Sucess of Arriva in the West Midlands?

[Bob]

Lol this is Arriva, a lot of their fleet consists of knackered MPDs /SPD darts

[bwsau cymru]

I have a completely different opinikn all together! Nxwm are rubbish! They only keep going because of there massive network. National express have lost and lost, take there train business once habing 7 franchise now with one, they obviously arent a good management team. I think its good that arriva have come in and I really hope they will start competitng against nx big time and with rotala dropping routes left right and centre theres arrivas invite. All of this talk about arriva going to cannock is rubbish. If arriva didnt like it they would wipe the floor with nx simple because they have more money. The west midlands needs other big operators to come in and create competition so hopefully the customer will benefit. Summary this could be the make or break for nx, they need to do something to stop shrinking!

[Bob]

You obviously dont live in Cannock! Would you rather pay )3.80  or £6 for a day saver?

[Discodave]

I have a completely different opinikn all together! Nxwm are rubbish! They only keep going because of there massive network. National express have lost and lost, take there train business once habing 7 franchise now with one, they obviously arent a good management team. I think its good that arriva have come in and I really hope they will start competitng against nx big time and with rotala dropping routes left right and centre theres arrivas invite. All of this talk about arriva going to cannock is rubbish. If arriva didnt like it they would wipe the floor with nx simple because they have more money. The west midlands needs other big operators to come in and create competition so hopefully the customer will benefit. Summary this could be the make or break for nx, they need to do something to stop shrinking!

Arriva have not got a clue how to compete just look at the ex chase services the original reason chase was brought was to give a foothold in the midlands, and all the routes soon failed as NXWM made sure there buses were infront and behind and also the Travelcard is so popular compared to the N passes the only way to try and take on NXWM is basically compete on all routes and have a network with a own brand pass cheaper then them and also a good fleet.  Most of arrivas fleet are shitty darts and dafs (yes they have deckers I know but mainly sd buses).  I know being ex arriva they only put new buses on paying routes or supposed too.  Arriva may have the cash but look at how much of the country they cover,  compare that to NX (buses bit only) all NXWM would do is flood ther area with buses and cheaper fares and Arriva would soon be licking there wounds or wiped out.

[Bob]

Arriva are shit and theyve now got the monopoly in cannock! so much for deregulation & competition. one company providing a crap service

[bwsau cymru]

Im not saying arriva is brillient and isnt the cannock daysaver £4 and valid to walsall too? I dont live in cannock but often travel through their and I dont see a problem? when I travel I catch the 1/2 then 74/75 then 481. The buses they have are comfortable do the job and generally more cleaner. The drivers actually say thank you for showing you pass and do a good job. Nx buses ive seen a pic of mushrooms growing on one they are that dirty, most drivers dont even check you pass let aloan say thank you and I firmly berlieve that the size of their network is keeping them going. Bottom line is nx are big anymore and dont have the type of money arriva have to play with. How long will it be before stagecoach are pushing into birmingham already see there presence in coventry expanding and megabus getting larger what are national express doing? Arriva might not be perfect but they certainly have more money and are more switched on than nx and all you jeed to do is look at arriva yorkshire to see how good they can be.
And then look at the arriva rail group. My firdt job was with atw who was awful but look how much they have come on! atw, xc and chiltern all brillient train companies what have nx got?

[PM]

Im not saying arriva is brillient and isnt the cannock daysaver £4 and valid to walsall too? I dont live in cannock but often travel through their and I dont see a problem? when I travel I catch the 1/2 then 74/75 then 481. The buses they have are comfortable do the job and generally more cleaner. The drivers actually say thank you for showing you pass and do a good job. Nx buses ive seen a pic of mushrooms growing on one they are that dirty, most drivers dont even check you pass let aloan say thank you and I firmly berlieve that the size of their network is keeping them going. Bottom line is nx are big anymore and dont have the type of money arriva have to play with. How long will it be before stagecoach are pushing into birmingham already see there presence in coventry expanding and megabus getting larger what are national express doing? Arriva might not be perfect but they certainly have more money and are more switched on than nx and all you jeed to do is look at arriva yorkshire to see how good they can be.
And then look at the arriva rail group. My firdt job was with atw who was awful but look how much they have come on! atw, xc and chiltern all brillient train companies what have nx got?

Disagree with everything you say here!1 Total nonesense-arriva are dreadful. Like first, their strategy is managing decline nothing more, nothing less. NXWM buses are generally clean and I doubt one had mushrooms growing on it. Arriva may be owned by Deutsche Bahn but NXWM operate one of the biggest and most profitable bus fleets in the UK and have lots of interests abroad including ALSA which is huge. The only reason arriva yorkshire are good is due to how good caldaire were..... and i think we should ask arriva's passengers about how good they really are, not someone who occasionally passes through

[John]

I doubt one had mushrooms growing on it.

There was a picture posted on NXWM's facebook page of Mushrooms growing off the floor on a PL bus.

[Bruce_LOA400X]

i'll sit back and watch,

If Arriva float, I will be surprised.

If Arriva Sink and drown I won't be.

they are crap in Leicester as well. I think I could do a better job and I have no experience in the transport sector!

