Nottingham 'Bus War'

[Deerfold]

For those suggesting the indigo should go back to the R5 - don't forget it took over from the R5, R5B, R5C, 1, 3, 10, 310 and 506 (a couple of those were briefly the 14/54 cross-city routes) - only 3 of the original 9 bph were from the R5/B/C to Derby.

 

[WillPS]

For those suggesting the indigo should go back to the R5 - don't forget it took over from the R5, R5B, R5C, 1, 3, 10, 310 and 506 (a couple of those were briefly the 14/54 cross-city routes) - only 3 of the original 9 bph were from the R5/B/C to Derby.

Those were all scooped up in to the "Rainbow 5" well ahead of the brand change to indigo.

 

[Deerfold]

Those were all scooped up in to the "Rainbow 5" well ahead of the brand change to indigo.

Ah - I must have missed/forgotten that. I miss the 3c 3 times a day a Melbourne.

 

[bb21]

Yeah, before merging all back under the same Rainbow 5 brand, they had R5 to Derby, R5A to Briar Gate and R5B to Loughborough / Sawley. There was also a Connect 5 I believe to Toton for a time. They got rid of the letters as someone mentioned earlier due to "people finding them confusing" allegedly.

The separate routes of 10, 310, etc, were all merged into the R5 family by around 2000.

The R5 brand was then renamed to Indigo.

 

[MCR247]

y. There was also a Connect 5 I believe to Toton for a time.

Yes this was a vario, and then a solo before the route was withdrawn

 

[Hyphen]

Aah, thanks guys. I think I'm a bit too young to remember all that lot!

I lived in Eastwood for many years before moving to Stabbo in 1999 - it was only after then that I was old enough to be allowed any independent travel. I presumably just never paid attention to buses back then!

The Connect 5 did live on into the unified R5 days, even making it into the indigo era when it was rebranded "connect" (and called "Toton Connect" on the website, to distinguish it from the route of the same name in Hucknall). That was comparatively short-lived though, before they pulled out of Toton entirely, leaving the door open for Premiere.

 

[WillPS]

The 1A is a total oddball as well. I can see why they don't want to give it a rainbow designation, but surely a "one" brand (to go with rapid and rainbow) would make sense at this stage? Ninety/90 should surely be one of 'the nines' as well?

 

[CallySleeper]

Ninety/90 should surely be one of 'the nines' as well?

Yes... rebrand it 9.0? Though this would have made more sense when it still ran to Mansfield.

 

[ALIEN14247]

It'll be interesting to see what happens at trentbarton if Alex Hornby makes the switch to become MD at Reading.....

 

[Qwerty133]

It'll be interesting to see what happens at trentbarton if Alex Hornby makes the switch to become MD at Reading.....

Where's this rumour come from? AFAIK reading has absolutely nothing to do with TB and they've been no signs that he's leaving.

 

[mattb251]

Your list is a good example of where marketing hype takes over from the real world. Whatever Alex Hornby may say or do I really do wonder if the travelling public is that bothered about the brand name/image. What they like is the smart, clean, bus coupled with good customers skills from the driver. Giving a route a dedicated livery probably helps quite a bit but are passengers really interested in all of his other marketing gimmicks ?

Run the service at the advertised time and ensure it's a good, clean, bus with a good driver and you don't need any more gimmickry.

It's no good running the bus on time and clean if nobody is going to use it - these "gimmicks" are there to attract new customers onto the bus. Considering the average customer 'turnover' is around 10% per year (with people passing away, leaving the area, changing travel habits etc), the company has to do something to attract new customers. Those may be customers who have just moved to the area or they may be car users. By making people notice the bus, they're more likely to get these customers on board compared to a plain, bog-standard bus which has nothing to say "look at me!"

To those who already use the bus and do not care for the additional features and messages, it may look like a gimmick, but you have to look at it from a wider perspective and see that eye-catching branding, marketing messages and features like USB plug sockets and WiFi are effective, and have seen the brands grow, and are good investments of money by the company.

 

[harry42]

The 1A is a total oddball as well. I can see why they don't want to give it a rainbow designation, but surely a "one" brand (to go with rapid and rainbow) would make sense at this stage?

Couldn't agree more - Its strange, connects to Rainbow 1...why not order 2 more buses and make it part of R1?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

It'll be interesting to see what happens at trentbarton if Alex Hornby makes the switch to become MD at Reading.....

Highly doubt hes leaving...

 

[Hyphen]

Highly doubt hes leaving...

I'm inclined to agree with this. From reading press releases the company puts out, as well as following him on Twitter, he doesn't seem to have shown any sign of losing enthusiasm in his current role; quite the opposite in fact.

Whilst I'm sure leadership of an independent bus company would be right up his street at some future point in his career (and is something he'd be very good at), I think he has a young family who might not take too kindly to shifting half way across the country at this point in their lives (though I realise he's done this a couple of times before).

 

[WillPS]

Saw an Excel2 on the R1 yesterday. *memories*

Seriously though, I thought Trent were hoping to have got rid of their Excels; like; 18 months ago?

 

[Mitch in Notts]

Funny that as I travelled on the 141 on Monday and that was an excel - and one of the other 141s had a excel on it so that two at least!

 

[harry42]

excel on the two today as well

 

[Mitch in Notts]

And a classic piece of stupidity today.

