Diamond coming off 007.

[Lukeee]

The 404E lately is not even seeing the crusaders on the service any more today there were red diamond darts, a swift branded dart, solos and an all over white diamond dart as well as a couple of newly repainted black diamond pointers. The black diamond network in West Bromwich is very popular services like 401/2/404E and 410 are very well used not so much the 417 although uses the centro's. The 301 is very popular in Walsall along with the 401E. Diamond need new investment but will this come when the sandwell bus review happens.

Most of the commerical services diamond run have been ran by companies that diamond brought up for years as petes travel ran the 404E as their first commerical route and soon after the 401/2 and 401E and the 410 was ran by the birmingham coach company from early 1990's and ludlows with the 002/417 and similar with the other services by diamond like the 16/50/301 and blue diamonds 97 which was petes travel before

So what routes have the Wright Crusaders on as I only saw one on the 404E today and the 417 did have one that struggled terribly up Mucklow Hill and only had myself and 2 other people on it and and when catching another 417 back all the way from West Brom to Halesowen it on it ran virtually empty with 1 other person on it to Blackheath and then 3 people to Halesowen so it could be reduced to every 30 minutes. It is meant to arrive in Halesowen at 2:45 but got to 2 stops before at 2.36 so waited at least 7-8 minutes at a bus stop which was rather annoying.
Also on the 417 was 3 Royales and a Hybrid Versa.
They certainly shouldn't put optare solo's on the 404E route which can get really busy as I was on one today that had a few people standing (20540).

Seen a Wright Crusader on the 56.

[PM]

Really!! Crusader on the 56-I thought they used more luxury buses on that route-dont get me wrong I like crusaders/cadets but still!!

[Ash]

I saw 30207 on the 56 last week it depends on the time of day you see them on there if its peak time at around 5 its not that rare any other time it is. They have tried all those services mentioned and withdrawn off them. The service i would try if i was diamond would be the 246 stourbridge to dudley.

[PM]

In other words, Black Country services they seem to do better on-or they could try to buy Hanson's!! No, but maybe the X96, 246 could be successful. Anyone have any info on what the 404B was??

[PM]

Pity. Thought 404B would have been a useful link-do we think theyd be successul on the 246, 276 or X96?

[hartshill busman 724210]

Pity. Thought 404B would have been a useful link-do we think theyd be successul on the 246, 276 or X96?

Peter the answer would be NO. 246/x96 carry an awful lot of students so all have travelcards,so they would`nt use them.NXWM would also up frequency to limit the chances.276 only really carries on some of the route and you can guarantee pensnett would do all they can to protect that section.

[winston]

Pity. Thought 404B would have been a useful link-do we think theyd be successul on the 246, 276 or X96?

BCC / Diamond Bus have tried the current 246 route in the past, they used to operate the full Walsall - Stourbridge route via Dudley

[Ash]

The 404B was a waste of time as the 417 covers the exact same route, what would be good is extend the current 404E to Oldbury from West Bromwich probably only need 2 extra buses adding onto the PVR as the 404E pvr is 8 it used to be 10 tho.

[Mike360]

If 8 buses are needed for the 404E then Hybrid Versa's should be used on this route and the 56 should have the Royale Centro's put back on it.
Then the 417 should have the Wright Crusaders back on like they used to because those are certainly fine for capacity and once the diversion has finished so they're not going up Mucklow Hill.

[Ash]

The versa's were especially ordered for the 56 i believe, thought as there hybrid buses the 404E is quite a stop start service along with the 301 so would be very useful for both services as fuel consumption would be better.

[Isle of Stroma]

The versa's were especially ordered for the 56 i believe

Nope. Although not the original plan, they were earmarked for another route within the Midlands.

[Ash]

The versa's were especially ordered for the 56 i believe

Nope. Although not the original plan, they were earmarked for another route within the Midlands.

What other route was they for, it was just on the facebook page diamond bus quoted to be using the new versa's on the 56 and 301 services so just took it from here these were the 2 services they were destined to be used on.

[Isle of Stroma]

The versa's were especially ordered for the 56 i believe

Nope. Although not the original plan, they were earmarked for another route within the Midlands.

What other route was they for, it was just on the facebook page diamond bus quoted to be using the new versa's on the 56 and 301 services so just took it from here these were the 2 services they were destined to be used on.

What is on the facebook page is correct, i.e. they will typically be used on those routes. But they were neither ordered, nor originally intended for those two routes - or for any other Black Diamond route.

[Ash]

Ok thanks for the info NEL111P its just when you mentioned there were earmarked for another route I wondered which one you was on about. Its good to see them on other diamond services aswell as on the 56 as i thought the 56 suited the centro's well in terms of capacity may be swapping the versa's and centros around on the 56 and 417 would be a good idea as the 417 never gets busy enough to need so a high capacity bus in seating.

[Ash]

Diamond seem to have reduced the number of polish drivers they have and the number of female drivers seems to have increased slightly, may be this is not true and due to the drivers being moved round it has given a inaccuarate view.