[Bob]

the 481 has just had new Versas and the 74/5 has modern buses, if you saw the state of the buses used on the 25/6, 68, 70, 31/2/3 etc and sometimes the 1/2 youd see a different picture

[Discodave]

Im not saying arriva is brillient and isnt the cannock daysaver £4 and valid to walsall too? I dont live in cannock but often travel through their and I dont see a problem? when I travel I catch the 1/2 then 74/75 then 481. The buses they have are comfortable do the job and generally more cleaner. The drivers actually say thank you for showing you pass and do a good job. Nx buses ive seen a pic of mushrooms growing on one they are that dirty, most drivers dont even check you pass let aloan say thank you and I firmly berlieve that the size of their network is keeping them going. Bottom line is nx are big anymore and dont have the type of money arriva have to play with. How long will it be before stagecoach are pushing into birmingham already see there presence in coventry expanding and megabus getting larger what are national express doing? Arriva might not be perfect but they certainly have more money and are more switched on than nx and all you jeed to do is look at arriva yorkshire to see how good they can be.
And then look at the arriva rail group. My firdt job was with atw who was awful but look how much they have come on! atw, xc and chiltern all brillient train companies what have nx got?

Disagree with everything you say here!1 Total nonesense-arriva are dreadful. Like first, their strategy is managing decline nothing more, nothing less. NXWM buses are generally clean and I doubt one had mushrooms growing on it. Arriva may be owned by Deutsche Bahn but NXWM operate one of the biggest and most profitable bus fleets in the UK and have lots of interests abroad including ALSA which is huge. The only reason arriva yorkshire are good is due to how good caldaire were..... and i think we should ask arriva's passengers about how good they really are, not someone who occasionally passes through

NXWM know how to run a business they found trains are shit and got out before they went under Have you used Arriva owned companies dannygill I have never known so many cancelled trains on the ATW routes always on the london midlands service from shrewsbury as the arriva one has not turned up so rammed all the way to wolves.  It does not matter how much you own but you need to run it correctly and with regards to cash NXWM have a lot more money than people think and could eaisily take on a large competetor even stagecoach.  They are a good transport firm but if they are so good why are they not taking on the NXWM network elsewhere apart from Coventry.  I agree with you Peter I use Arriva and the Cannock daysaver has not been valid into Walsall for months I live in Bloxwich and used to be able to buy it due to the extention now its £6 and the services you use are the quality partnership routes dannygill so will have good buses like Bob said ride the crap in cannock they rattle stink of fumes inside and just shite.

[bwsau cymru]

Do use arrive most evenings on the 335 service. Co

Im not saying arriva is brillient and isnt the cannock daysaver £4 and valid to walsall too? I dont live in cannock but often travel through their and I dont see a problem? when I travel I catch the 1/2 then 74/75 then 481. The buses they have are comfortable do the job and generally more cleaner. The drivers actually say thank you for showing you pass and do a good job. Nx buses ive seen a pic of mushrooms growing on one they are that dirty, most drivers dont even check you pass let aloan say thank you and I firmly berlieve that the size of their network is keeping them going. Bottom line is nx are big anymore and dont have the type of money arriva have to play with. How long will it be before stagecoach are pushing into birmingham already see there presence in coventry expanding and megabus getting larger what are national express doing? Arriva might not be perfect but they certainly have more money and are more switched on than nx and all you jeed to do is look at arriva yorkshire to see how good they can be.
And then look at the arriva rail group. My firdt job was with atw who was awful but look how much they have come on! atw, xc and chiltern all brillient train companies what have nx got?

Disagree with everything you say here!1 Total nonesense-arriva are dreadful. Like first, their strategy is managing decline nothing more, nothing less. NXWM buses are generally clean and I doubt one had mushrooms growing on it. Arriva may be owned by Deutsche Bahn but NXWM operate one of the biggest and most profitable bus fleets in the UK and have lots of interests abroad including ALSA which is huge. The only reason arriva yorkshire are good is due to how good caldaire were..... and i think we should ask arriva's passengers about how good they really are, not someone who occasionally passes through

use arriva most evenings on 335 and it arrives on time and clean. No problems with arriva! And the trains from shrewsbury that arriva operate is due to the incompetence of london midland. And sorry but national express owning alsa doesnt make them big! First stagecoach db veolia comfort delgro all massive. Saying jational express is big is like saying sandwell travel is big compared to nx!
And witg there trains how can you say they have chosen to 'get out of trains' when they are putting new bids.... Bottom line is they are useless. About the only thing they run well in the uk is tuere coach network but buying rubbish levantes is only makiny there network worse by the day! Dont see them give the 'huge' alsa levantes! All merces it seems?

[winston]

Danny,

First Group I would say are one of the biggest if not the biggest based on fleet size. But DB is a big concern due to the amount of trains its runs in Germany i.e. turnover & profit, plus its state run. Comfort Delgro on the other hand are pretty small on all counts, Ned Railways/Abellio are bigger. As regards NX Group being small I think you're overlooking the school bus business based in the US & Canada that runs a small fleet of 20,000+ inc school buses & now para transit vehicles. At the time of the Arriva takeover by DB the agreed takeover price was around £1.59 Billion, NX group are currently valued at £1.092Billion with today's share price at 213.5p a takeover usually commands a premium of around 30% on the closing share price before any announcement, so that would already put its takeover value at around the £1.45 Billion mark based on the current depressed share price due to Spanish National debt concerns & the Euro zone crisis, so there's not really a lot in it.

You cannot compare transport groups based only on fleet size, as they are not like for like. It needs to be based on turnover, profit & market cap to get a more accurate feel of who's the biggest

[JackC]

Buying rubbish Levantes? I've been on a "rubbish" Levante twice, to Leeds from Brum and back and it is one of the best journeys I've had.

[winston]

Buying rubbish Levantes? I've been on a "rubbish" Levante twice, to Leeds from Brum and back and it is one of the best journeys I've had.

Wasn't the Levante based on Caetano's award winning bodywork (not sure of the model name), but didn't it win European coach of the year?