july 22nd route changes

[danny]

anyone been into town today, Are we liking or disliking the new city network, must say am personally impressed with routes 98 and X64 new working

[Tony]

anyone been into town today, Are we liking or disliking the new city network, must say am personally impressed with routes 98 and X64 new working

No real problems today, Carrs Lane looks like it might be the place there will be trouble if there is to be any tomorrow, got quite busy today.
The Bus Gate at the end of Moor Street isn't finished yet, so a couple of buses that tried to use it ended up having to go up to Old Square and back, but that was soon sorted

[Tony]

Observed the bus gate for around 20 minutes this afternoon. (Assuming the bus gate is the one opposite Moor Street station).

Don't know if this was habit but the buses (50s especially) seemed to be keeping left in the bus lane and then having to contend with cars in the second lane going straight on when trying to turn into it.

No the bus gate is the other end of Moor Street at the junction of The Priory Queensway, which allows vehicles in the bus lane which would normally be forced onto The Priory Queensway to go straight on ahead of the cars in the right hand two lanes

[Tony]

Observed the bus gate for around 20 minutes this afternoon. (Assuming the bus gate is the one opposite Moor Street station).

Don't know if this was habit but the buses (50s especially) seemed to be keeping left in the bus lane and then having to contend with cars in the second lane going straight on when trying to turn into it.

Yes I was watching them do that on the CCTV, there is no need, and they were told not to! VIPs 14:00 99 didn't manage to get across because of the cars missed the turning and ended up going all around the town and departing 10 minutes late!

[danny]

i noticed that while at moor street looked real dodge, is it possible to get the enviros round in one from the outside lane without straying then

[Tony]

i noticed that while at moor street looked real dodge, is it possible to get the enviros round in one from the outside lane without straying then

Yes several drivers did it no problem

[monkeyjoe]

I noticed an article in the Evening Mail. Headlined "Bus Changes: User Praise Smooth Start". There you go something positive. ;D

[Discodave]

the real test will be in 6 weeks time when the kids are back

[John]

It will take some getting used to, but seeing it today, I think that it will be ok but there may be problems with Priory Queensway/Old Square, which at around 1.30pm today, was absolutely gridlocked with traffic wrapped around Old Square unable to move anywhere, and queueing all down priory Queensway to Moor Street and stood still for nearly 10 minutes before NXWM inspectors came and started to get it moving again. All other area's coping well with more services using them, and Moor Street is working well as 2 way even with the roadworks still there.

PM peak today wan not helped by an bus/pedestrian RTA involving 4848 in Dale End, which completely gridlocked High Street and Carr's lane for around 10 minutes, and when it got moving all Carr's Lane services had to exit via Bull Street and onto Old Square rather than Albert Street. All of the 33/51/56/907/952/X31 were all loading at the 934/935/997 stop on High Street. Which caused further delays down Carr's Lane as any more than 3 buses at that stop will not allow any other buses to swing from Carr's lane to High Street. All credit to the NXWM inspectors who soon got it moving again.

[Tomjusttom]

Diamond 513 also caused chaos today on moor street on the 50 because of a driver changeover happening in the middle of the one lane by the traffic lights. Then a urban on the x64 blocked the road trying to get into the tunnel from moor street.

Priory Q'way looked interesting, especially as a friend almost got taken out by a Clariabels bus going round 2 NXWM buses loading/waiting side by side meaning the Clariabels having to go on the wrong side of the road.

[Tony]

A couple of minor hiccoughs occured this morning while I was watching the proceedings. One NXWM Walsall driver missed the turning into Carrs Lane, but at least had the sense to ask for help and took a tour of the markets to get back to Albert Street.

The Diamond driver on the 50 wasn't quite so sensible. After pulling up to unload on the old 50 stop opposite Moor Street station and being told that the new stop was by Selfridges and the via the U-turn, instead of doing the sensible thing of following the old route around Park Street, or even using the Carrs Lane/Albert Street loop to return to Digbeth decided to reverse unsupervised along Moor Street to be able to use the u-turn

[notepanel]

The biggest problem I noticed, travelling through the outskirts of town, was that traffic queuing at the lights to cross Moor Street onto Priory Queensway was backing right round onto Park Street. This had the potential to cause an accident, as cars were having to change lanes right after the bend (those wanting to continue along Park Street).

Diamond were the only operator I noticed having trouble, yesterday and today at least one 16 came past the front of Digbeth Coach Station, rather than the back.

[John]

The 112 I saw also got a bit lost, going up Moor Street it missed the right turn onto Carr's Lane, and had to use the bus gate that the 61/63's use to head under the bullring and make a U turn to head back along Moor Street to Carr's lane, he didn't make it in one, so has to reverse to successfully swing round!

[Gareth]

Probably not anything to do with any of the changes or traffic Jams, but does anyone know why a 75 and a 16 were on service up Frederick Street and turned right into Warstone Lane in the Jewellery Quarter earlier this afternoon? (maybe 1.30ish)

[Ashley]

For now, this would be the best example of free amusement for a bus spotter or even any member of the public lol. However if it works overall well then I eat my words