Ridercross
Member
No, the 710 is continuing, but as that is a closed door school service, there will be no general public service provided by NX in Codsall.
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National express West Midlands
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Will the Wright Streetdeck Hydroliners remain in stock? I ask this as they were funded by Birmingham City Council, and with the financial issues they have could they not be tempted to recoup them and sell them off to clear debts? or have they been bought in a way which National Express West Midlands will gain full ownership of them?
No, it has a new timetable from the 24th September.
Yes 710 and also 100/SFA1/SFA2 are closed door services.
DavidGrain
Established Member
- Joined
- 29 Dec 2017
- Messages
- 1,238
The profitability of school services might be a matter for concern. Green Bus which operated many school services in the WMNX area ceased operations days before the start of the autumn term.
MasterSpenny
Member
A BYD Enviro 400 EV for National Express West Midlands (Coventry operations) has been sighted at Alexander Dennis (not my picture)
www.flickr.com
Possibly part of another large electric order?
New Alexander Buses
Ee241 - LG73 FSJ London Central BYD ADL Enviro400EV 4116 - SK73 CSF Go North West ADL Enviro200 MMC 4130 - SK73 CTZ Go North West ADL Enviro200 MMC 4119 - SK73 CSV Go North West ADL Enviro200 MMC E196 - LG73 FJF National Express West Midlands BYD ADL Enviro400EV Now LF24
www.flickr.com
EnviroExplorer
Member
A BYD Enviro 400 EV for National Express West Midlands (Coventry operations) has been sighted at Alexander Dennis (not my picture)
Possibly part of another large electric order?New Alexander Buses
Ee241 - LG73 FSJ London Central BYD ADL Enviro400EV 4116 - SK73 CSF Go North West ADL Enviro200 MMC 4130 - SK73 CTZ Go North West ADL Enviro200 MMC 4119 - SK73 CSV Go North West ADL Enviro200 MMC E196 - LG73 FJF National Express West Midlands BYD ADL Enviro400EV Now LF24
That will be for the West Midlands not Coventry. Rumoured elsewhere they are for Perry Barr depot allowing cascades to other depots to replace the last buses that aren’t Euro 6.
Who would want them is another thing. There are not many hydrogen fuelling stations. Them being based in Walsall they have to be driven to Tyseley for fuelling. The council has refused planning permission for hydrogen tanks at Walsall since the depot has houses around it.
Interesting. Imagine if all the pro Hydrogen folks got their wish and every petrol station would require a Hydrodgen tank installed.
Does highlight another major problem with Hydodgen powered vehicles.
Does it? Are they inherently more dangerous than the big tanks of petrol?
Wyrleybart
Established Member
Been driving in and out of Brum on the A34 and Barr Beacon since Thursday at most times of the day and seen just one hydroliner. The brief flurry of them on the 997 or whatever has dried up, and I have been seeing numerous maroon buses on the X51 Platinum route
Man of Kent
Member
- Joined
- 5 Jul 2018
- Messages
- 610
I've heard at a presentation by a senior Transport for London manager that the fuelling facilities are the bugbear in their operation in London. This seems to be confirmed by the First Aberdeen thread https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/first-aberdeen.166147/post-6454263 and so no doubt the NXWM Hydroliners are also susceptible to fuel availability.
I think there are 5 out normally.
When they've been out, they seem to have been operating on about 5/6 out since they first entered service.
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MasterSpenny
Member
According to buslistsontheweb.co.uk, registrations for the new BYD Enviro 400 EVs are now showing, which I have copy pasted into the Google Sheet below.
docs.google.com
BYD E400 EV National Express batch body numbers N449
Sheet1 Fleet Number,Registration,Chassis & Chassis Number,Body Numbers,Seating,Registered,First Owner E164,LG73FTT,BYD D8UR-DD LC04S44R4NE000143,AD N449/1,H39/26F,/2023,West Midlands E165,LG73FTU,BYD D8UR-DD LC04S44R1NE000147,AD N449/2,H39/26F,/2023,West Midlands E166,LG73FTV,BYD D8UR-DD LC04S44...
EnviroExplorer
Member
According to buslistsontheweb.co.uk, registrations for the new BYD Enviro 400 EVs are now showing, which I have copy pasted into the Google Sheet below.
BYD E400 EV National Express batch body numbers N449
Sheet1 Fleet Number,Registration,Chassis & Chassis Number,Body Numbers,Seating,Registered,First Owner E164,LG73FTT,BYD D8UR-DD LC04S44R4NE000143,AD N449/1,H39/26F,/2023,West Midlands E165,LG73FTU,BYD D8UR-DD LC04S44R1NE000147,AD N449/2,H39/26F,/2023,West Midlands E166,LG73FTV,BYD D8UR-DD LC04S44...
Alternatively can be found on the wmbusphotos website, where photos of them will be uploaded as and when they are delivered.
