Walsall Garage

[Tony]

I think 4125 was on 51 according to bus times today

It's normally first choice for the 51s out of all the tridents.

[Gareth]

you could have just said there is enough spare to cover for instance.

You've just answered your own question. Because if there wasn't enough 'spare' they wouldn't be allocated.

[Westy]

It's normally first choice for the 51s out of all the tridents.

Think I recall seeing it in Walsall 7am this morning!

[Jack]

Think I recall seeing it in Walsall 7am this morning!

It's on the 51 most days of the week, as are most of the Trident's now, don't exactly understand what's happened to all the E400's the last few months but the 51 now just gets dumped with any Decker and any Euro Compliant Single, the peak 51's this week have all been Scania's this week which is absolute joke when you want to put social distancing into account. I know I'm ranting here but the 51 and most other routes I've noticed just get dumped with anything now. It makes no sense when there's Single Deckers doing peak boards but according to yesterday on the tracker 6713 was out on the 70A. There's suppose to 9 branded E400's but its usually 3/4 with a pair of unbranded ones and a load of Tridents (usually 3/4). I love having the Tridents on the 51 but I don't really understand why all of a sudden the E400's have gone. I don't understand why the spare Platinums can't be used on the peak 51's instead of the Single Deckers, shoving Single Deckers out on busy double deck routes during peak times is a joke and then being waiting passengers left behind at bus stops which I've seen a few times this week on the Walsall Road.

Rant over

[Westy]

Yeah , I remember seeing a Plattie on the 7's & 70's this week.

The thing is, you can't complain too much, as at least you're getting a bus!

What sort of level of service is it supposed to be,  if there is spare Platinums in the first place?

It's not Sunday service, or that level of service you got last spring/summer, where you got Platinums on the 31& even the 4 & 34, & it's not proper non covid service level either?

(Not Walsall of course, but the service level on the 529 even went down to half hourly during the day as well.  That's got to be the worst frequency Covid related  so far!)

[Jack]

Yeah , I remember seeing a Plattie on the 7's & 70's this week.

The thing is, you can't complain too much, as at least you're getting a bus!

What sort of level of service is it supposed to be,  if there is spare Platinums in the first place?

It's not Sunday service, or that level of service you got last spring/summer, where you got Platinums on the 31& even the 4 & 34, & it's not proper non covid service level either?

(Not Walsall of course, but the service level on the 529 even went down to half hourly during the day as well.  That's got to be the worst frequency Covid related  so far!)

But it makes no sense to shove Deckers on services that don't need them at all really, 7/7A, 29/70/70A etc. But then shove a Single Decker on a service that can't cope.

No, you aren't getting a bus if it is a single decker that sails past your stop with a full load.

Platinum's were used in the first lockdown because of the mass service reductions and using the vehicles that were lowest on fuel to reduce costs on fuel. Even after that lockdown ended Deckers were used on those services for a while and the 51 was still having Deckers as there was enough of them. Even with Walsall now having a few more 43** Tridents it somehow meant that the buses used on the 41 have now made themselves onto busy double deck services, after watching the tracker. I don't think Walsall has a shortage of Deckers, they are just being used on the services that don't require them, even in peaks yet you have the Birmingham services getting Omnilinks and Urban 2's in the peak time at max capacity.

You're one to talk about not complaining, I don't forget the constant 11/11A's supposedly running late daily, oh but you was still about to get on the bus, whereas the 51 will sail past because its a rammed Single Decker...

[888DUK]

Be careful Tony looks like Jack is after your job.🤣🤣

[Tony]

But it makes no sense to shove Deckers on services that don't need them at all really, 7/7A, 29/70/70A etc. But then shove a Single Decker on a service that can't cope.

Please don't make comments you know nothing about.

The 7 suffers some of the most overcrowding of any Walsall route on certain journies.

Some 29 journies require double decks as well

[Jack]

Please don't make comments you know nothing about.

The 7 suffers some of the most overcrowding of any Walsall route on certain journies.

Some 29 journies require double decks as well

'Certain journies'... the 6/7/7A have a 10 minute frequency between Walsall and Aldridge, I can't quite see how Castlefort exactly fills a fast double decker up let alone a single. I've even used the odd 7 in the peak before the lockdown and it wouldn't be rammed, and it usually empties out by the time its at Aldridge, leaving a quarter of passengers aboard for Castlefort. In peak times even a Single Deck would suffice. The 7/7A were single deckers a few years ago and they coped from my remembrance with the 6 easing them out with the Deckers.

