Service Changes August 29th 2021.

[MasterPlan]

I'm wondering if they will send the one or both 45 or 47 to coften h

I did think that as a possible replacement for X20 but they've been there and done that.

[monkeyjoe]

Or if they don't do that offer a 10 min service split between the 20 and 27 so people can change at longbridge and offer no direct service to the city. That might go down like a lead balloon. I know speculation.

[Westy]

Slight diversion,  seeing someone mentioned debranding earlier.

NX will have the least hassle of doing this for Walsall 31/32 unlike Diamond.

Presumably, all Nx would have to do is put carefully placed stickers  over the frequency & possibly the day return fare, if both get changed.

Diamond would have a lot of work to debrand their 31 / 32 vehicles.

Bearing in mind, it took ages for them to remove branding for a short lived Walsall to Willenhall service, I suspect the Diamond vehicles will be running around for ages with out of date branding.

[Justin Tyme]

Slight diversion,  seeing someone mentioned debranding earlier.

NX will have the least hassle of doing this for Walsall 31/32 unlike Diamond.

Presumably, all Nx would have to do is put carefully placed stickers  over the frequency & possibly the day return fare, if both get changed.

Diamond would have a lot of work to debrand their 31 / 32 vehicles.

Bearing in mind, it took ages for them to remove branding for a short lived Walsall to Willenhall service, I suspect the Diamond vehicles will be running around for ages with out of date branding.

Diamond have said in their notice about the ending of the partnership https://www.diamondbuses.com/news/wmb_service_changes/ that: "We'll be returning to our distinctive Diamond blue livery buses".

THey have a vested interest in doing so, and I hope they will.

[Westy]

Diamond have said in their notice about the ending of the partnership https://www.diamondbuses.com/news/wmb_service_changes/ that: "We'll be returning to our distinctive Diamond blue livery buses".

THey have a vested interest in doing so, and I hope they will.

Yes, but as I said before, they took time debranding other vehicles.

How long does it take to brand / debrand a vehicle?

How quick after a service withdrawal announcement should a vehicle be debranded?

[Lukeee]

Yes, but as I said before, they took time debranding other vehicles.

How long does it take to brand / debrand a vehicle?

How quick after a service withdrawal announcement should a vehicle be debranded?

They did take ages to debrand the 529E buses, however that was ages ago, these days diamond seemed to have really upped their repaint program so can't imagine them running around in red for too long.

[2206]

Presumably, all Nx would have to do is put carefully placed stickers  over the frequency & possibly the day return fare, if both get changed.

Depends whether those vehicles continue to run in that joint operation livery or are repainted into standard NX crimson livery?
Also you would expect the 688X fleet will gain new branding for University X21/X22 (as thats a major corridor connecting QE and Uni to the Centre of the City). They might rebrand the Harborne ones with them as well maybe, as they don't have any internal platinum branding as well.

Possibly new joint branding for Bromford X12/X13 and even Ward End 94/95 with the changes as well.
So NX could potentially have more than Diamond to brand/debrand.

[SK68MEV]

Depends whether those vehicles continue to run in that joint operation livery or are repainted into standard NX crimson livery?
Also you would expect the 688X fleet will gain new branding for University X21/X22 (as thats a major corridor connecting QE and Uni to the Centre of the City). They might rebrand the Harborne ones with them as well maybe, as they don't have any internal platinum branding as well.

Possibly new joint branding for Bromford X12/X13 and even Ward End 94/95 with the changes as well.
So NX could potentially have more than Diamond to brand/debrand.

tbf they should've renamed the X70 into X11 instead as i think it would've suited better the X11 and X12 but that's my opinion

[DJ]

Also you would expect the 688X fleet will gain new branding for University X21/X22 (as thats a major corridor connecting QE and Uni to the Centre of the City).

I wouldn't be too sure about that, the Sutton Lines branding still hasn't been amended to show Lichfield on the route map, as far as I know.

[MasterPlan]

I wouldn't be too sure about that, the Sutton Lines branding still hasn't been amended to show Lichfield on the route map, as far as I know.

Bit of a difference between an extension to one of the routes and one of the routes disappearing completely.

I can't see 6880-9 being re-branded afterwards anyway to be honest.

[Sh4318]

Bit of a difference between an extension to one of the routes and one of the routes disappearing completely.

I can't see 6880-9 being re-branded afterwards anyway to be honest.

They could probably just get rid of all references to the X20 and leave it like that

[DJ]

Bit of a difference between an extension to one of the routes and one of the routes disappearing completely.

I can't see 6880-9 being re-branded afterwards anyway to be honest.

That's a fair point actually, and now that I think about it, they managed to get the branding changed in quick succession for the Platinums at WN, from 126, to X7/X8, to just the X8, to 8/X8.

[SO6597]

Or if they don't do that offer a 10 min service split between the 20 and 27 so people can change at longbridge and offer no direct service to the city. That might go down like a lead balloon. I know speculation.

It will be interesting to see the detail of what is produced as the replacement(s) for the X20 and the links that Rednal will eventually have. I'm old enough to remember WMPTE searching for viable services (64/48), WMT the same in the 1990s (49/647/648) and, more recently, NXWM (X62/98/X20) not to mention the many different iterations of the 45/47. Many things have been tried over the years!

[Mike K]

It will be interesting to see the detail of what is produced as the replacement(s) for the X20 and the links that Rednal will eventually have. I'm old enough to remember WMPTE searching for viable services (64/48), WMT the same in the 1990s (49/647/648) and, more recently, NXWM (X62/98/X20) not to mention the many different iterations of the 45/47. Many things have been tried over the years!

At what point was it that the 62 became no longer commercially viable in its current form? Was it the demise of Rover? The old Rover site stretched quite a way down Lickey Road, I remember as a student having a temporary summer job there and I used to get off the bus close to the Lowhill Lane junction.

When I was young, the 61, 62 and 63 all had the same frequencies (the 61 in those days went as far as the Egghill Lane estate, the Frankley, Gannow and Frogmill estates weren't yet built). The 62, with its interesting terminus by the old train tracks, opposite the amusement arcade and at the foot of the Lickey Hills, was my favourite of the Bristol Road routes growing up.

[j789]

At what point was it that the 62 became no longer commercially viable in its current form? Was it the demise of Rover? The old Rover site stretched quite a way down Lickey Road, I remember as a student having a temporary summer job there and I used to get off the bus close to the Lowhill Lane junction.

When I was young, the 61, 62 and 63 all had the same frequencies (the 61 in those days went as far as the Egghill Lane estate, the Frankley, Gannow and Frogmill estates weren't yet built). The 62, with its interesting terminus by the old train tracks, opposite the amusement arcade and at the foot of the Lickey Hills, was my favourite of the Bristol Road routes growing up.

Wasn't the 62 taken off more because they wanted to increase the 63 frequency rather than it proving too costly? The 63 is still very frequent now, I wonder perhaps if they could introduce a 63a service that ran up to Rednal then via Leach Green Lane to Rubery to join back in with the normal 63.

If the buses were scheduled to do a normal 63 followed by a 63a in return (in both directions) then it may be possible to run this 63a without any additional bus (with a few less minutes at the terminus perhaps).