Chaserider

[Bob]

The 1 is much faster than the X51 if I recall? If so I think this gives the 1 a huge advantage, particularly if they can back up the faster journey with friendly drivers, a reliable timetable and clean vehicles

Chaserider have had real issues with the Solos, zlmost daily breakdowns with them and many are in quite poor condition inside. One broke down on the 70 i was on in Wolves on 21st May and hasnt been used since, another had an engine fire in service a couple of weeks ago. Theyre off road quite a bit. They dont seem to be up to the task of interurban routes, so reliability might be an issue

[Steveminor]

Despite (at the time).Claribels having much older vehicles a lot of passengers chose Claribels because they were much quicker than travel West Midlands & @Bob with all the works going on around the Walsall Rd Perry barr great barr etc the X51 has the potential to lose reliability.
It's going to be interesting

[Bob]

Despite (at the time).Claribels having much older vehicles a lot of passengers chose Claribels because they were much quicker than travel West Midlands & @Bob with all the works going on around the Walsall Rd Perry barr great barr etc the X51 has the potential to lose reliability.
It's going to be interesting

Definetely

[BusMan Greg]

Chaserider have had real issues with the Solos, zlmost daily breakdowns with them and many are in quite poor condition inside. One broke down on the 70 i was on in Wolves on 21st May and hasnt been used since, another had an engine fire in service a couple of weeks ago. Theyre off road quite a bit. They dont seem to be up to the task of interurban routes, so reliability might be an issue

I heard one broke down in Cheslyn Hay last week?147 I believe! It hasn't seen the road since

[John]

You've got to think from the point of view of a passenger! Would you rather take a fast bus that is older and has less features! Or would you rather take a modern platinum bus with free WiFi, USB charging ports that would take 10 to 15 mins longer?

For one the Walsall Plattys don't have USB charging, and two the majority of normal passengers don't really care about the features of the bus as long as it gets them to their destination, and also some people might be drawn to the 1 as it won't be as busy as the X51 so they may feel more comfortable on the 1 for social distancing

[Bob]

For one the Walsall Plattys don't have USB charging, and two the majority of normal passengers don't really care about the features of the bus as long as it gets them to their destination, and also some people might be drawn to the 1 as it won't be as busy as the X51 so they may feel more comfortable on the 1 for social distancing

Maybe but if the vehicles are pretty shoddy and unreliable it might not be that attractive

[BusMan Greg]

For one the Walsall Plattys don't have USB charging, and two the majority of normal passengers don't really care about the features of the bus as long as it gets them to their destination, and also some people might be drawn to the 1 as it won't be as busy as the X51 so they may feel more comfortable on the 1 for social distancing

Forgot that the earlier Plati's don't have USB's! But still, they're much more attractive than standard spec vehicles for people who may benefit from the features!

[Westy]

Dunno about journey 1 south this morning on service 1, but I was  the only one on journey 2 from Leamore to Walsall, so god knows who was on that bus before me.

Also, it was slightly late(timed at 702am, but not arriving until roughly 705am, but as I was the only passenger, it ran non stop to Walsall, enabling me to get the 721am 529.

Personally I think it needs to be timed at least 5 minutes earlier,  so I can get an earlier 529, as I didn't clock in till 752am!

Other than catching the first journey, that arrives 642am by me, looks like I'll be stopping on the Bloxwich Road services!

[Westy]

Caught the first journey on Service 1 for a change.

Didn't see the fleet number but it was a full size dual door thing.

They had leaflets on, but only for the Stafford area!

Did point this out to driver, who was surprisingly friendly about it & we had a brief chat about the route.

Turned out I was the first & only passenger on that journey!

[DJ]

Didn't see the fleet number but it was a full size dual door thing.

It would've been one of the SN64 plate StreetLites then, which are ex-London, hence the dual doors.

[BusMan Greg]

It would've been one of the SN64 plate StreetLites then, which are ex-London, hence the dual doors.

Could of also been 51 or 52 which are dual door that came from Adderley Green! E200s they are

[Bob]

Currently on 74 to work in Stafford. Its bus no 40 the mini E200, i dont know why they think these and solos are or ever have been appropriate....its rammed

[IMarkeh]

In my experience living in Chester, I can maybe give some information given we have Cheshire Oaks and I know a lot about the buses there. These outlets aren't visited much by people who live rather local. It's tourists and students. Most Cheshire Oaks patronage is workers travelling locally or students/tourists from Liverpool. All the locals go a few times and get to know 'you can walk around all day and find nothing'.

