the soho road services

Yes

Thanks for reply so basically is it all the Y reg vehciles and newer that are OK

[MW]

Does the alx 400 '51 reg' buses fit in with new emmission requirements as these are the buses normally used on the soho road services

Yes

Thanks for reply so basically is it all the Y reg vehciles and newer that are OK

4125 & onwards, as far as I'm aware.

[KayP]

I think they're doing what they used to do with the 128/9 where they had metrobuses allocated monday-saturday and mercs on sunday, but now they have volvo b7s

WB have been receiving Geminis from AG and PB in order to upgrade the 127 and 128 to double-decker operation, following customer complaints about overcrowding and reliability.

The Geminis from AG have been replaced by Presidents from BC, and the Geminis from PB have been replaced by brand new Enviro 400s.

I believe this may also be in anticipation of the new bus emission requirements due to come into force in the summer for buses travelling within the city centre.

At the moment, without necessary modifications, the current batch of Presidents used by Birmingham Central, Acocks Green and West Bromwich do not meet the emissions requirements set out . This was mentioned in a forum post here before the forum died again recently, and it was suggested that the Presidents would mostly transfer to Acocks Green, in order to operate the 11A/C services, which do not enter the city centre, and Gemini buses would transfer out of Acocks Green in exchange for buses that go into Birmingham, such as West Bromwich's 74, 75, 82, 87,  127 and 128 services, or remain there to be used on the 1, 5,  31/31A and 37 services which do serve the city centre.

[Ash]

As West Brom seem to be getting more AG gemini's will it mean the presidents will move to AG in return as a swop

[MW]

As West Brom seem to be getting more AG gemini's will it mean the presidents will move to AG in return as a swop

No, West Brom are losing B6LE/Mercs and gaining Deckers, to make the 128/129 into a double deck operation. It would be pointless if they were in exchange for Presidents.

I reckon AG will be getting a shed load of ex BC Presidents in the next coming months for use on routes not visiting Birmingham. Having said that, routes like the 1 & 31 have to be operated by Geminis, and with most of the 45** batch left AG, it seems the BX54 ones will be used, with the Presidents on the 11A/C.

[Ash]

As West Brom seem to be getting more AG gemini's will it mean the presidents will move to AG in return as a swop

No, West Brom are losing B6LE/Mercs and gaining Deckers, to make the 128/129 into a double deck operation. It would be pointless if they were in exchange for Presidents.

I reckon AG will be getting a shed load of ex BC Presidents in the next coming months for use on routes not visiting Birmingham. Having said that, routes like the 1 & 31 have to be operated by Geminis, and with most of the 45** batch left AG, it seems the BX54 ones will be used, with the Presidents on the 11A/C.

I know it would be pointless, but what i ment was the presidents at WB now that don't meet requirements would be pushed onto other WB routes and i can't see any other routes that need double deckers at WB as the presidents would have to come off the 74/75 and other routes like the 127/8 where they appear on now and move onto other routes currently at WB

[winston]

Michael, it looks as though you were right, and looking more likely that Presidents will have be used on the 11A/11C, surely this can only be a interim measure what with the Outer Circle being a famous route, and new double deckers can be ordered later in the year.

Problem is, I can't yet see what's going to replace the remaining Presidents at BC?, unless they intend to replace the Presidents with new B7RLE single deckers temporarily, but I can't see that going down well with passengers on any of BC's routes as they are get so busy

As West Brom seem to be getting more AG gemini's will it mean the presidents will move to AG in return as a swop

No, West Brom are losing B6LE/Mercs and gaining Deckers, to make the 128/129 into a double deck operation. It would be pointless if they were in exchange for Presidents.

I reckon AG will be getting a shed load of ex BC Presidents in the next coming months for use on routes not visiting Birmingham. Having said that, routes like the 1 & 31 have to be operated by Geminis, and with most of the 45** batch left AG, it seems the BX54 ones will be used, with the Presidents on the 11A/C.

[Stu]

At a best guess, I imagine a 'three-way' trade-off between three garages:

BCs Presidents to AG
AGs Geminis to WA
WAs Tridents to BC

That should leave enough Geminis at AG for the 1, 5, 31/A and 73 services that serve the City Centre, with Presidents operating on the 11A/C and 966.

At the moment, only AG, BC and WB operate Presidents, there is also a possibility they could be introduced at another garage, for example Wolverhampton.

[Tony]

I believe the exclusion area now excludes the complete 1 route, so the 1 can keep its Presidents

[Roy]

One simple solution would be to transfer Presidents to YW to operate services 18, 49, 49A and 76.

[Stu]

I believe the exclusion area now excludes the complete 1 route, so the 1 can keep its Presidents

;D

Am I right then in thinking that this 'exclusion' zone is just within the inner ring road then?