Wonder if NX will close any depots In West Midlands

[woody38]

After the surprise by NXWM to close what I thought was a solid group purchase, NX Dundee, wonder what is in store for NX main business here in the West Midlands, outside of Brum where I thing bus use is still quite high. In Wolverhampton where I live u c many buses running mostly empty, I realise with Comvid but even before lock down buses here where struggling.  Routes like the 1 & 59 which In there day would struggle to cope with double deckers now are running around with loads that minibuses could cope with, there is no investment in new buses in the area some are approaching 18 or 19 years.

[Steve3229vp]

After the surprise by NXWM to close what I thought was a solid group purchase, NX Dundee, wonder what is in store for NX main business here in the West Midlands, outside of Brum where I thing bus use is still quite high. In Wolverhampton where I live u c many buses running mostly empty, I realise with Comvid but even before lock down buses here where struggling.  Routes like the 1 & 59 which In there day would struggle to cope with double deckers now are running around with loads that minibuses could cope with, there is no investment in new buses in the area some are approaching 18 or 19 years.

NX did not close NX Dundee, it sold it as an operation and have leased some of the buses which means NX will still get a regular income from Dundee

[Ian Hardy]

After the surprise by NXWM to close what I thought was a solid group purchase, NX Dundee, wonder what is in store for NX main business here in the West Midlands, outside of Brum where I thing bus use is still quite high. In Wolverhampton where I live u c many buses running mostly empty, I realise with Comvid but even before lock down buses here where struggling.  Routes like the 1 & 59 which In there day would struggle to cope with double deckers now are running around with loads that minibuses could cope with, there is no investment in new buses in the area some are approaching 18 or 19 years.

The Dundee operation is not closing, it has just been sold onto another operator.
NXWM closed Bordesley in October so maybe it could close other depots, but by doing so would mean that it would be difficult to serve the whole of the West Midlands area that it does at the moment.
   
"There is no investment in new buses in the area some are approaching 18 or 19 years" - NXWM is a business so it will only invest in vehicles for the routes that make the most money, it then cascades the older vehicles that the new ones have replaced onto the routes that don't make so much money and so on, until eventually the oldest buses are withdrawn.

Could it be that most of the routes in Wolverhampton that you see are basket cases for making money so would never get new buses, therefore using older vehicles allows those routes to continue to operate, if NXWM was forced to use new vehicles the service would probably be reduced or cease altogether?

The introduction of low emission zones also affect whereabouts newer buses are used. If Wolverhampton Council could make the case for a low emission zone in the city, then the bus operators would have to use vehicles that are newer and have lower emissions. However be careful what you wish for, an 18 year old bus operating a service is better than no bus at all.

[2206]

If Wolverhampton Council could make the case for a low emission zone in the city, then the bus operators would have to use vehicles that are newer and have lower emissions.

Doesn't necessarily mean newer vehicles as 4276 - 4291 can operate into Birmingham City Centre as they've been upgraded. And these are 19 years old.

Could it be that most of the routes in Wolverhampton that you see are basket cases for making money so would never get new buses

I'm not familiar with these routes, but I believe one of the routes mentioned had new hybrids in 2013. So they won't be 18 or 19 year old buses either.  As well as Platinum 8/X8 and 529 routes.

[Ian Hardy]

NX did close NX Dundee, it sold it as an operation and have leased some of the buses which means NX will still get a regular income from Dundee

I think that you mean NX did NOT close NX Dundee?

[Steve3229vp]

I think that you mean NX did NOT close NX Dundee?

You're correct, my mistake, now corrected

[fleetline6477]

After the surprise by NXWM to close what I thought was a solid group purchase, NX Dundee, wonder what is in store for NX main business here in the West Midlands, outside of Brum where I thing bus use is still quite high. In Wolverhampton where I live u c many buses running mostly empty, I realise with Comvid but even before lock down buses here where struggling.  Routes like the 1 & 59 which In there day would struggle to cope with double deckers now are running around with loads that minibuses could cope with, there is no investment in new buses in the area some are approaching 18 or 19 years.

