Pensnett Garage

[nitromatt1]

The 9 & 141 tend to be busy up to Quinton in the evenings. It can be packed leaving Colmore Row and virtually empty from Quinton.  In the old days buses used to turn at Jeffersons (now the Harvester) or at Quinton Church much more often.

Some journeys can be busy after that point (Matt will be able to answer this one ;))

Rob is right, the huge loadings come from Colmore Row and Broad Street and most passengers have alighted by Halesowen. Not to say the Halesowen - Stourbridge part is empty though, going towards Stourbridge the loadings are respectable (although 824 could comfortably manage that part!)

Would a B7RLE be able to handle the loadings on an evening?

Touch and go. I'd say there'd be a few standees. The trip I did on 824 last night got lucky, the loadings in Colmore Row were in the 20s and Broad Street single figures, with a few dotted elsewhere. Usually, particularly on Friday/Saturday nights, deckers get packed downstairs and busy upstairs

[Stuharris 6360]

The 9 & 141 tend to be busy up to Quinton in the evenings. It can be packed leaving Colmore Row and virtually empty from Quinton.  In the old days buses used to turn at Jeffersons (now the Harvester) or at Quinton Church much more often.

Some journeys can be busy after that point (Matt will be able to answer this one ;))

Rob is right, the huge loadings come from Colmore Row and Broad Street and most passengers have alighted by Halesowen. Not to say the Halesowen - Stourbridge part is empty though, going towards Stourbridge the loadings are respectable (although 824 could comfortably manage that part!)

Would a B7RLE be able to handle the loadings on an evening?

Touch and go. I'd say there'd be a few standees. The trip I did on 824 last night got lucky, the loadings in Colmore Row were in the 20s and Broad Street single figures, with a few dotted elsewhere. Usually, particularly on Friday/Saturday nights, deckers get packed downstairs and busy upstairs

Thanks Matt.  :) I know 824 last night was probably caused by a breakdown, however if they are still worried about the mileage the E400s are doing, then say Sun to Thurs then why don't they swap the E400s out for a B7RLE after 6pm. The Enviro 400s could then have some extra garage time.

[Trident 4609]

Tbh the the number of passengers can vary on all sections of route. Sometimes certain journeys can run light then another journey could be packed (As matt said even late night). Although i do agree with you Stu

[Ash]

Really the 4 would be most ideally operated at WB the inspectors there could turn around the buses in the bus station and if something happened a bus was just taken from the garage and whether it was Walsall or Blackheath there in the middle of the route so just a short drive. It just seems such a long way for a bus to go from Walsall to Merry Hill/Halesowen when ideally a more central garage such as West Brom for me could make sure things ran more efficiently. I know theres a problem with capacity but maybe even jointly operating the service like it once was when WA had 6 running boards. WB/PE/WA could all have there own running boards on the service :P

[Sh4318]

The 9 fits with the 140/141 on Sundays, the three routes combined make an every 5-15 minute frequency to Quinton, with 9s running at 00, 20, 40, 141s running at 15, 45 and the 140 running at 30 (from Birmingham), and an every 15 minutes frequency on evenings, with a 9 every 30 minutes and a 140 or 141 either side of the 9.

Mind my ignorance, but surely if the 9 had to have a frequency increase, it would've been done by now, it's been every 20 minutes on Sundays for as long as I can remember, the evening frequency was reduced last year to every 30 minutes, used to be every 15 minutes at one point

[Kevin]

The 9 fits with the 140/141 on Sundays, the three routes combined make an every 5-15 minute frequency to Quinton, with 9s running at 00, 20, 40, 141s running at 15, 45 and the 140 running at 30 (from Birmingham), and an every 15 minutes frequency on evenings, with a 9 every 30 minutes and a 140 or 141 either side of the 9.

Mind my ignorance, but surely if the 9 had to have a frequency increase, it would've been done by now, it's been every 20 minutes on Sundays for as long as I can remember, the evening frequency was reduced last year to every 30 minutes, used to be every 15 minutes at one point

If they've done that specifically to combine the frequencies then it makes very little sense, as they are all different

[Sh4318]

The 9 fits with the 140/141 on Sundays, the three routes combined make an every 5-15 minute frequency to Quinton, with 9s running at 00, 20, 40, 141s running at 15, 45 and the 140 running at 30 (from Birmingham), and an every 15 minutes frequency on evenings, with a 9 every 30 minutes and a 140 or 141 either side of the 9.

Mind my ignorance, but surely if the 9 had to have a frequency increase, it would've been done by now, it's been every 20 minutes on Sundays for as long as I can remember, the evening frequency was reduced last year to every 30 minutes, used to be every 15 minutes at one point

If they've done that specifically to combine the frequencies then it makes very little sense, as they are all different

It's probably the best they could come up with for 3 routes that are so different

[Stuharris 6360]

1629   222

[Nathan4775]

1629   222

How come theres quite a few mercs running on the 222 at the moment, is 825 still out of service ?

[Stuharris 6360]

1629   222

How come theres quite a few mercs running on the 222 at the moment, is 825 still out of service ?

Yes 825 is still at west Bromwich being repaired, so at least one bus every day is a Merc unless they use 824 on the 222.

[Trident 4609]

Stu, 824 is/was also on the 222 today aswell as the merc.

[Stuharris 6360]

Stu, 824 is/was also on the 222 today aswell as the merc.

Thanks for that Nathan, didn't see all the 222 buses today. So another E200 must have been off the road.

[nitromatt1]

Stu, 824 is/was also on the 222 today aswell as the merc.

Thanks for that Nathan, didn't see all the 222 buses today. So another E200 must have been off the road.

Don't remember seeing 828 lately

[Nathan4775]

At PE is it just 824 which is unbranded & WB 823 and BC 808 ? or are there more?

[John]

At PE is it just 824 which is unbranded & WB 823 and BC 808 ? or are there more?

Yes Pensnett only have 824 un-branded. After they lost 823, 824 was de-branded.

Birmingham Central have 2 un-branded Enviro200s, 808 and 809. 808 was de-branded after 810 left for West Bromwich

No West Bromwich Enviro200s are branded