If you look at most other outlet villages, they have minimal buses or require quite a long walk to the bus. Cheshire Oaks only has the usage it has because it's established and has a bus to 2 very touristy cities with a reach for 4 universities (Chester, John Moors, Liverpool and extended to Hope Uni with the Stagecoach tickets). Add in to that, the bus is frequent.

These outlet villages unfortunately are car centric and so you have to hit very specific markets and you won't get that with an express Telford Bus. I think the X14 should cut Oakengates and use the time to divert off the A5 into one of the villages. Wheaton Aston or Brewood & Bishops Wood. Then you are providing a service to these villages which currently have a minimal service (certainly nothing to Telford or Cannock) so you offer local links which will help things. In Telford, scrap Priorslee and instead do Stafford Park to try and get some workers trade or Hollinswood to get passing trade (which also gets people talking)
You will never make money on a dedicated (or very close to dedicated) service to an outlet centre. Sad but true. You have to have a decent amount of other passengers as well. I don't think the 2 hourly timetable is doing them any favours between Shifnal and Telford. Really, they could do with having a ticketing agreement with Banga for this section. Mutually beneficial since it steals passengers from Arriva. Could encourage more people onto the bus since more trips are available to people rather than 3 companies each with their own tickets and validity.
I think then, I would route the bus in Cannock to accomodate some local journeys and run the same way both directions, not run as a circular. 

I don't think the X14 was set up to succeed. If it was, it would be significantly better ran by now. Typical D&G style though, they thought they could jump onto a route and it make money very quickly with minimal effort put in. I hate to break it to them, this logic doesn't work. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

[Bob]

In my experience living in Chester, I can maybe give some information given we have Cheshire Oaks and I know a lot about the buses there. These outlets aren't visited much by people who live rather local. It's tourists and students. Most Cheshire Oaks patronage is workers travelling locally or students/tourists from Liverpool. All the locals go a few times and get to know 'you can walk around all day and find nothing'.

If you look at most other outlet villages, they have minimal buses or require quite a long walk to the bus. Cheshire Oaks only has the usage it has because it's established and has a bus to 2 very touristy cities with a reach for 4 universities (Chester, John Moors, Liverpool and extended to Hope Uni with the Stagecoach tickets). Add in to that, the bus is frequent.

These outlet villages unfortunately are car centric and so you have to hit very specific markets and you won't get that with an express Telford Bus. I think the X14 should cut Oakengates and use the time to divert off the A5 into one of the villages. Wheaton Aston or Brewood & Bishops Wood. Then you are providing a service to these villages which currently have a minimal service (certainly nothing to Telford or Cannock) so you offer local links which will help things. In Telford, scrap Priorslee and instead do Stafford Park to try and get some workers trade or Hollinswood to get passing trade (which also gets people talking)
You will never make money on a dedicated (or very close to dedicated) service to an outlet centre. Sad but true. You have to have a decent amount of other passengers as well. I don't think the 2 hourly timetable is doing them any favours between Shifnal and Telford. Really, they could do with having a ticketing agreement with Banga for this section. Mutually beneficial since it steals passengers from Arriva. Could encourage more people onto the bus since more trips are available to people rather than 3 companies each with their own tickets and validity.
I think then, I would route the bus in Cannock to accomodate some local journeys and run the same way both directions, not run as a circular. 

I don't think the X14 was set up to succeed. If it was, it would be significantly better ran by now. Typical D&G style though, they thought they could jump onto a route and it make money very quickly with minimal effort put in. I hate to break it to them, this logic doesn't work. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

The poor timekeeping doesnt help. The 4.42 hadnt even made it to cannock by almost 4.55

[Bob]

Take the 1 for example. Theyve used arguably some of the shoddiest vehicles in the fleet, 2x arriva liveried Darts, one that smokes badly and sounds like the engine was going to fall out and a tatty Solo. Theyve already had a breakdown om there today. 1s were leaving Cannock empty while people waited for the X51