Wyrleybart
Established Member
Driving home from Brum off night shifts I passed several Hydroliners going the other way, one X51 and two on the 997s, so perhaps NXWM have had a splurge on getting them into traffic. Someone I spoke to at work reckons the problems are fuelling them at Tyseley, and allied to that I saw an FB post from a driver on a diesel bus on the X51 suggesting he had to kick his heels in Brum for an hour because he didn't need to go to Tyseley for hydrogen.
Sometimes the pumps at Tyseley have problems and the plant takes hours to produce the hydrogen. It puts the buses out of action. There have been several driver attempts to have the buses moved to Birmingham Central. Has been met with a no.
The BC 60/X2 go near the Tyseley fuelling site as well at Hay Mills. Might make sense running them on those routes.
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Man of Kent
Member
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- 5 Jul 2018
- Messages
- 610
I suspect that as a very old and traditional style depot, Birmingham Central is not suitable for the operation or maintenance of hydrogen-powered vehicles. Perry Barr I believe was built to allow for this.
Ridercross
Member
Remember that Birmingham Central is going to close in the next couple of years anyway and be replaced by depots in the East and South of the city so it's probably not worth installing any kind of infrastructure to enable hydrogen vehicles from there.
bussnapperwm
Established Member
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- Messages
- 1,514
Plus Walsall has the 5 original diesel NXWM streetdecks, so there is some parts commonality between the original and the hydroliners
Is there a source, or just a a rumour ?
bussnapperwm
Established Member
- Joined
- 18 May 2014
- Messages
- 1,514
It's well known that Birmingham Central is set to close.
Three new depots are planned for Birmingham
National Express West Midlands is expected to close two of its...
www.keybuses.com
Obviously that article was released pre-COVID.
This post also refers - https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...mingham-to-be-redeveloped.211928/post-4891683
Lewisham2221
Established Member
It appears that there's been a recent spate of serious antisocial behaviour in Wolverhampton route 59
BBC News - Concern over serious incidents on Wolverhampton bus route
BBC News - Concern over serious incidents on Wolverhampton bus route
Concern over serious incidents on Wolverhampton bus route
Transport for West Midlands has introduced regular patrols on the 59 service to tackle the issue.
www.bbc.co.uk
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G760XRE
Member
Noted today on the A41 at Whitchurch, headed in the direction of Chester was former National Express Coventry B7TL BX54DFU (4661). Devoid of fleetnames, but still in blue/white livery.
01d-and
Member
Busview had 4661 as being at Birmingham Busworks so it could be off to pastures new . . . . 
EnviroExplorer
Member
Busview had 4661 as being at Birmingham Busworks so it could be off to pastures new . . . .
As a wild guess, it could be off to P&O Lloyd on the North Wales coast who have previously purchased a few other examples from Birmingham Busworks.
City Stop Changes.
X21/X22 terminus will be moving to Park Street. 61/63 will terminate at new street station on its way into the city, on its way out it will pickup at MS8A and then u turn at st michaels church.
66 will move to new stop PQ12A next to the 94/95. Perry Barr/Walsall services terminus will move to PQ7/8/9 on Prirory Queensway (current 61/63/x21/x22 stops).
45/47 continues to stop at the high street and 97 will stop on carrs lane then they will loop out the city via bull street and priory queensway stopping at the square peg on the way.
X21/X22 terminus will be moving to Park Street. 61/63 will terminate at new street station on its way into the city, on its way out it will pickup at MS8A and then u turn at st michaels church.
66 will move to new stop PQ12A next to the 94/95. Perry Barr/Walsall services terminus will move to PQ7/8/9 on Prirory Queensway (current 61/63/x21/x22 stops).
45/47 continues to stop at the high street and 97 will stop on carrs lane then they will loop out the city via bull street and priory queensway stopping at the square peg on the way.
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adrianjohnson
Member
Having looked at the fleet list on bustimes.org there are some electric deckers with fleet numbers in 'Z' range (Z4001/6/7). Why are they numbered like that and why are there gaps? Are more buses expected? (I checked Coventry to see if they are listed there, but they're not).
EnviroExplorer
Member
There are 8 of these numbered Z4001-4008, the rest remain unallocated at present although have seen use on Glastonbury shuttle work last year. The Z denotes Zenobe who own these vehicles and the rest of the Electrics with National Express - they’re operated through an ‘Electric Transport as a Service’ model which is better described in the link below. Put simply Zenobe are contractually required to provide a set number of buses at any given time, the Z numbered vehicles are the spares on paper for when the E numbered vehicles are unavailable.
Is Electric Transport as a Service (ETaaS) the future for fleet electrification? - Zenobē
The simplest approach to overcoming the barriers to fleet electrification could be for operators to transition away from ownership entirely and towards an Electric Transport as a Service model.
www.zenobe.com
At present Z4001/6/7 are covering for E004/17/18 which have been off-leased, although I’ve never been able to find a real reason behind this. Rumours circulated they had major battery issues but this has been denied by senior figures.