The County Council have been through Nuthall today putting up the times for the new 728.
At the same time they have removed the times for the L33. They have stopped funding this but the CITY Council have rescued it with the same timetable. Obviously it isn't the County Councils responsibility to keep up existing & correct timetables for a service funded by another authority that just happens to run through part of the county!!

 

[tbone]

excel on the two today as well

Two excels are stationed at Langley Mill to cover duplicates at peak times in the Two and i4 and to act as emergency spares so this is not unusual. They are due for replacement, presumably from the vehicles displaced from the new versas.

 

[harry42]

PB1016027/15
NOTTINGHAM COMMUNITY TRANSPORT LTD, SHERWOOD BUS GARAGE, MANSFIELD ROAD , NOTTINGHAM NG5 2JN
From: MORRISONS GAMSTON
To: MORRISONS GAMSTON
Via:
Name or No: L22
Service Type: Normal Stopping
Effective Date: 01-Sep-2014
Other Details: MONDAY TO SATURDAY
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

And a classic piece of stupidity today.

The County Council have been through Nuthall today putting up the times for the new 728.
At the same time they have removed the times for the L33. They have stopped funding this but the CITY Council have rescued it with the same timetable. Obviously it isn't the County Councils responsibility to keep up existing & correct timetables for a service funded by another authority that just happens to run through part of the county!!

Quite good is that

 

[Mitch in Notts]

Slight correction to my original posting.
They have taken down the L33 timetables and number off of the stop plates on ONE side of the road. But they have left them up on the other!!!
So we now have 12 buses a day going towards Phoenix Park never to be seen again........

 

[CallySleeper]

I don't understand what the significance is of the circle on the destination blinds of the new R1 buses? Can't they just have R1 like the i4 buses do?

Also, FYI - Yourbus Heanor are recruiting qualified and trainee bus drivers.

 

[Mitch in Notts]

Also, FYI - Yourbus Heanor are recruiting qualified and trainee bus drivers.

Lol Yourbus are ALWAYS recruiting - they have a permanent advert in the Nottm Post every Wednesday!

 

[harry42]

Lol Yourbus are ALWAYS recruiting - they have a permanent advert in the Nottm Post every Wednesday!

Because they ALWAYS have a shortage! Always online too

 

[tbone]

I don't understand what the significance is of the circle on the destination blinds of the new R1 buses? Can't they just have R1 like the i4 buses do?

Also, FYI - Yourbus Heanor are recruiting qualified and trainee bus drivers.

There are five variations of the route, Heanor, Ripley, Alfreton (via two different routes) and Eastwood. Each colour represents one of these routes. Rapid One has a grey circle

 

[Hyphen]

Two excels are stationed at Langley Mill to cover duplicates at peak times in the Two and i4 and to act as emergency spares so this is not unusual. They are due for replacement, presumably from the vehicles displaced from the new versas.

I thought i4 was covered by Manvers St and Meadow Lane, not Langley Mill? Bit of a distance to drive to cover duplicates.

It's been many many years since I saw an Excel on the i4/R4, and that wasn't too long after we got our Solars in 200(7?).

 

[winston270twm]

Does anyone know why NX coaches have teamed up with Yourbus to offer free bus travel to NX coach passengers? Yourbus services don't cover that greater an area to benefit many

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/Bus...r-Derbyshire/story-22084488-detail/story.html

 

[Deerfold]

Does anyone know why NX coaches have teamed up with Yourbus to offer free bus travel to NX coach passengers? Yourbus services don't cover that greater an area to benefit many

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/Bus...r-Derbyshire/story-22084488-detail/story.html

Yourbus run most (all?) of the National Express services which serve Derby.

 

[winston270twm]

Yourbus run most (all?) of the National Express services which serve Derby.

I appreciate Yourbus run a large number of NX coach services in the area, but I think your missing my point i.e. their bus operations which NX coach passengers can now use free of charge don't cover that much of Nottingham or Derby and may only benefit the minority of NX coach passengers. Why not team up with NCT or Trent Barton which have much larger network coverage?

Maybe I'm thinking that there is more to the tie up than there actually is i.e. Yourbus backer etc It's not something that NX coaches have done before other than with their own bus operations

 

[Mitch in Notts]

There are five variations of the route, Heanor, Ripley, Alfreton (via two different routes) and Eastwood. Each colour represents one of these routes. Rapid One has a grey circle

Well thank you for that piece of information. I live on the route and hadn't noticed the circles and hadn't noticed different colours either. And haven't seen any mention of them in publicity. Makes them a bit pointless if the public don't know about them!

 

[edwin_m]

I appreciate Yourbus run a large number of NX coach services in the area, but I think your missing my point i.e. their bus operations which NX coach passengers can now use free of charge don't cover that much of Nottingham or Derby and may only benefit the minority of NX coach passengers. Why not team up with NCT or Trent Barton which have much larger network coverage?

Maybe I'm thinking that there is more to the tie up than there actually is i.e. Yourbus backer etc It's not something that NX coaches have done before other than with their own bus operations

Probably because Yourbus already have a working relationship with NX they have agreed a promotion which they hope will benefit both parties (a free ticket to the coach station makes it more likely someone will go by coach!). NCT and TB have less reason to participate in such an offer because they are already dominant operators and people taking a bus to the coach station would probably be using them already. This offer tempts them to try the alternative, if one exists for the route in question, and is quite clever in that it targets coach users who are probably more likely than average to be bus users as well.