I understand with the 29 at peaks but it's absolutely stupid because that same Decker then goes onto the 70A after arriving into Walsall and is wasted, in my opinion.

[Tony]

'Certain journies'... the 6/7/7A have a 10 minute frequency between Walsall and Aldridge, I can't quite see how Castlefort exactly fills a fast double decker up let alone a single. I've even used the odd 7 in the peak before the lockdown and it wouldn't be rammed, and it usually empties out by the time its at Aldridge, leaving a quarter of passengers aboard for Castlefort. In peak times even a Single Deck would suffice. The 7/7A were single deckers a few years ago and they coped from my remembrance with the 6 easing them out with the Deckers.

I understand with the 29 at peaks but it's absolutely stupid because that same Decker then goes onto the 70A after arriving into Walsall and is wasted, in my opinion.

Try catching a number 7 around 08:30 or 15:00. I presume you are such a skilled scheduler you could do better than the NX ones at rearranging timetables and running boards to avoid the emptier trips and find trips that needed those deckers in the middle of the day that are currently booked single decks?

[Westy]

But it makes no sense to shove Deckers on services that don't need them at all really, 7/7A, 29/70/70A etc. But then shove a Single Decker on a service that can't cope.

No, you aren't getting a bus if it is a single decker that sails past your stop with a full load.

Platinum's were used in the first lockdown because of the mass service reductions and using the vehicles that were lowest on fuel to reduce costs on fuel. Even after that lockdown ended Deckers were used on those services for a while and the 51 was still having Deckers as there was enough of them. Even with Walsall now having a few more 43** Tridents it somehow meant that the buses used on the 41 have now made themselves onto busy double deck services, after watching the tracker. I don't think Walsall has a shortage of Deckers, they are just being used on the services that don't require them, even in peaks yet you have the Birmingham services getting Omnilinks and Urban 2's in the peak time at max capacity.

You're one to talk about not complaining, I don't forget the constant 11/11A's supposedly running late daily, oh but you was still about to get on the bus, whereas the 51 will sail past because its a rammed Single Decker...

Have you ever had to wait up to an hour on one occasion, mainly half an hour on most occasions, to get a 51?

I did on the 11/11a, and it was a similar sort of frequency supposedly to the 51, even without help from the X51!

And I bet the local authority cut the trees down, so you could run double deckers all the time, instead of being rammed on a single decker!

I'm old enough to remember double deckers on the Dudley corridor on a regular basis, basically as it was rare to see the Pte single deckers out in service.

[Westy]

Is there any reason why the 31/32 branded seem to be escaping onto other single deck routes?

I  can understand swopping single deck & double decks round , to give a better balance but surely the 31/32's should be staying on their own routes, or is this down to parking in the depot again?

(There's only 6 for Nx isn't there, with 5 operational currently,  & surely the  Pvr currently for both Nx & Diamond is more than that?)

[Trident 4194]

Is there any reason why the 31/32 branded seem to be escaping onto other single deck routes?

I  can understand swopping single deck & double decks round , to give a better balance but surely the 31/32's should be staying on their own routes, or is this down to parking in the depot again?

(There's only 6 for Nx isn't there, with 5 operational currently,  & surely the  Pvr currently for both Nx & Diamond is more than that?)

There was one on the 4H yesterday

[Fred]

Walsall was a shocker today.

These noted in a 45 min window in Walsall this afternoon.

1854 on 8
1766 on 31
1880 on 8A
2118 on 31
2130 on 29
4605 on 51
4863 on 997
4866 on 10
6717 on 7
6718 on 7A
6746 on X51

Lots more wrong allocations noted on bustimes.

This amount of wrong allocation is just being slack. I'm sure the NXWM can do no wrong camp will try and claim lots of reasons, but there are just far too many.

[Gareth]

Walsall was a shocker today.

These noted in a 45 min window in Walsall this afternoon.

1854 on 8
1766 on 31
1880 on 8A
2118 on 31
2130 on 29
4605 on 51
4863 on 997
4866 on 10
6717 on 7
6718 on 7A
6746 on X51

Lots more wrong allocations noted on bustimes.

This amount of wrong allocation is just being slack. I'm sure the NXWM can do no wrong camp will try and claim lots of reasons, but there are just far too many.

Did any of these that you noted from your armchair affect your life in any way, shape or form?