I'm not sure woody38 why you think there has been no investment in new buses in Wolverhampton for 18 / 19 years. The current PL allocation includes approx 145 buses less than 10 years old, as follows

70 x 2011 / 2012 61 and 12 plate Volvo B7 Wright Eclipses 2001 - 2029, 2059 - 2093, 2136 - 2142 - some branded for routes 2, 3/4, 5 and 6.
10 X 2014 64 plate Enviro 200s 845 - 854
30 x 61 /13 plate Enviro 400 (Hybrid) double deckers 5401 - 5430 (PL along with BC were the first NX depots to be allocated hybrids with PL's to route 1
36 x  2016 / 17 16 / 66 plate Enviro 400 MMCs 6759 - 6795 - some branded for routes 529, X8

[BH2004]

I'm not sure woody38 why you think there has been no investment in new buses in Wolverhampton for 18 / 19 years. The current PL allocation includes approx 145 buses less than 10 years old, as follows

70 x 2011 / 2012 61 and 12 plate Volvo B7 Wright Eclipses 2001 - 2029, 2059 - 2093, 2136 - 2142 - some branded for routes 2, 3/4, 5 and 6.
10 X 2014 64 plate Enviro 200s 845 - 854
30 x 61 /13 plate Enviro 400 (Hybrid) double deckers 5401 - 5430 (PL along with BC were the first NX depots to be allocated hybrids with PL's to route 1
36 x  2016 / 17 16 / 66 plate Enviro 400 MMCs 6759 - 6795 - some branded for routes 529, X8

And about 10x 2013 Enviro 400

[Solo1]

And about 10x 2013 Enviro 400

3 streetlites 65 reg from moved from dundee

[woody38]

There has been investment in new buses in Wolverhampton,  but as I said routes like the 59 used to be prime bus routes but Wolves Town centre does not seem the popular destination it once  & from the amount of empty buses I c going into the town this had started before COVID,  wondered how much profit NX make from there Wolverhampton depot.

[2206]

There has been investment in new buses in Wolverhampton,  but as I said routes like the 59 used to be prime bus routes but Wolves Town centre

If that route uses older buses, not everyone can have new buses. It will probably see some sort of newer buses/upgrade at some point eventually. Just not at the minute.

[Tony]

If that route uses older buses, not everyone can have new buses. It will probably see some sort of newer buses/upgrade at some point eventually. Just not at the minute.

Because it is not worth making the entire fleet 'Euro 6' as there is a possibility of around 200 new buses in 2021 and Wolverhampton's AQPS specifies that from Monday 75% of journies must be operated by Euro 6 buses it makes sense for Wolverhampton to have some of the none converted buses.

[fleetline6477]

There has been investment in new buses in Wolverhampton,  but as I said routes like the 59 used to be prime bus routes but Wolves Town centre does not seem the popular destination it once  & from the amount of empty buses I c going into the town this had started before COVID,  wondered how much profit NX make from there Wolverhampton depot.

Your original post woody38 finishes with the words

there is no investment in new buses in the area some are approaching 18 or 19 years

I assume that you meant vehicles as you mentioned buses rather than bus routes.

[bususer28]

After the surprise by NXWM to close what I thought was a solid group purchase, NX Dundee, wonder what is in store for NX main business here in the West Midlands, outside of Brum where I thing bus use is still quite high. In Wolverhampton where I live u c many buses running mostly empty, I realise with Comvid but even before lock down buses here where struggling.  Routes like the 1 & 59 which In there day would struggle to cope with double deckers now are running around with loads that minibuses could cope with, there is no investment in new buses in the area some are approaching 18 or 19 years.

Selling Wolverhampton would make no sense as NXs dominance would start to break-up and their operations may start to become less popular. The only place that could (but I highly doubt will) be sold off is Coventry because it's largely detached from the rest of the West Midlands and Stagecoach have experience of running bus routes in the area.

[Stu]

On the contrary, I think it is more likely that NX will be opening new depots.

Certainly a new depot is already lined up to replace the current Perry Barr site.

And I'm pretty sure that NX are already lining up a new site to replace the Birmingham Central garage, some rumours have suggested this might be replaced with two smaller garages.