Recent content by Alex 2901

Given the 530 is predominantly run by Banga Buses (a name you really don't want anywhere near the word "Rocket" in any other context...), you might be waiting a while for the NX journeys that run Sunday daytimes only. Historically, the 530 has been a hotbed for competition over the years - with...

There is a low bridge on Highgate Road - one that I believe the height restriction has been eased somewhat on, as it's now 14ft 3in, meaning the new EV deckers can fit under it, and as those are now the only double decks at Perry Barr, it means that double decks can feasibly operate the Inner...

Having taken a trip out to Lichfield and Tamworth yesterday, aiming to take a ride on the X66 (didn't manage to), I can offer a few observations on the corridor as a whole: Timetable: Both operators provide two buses an hour - Arriva run a 765 an hour via Whittington and London Road, and an...

(I really need a catchier title, but hey ho.) I did have a thread on here that I used to update my trip reports, but given I haven't posted in it since 2019, it has understandably been locked... so here's a new one: Anyway, in that five years (I can just feel myself aging to dust saying...

In brief: The E400 hybrids (the ones originally new for the 1 in 2013, and the ones recieved from Dundee in 2018) have been taken off the 1 due to struggling with reliability on the route now (the 1 being a rather hilly route, that also happens to be stop-start in nature), with the ex-West...

An 11th also exists - BV14 TZY, which is with Yarrantons Brothers of Eardiston, in Worcestershire. Formerly a demonstrator, until it was acquired by them in 2020 for the 291 that they took on at the time. https://flic.kr/p/2niyd4w In terms of unusual combinations of body and chassis, the MCV...

By a very long margin: Fastest trips on the 529 are given 28 minutes between Wolverhampton and Walsall. On average, it's given 37-38 minutes during the day. For comparison, the daytime journey on the train is 62 minutes. It was briefly even wider when the X529 ran - 28 minutes during the day.

You're joking, right? The producer of shows like Years & Years, and It's a Sin, and you expect it to not be (in your own words) "preaching, woke, PC"? Sure. Then again, if you think that, you probably missed the various political messages during Russell T Davies's first run, or hell, the fact...

Telford has had deckers in fairly recent history, and still does, albeit only on a school working of the X5, the SX5 run by Regional Transport, and University of Wolverhampton's own fleet of deckers, which run the intercampus routes. So nothing to the general public, but still sees deckers on a...

Midland Classic's peak only 402A (Burton - Uttoxeter) has the longest one I can think of - about 10 miles all in all, iirc to serve the village of Abbots Bromley, in lieu of the 403 (which runs off peak only), alongside a considerably shorter one to serve Draycott in the Clay. Both villages are...

Pushing a bit further back than the last decade, but National Express West Midlands (NXWM) X51 is one of the nost prominent examples, in my eyes. Formerly the 951/951A, one of the many iterations of the Birmingham - Walsall - Cannock "Timesaver" routes, the 951 had been drastically reduced over...

Used to love doing the 60 end to end when deCourcey put one of their deckers on there. Shame it's Stagecoach E200s now. Another contender, NXWM 25 - Wolverhampton - Goldthorn Park - Bilston - Willenhall - Wednesfield - Wood End - The Scotlands - Bushbury Hill - Wobaston - i54 - Pendeford or...

The old 99, Birmingham - QE Hospital - Harborne - Quinton - Halesowen. Went in 2017, with the branded Enviro200s for it scattering across depots. Replaced by extending the 244 (Dudley - Halesowen & Hayley Green) to the QE Hospital, and revising the X64 to operate through Vale Village, rather...

While not officially confirmed to be gone (or I've not seen any confirmation of that) the former Chase 1 (Cannock to Walsall direct) was suspended at the start of lockdown in March, and hasn't returned since. In the same vein, the 3 between Cannock, Brownhills and Walsall was also cut back to...

MCW Metrobuses, Volvo B6LE/Wright Crusaders, Volvo B10Bs, Dennis Tridents and the odd Volvo B10L for me, plus Chase's fleet of Nationals. The benefits of growing up in Willenhall in the early to mid 2000s, near enough every type in the TWM fleet operated through the town at some point. Only...