Maybe the blog has been a bit “whingy” recently. Heaven forbid! I’m a cheerleader for the bus industry, because I want to see it succeed.
So today, I took myself off to the salubrious surroundings of Solihull to have a ride on several brand-spanking new buses.
National Express West Midlands has been splashing the cash. Quite a lot of cash as it goes – £34m this year alone on 171 new buses. Part of the new order is the batch of premium double deckers, branded as “Platinum”. The first of these are on the trunk 900 service serving Birmingham City Centre, Airport/NEC and Coventry. Following hard on their heels, the 957 – which shares part of it’s route with the 900 at the Birmingham end – are now also seeing the posh offerings, with next-stop announcements, wifi, extra leg-room and half-leather/half moquette seating. They’re seriously cool. Next up for the Platinum brand will be routes serving North Birmingham and Walsall, including the fast X51 as well as the 934/5/6 and 997.
Also appearing on the streets of Solihull are some new single deckers. The new version of ADL’s Enviro 200 are the first to enter service anywhere. Decked out in the extremely classy new National Express West Midlands livery of two-tone crimson, these are “standard” offerings (rather than wifi, etc). Initially debuting on route 37 along Warwick Road between Solihull and the City, they run to basic 5 minute frequency during the daytime.
Which is just as well. On my bus, it was virtually full along much of the route! There were still some older double deckers out on the route today, and – dare I say it – they looked a bit more comfortable passenger-wise than my very busy new single decker. But I don’t want to detract from this superb investment in new kit. The ride was comfortable, the inside light and roomy, the driving impeccable. Only the inevitable presence of some Metro newspapers from this morning spoiling the ambiance (why can’t these be picked up by someone at the Solihull end?)
These single deckers are also going to be used on the 71/72 route from Solihull towards Chelmsley Wood and Sutton Coldfield – which sees competition on part of the route from independent Social Travel.
There isn’t too much more to say. I shuttled back and forth between The City and Solihull, using one route, than the other. Solihull has some long-term roadworks going on in the centre, so there is a bit of long-winded diversion action for those routes going down to the railway station.
What is really noticeable though, is the constant stream of new buses appearing in the West Midlands. I’m not entirely hung-up over whether a bus is “brand new” or “refurbished” – I’ve seen some really excellent refurbs around – but what is evident is the uplift in quality, especially for bus users of the 37/957 services. On the face of it, the long-running partnership between National Express West Midlands and Centro is bringing some real improvements to the West Midlands bus scene. What more, significantly, could a Quality Contract bring? Not a huge lot more in my opinion – which is why I still don’t really see the point of them in their current form.
It’s now up to the Councillors and Politicians – who of course were happy to pose in front of the shiny new buses – to really drive forward highway improvements that will improve journey times and make these smart new buses even more attractive.
What chance that?
Ah – sorry. I promised I wouldn’t whinge on this blog!