FMR: October 2017 Bus Graph

Bus and Coach operations, new or changed services and timetables for First Midland Red Buses Limited or its predecessor, Midland Red West Limited.
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AdamH
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FMR: October 2017 Bus Graph

Post by AdamH » 14:46 Wednesday 25th October 2017

There has been some talk about the new vehicle requirements following the October service changes, and which buses are used where etc. To try and answer all of your questions in one go, the First Midlands MD has suggested I post a bus graph...

This'll keep you scratching your heads for a while! :o

Graph: Monday-Friday October 2017 (.pdf download).

Enjoy! :lol:

DD12
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Re: FMR: October 2017 Bus Graph

Post by DD12 » 15:34 Wednesday 25th October 2017

I'm thrilled !!
- I suspect that I will need to ask a few more stupid questions, and make a few more stupid comments though :D

Last week (school term), I was impressed by the even spacing between buses on the 144 (Droitwich-Worcester section), and on the Bath Road (I saw no bunching).

asb
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Re: FMR: October 2017 Bus Graph

Post by asb » 15:59 Wednesday 25th October 2017

Amazing!

Thanks to Nigel for letting you share it with us, and hats off to the Scheduler for compiling it in the first place! A very intricate operation indeed.

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AdamH
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Re: FMR: October 2017 Bus Graph

Post by AdamH » 16:14 Wednesday 25th October 2017

So have you figured out all of the codes yet?

In the left column we have the Running Board number in bold with the days operated below in smaller letters (note H = Thursday) and also if the card is a schoolday or non-schoolday working (Saturdays, Sundays and non-schooldays have not been included in this printout).

Below that is the vehicle type...

D6 = Double-deck small (60-seat Trident)
D7 = Double-deck large (74-seat Trident)
DV = Double-deck Volvo
DSD = Double-deck StreetDeck
ST = Single-deck StreetLite
STX = Single-deck StreetLite Max

etc.

I'm sure you can figure out the rest!

willr7
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Re: FMR: October 2017 Bus Graph

Post by willr7 » 09:38 Thursday 26th October 2017

AdamH wrote:
16:14 Wednesday 25th October 2017

D6 = Double-deck small (60-seat Trident)
D7 = Double-deck large (74-seat Trident)
DV = Double-deck Volvo
DSD = Double-deck StreetDeck
ST = Single-deck StreetLite
STX = Single-deck StreetLite Max

etc.

I'm sure you can figure out the rest!
The only one I can's figure out is SMU... There is only one SMU and it does the 31U all day. I presumed it is meant to be STX as there are only 8 STX's on the bus graph and WR have 9 Streetlite max's. Also the other 2 buses on the 31U are down as STX's...

After looking through the whole bus graph iv'e also noticed only 5 Optare's are needed (Including 53802) Which gives us 4 SPARE!

And, There are 12 refurbished Volvo's in total, does that mean only 12 Enviro 300's are departing for Stoke as WR have 16 meaning we should be left with 4 of them (67663/4/5/67699) But there are no Enviro 300's included on the bus graph (I guess they would be shown as E3) Perhaps 67699 could be refurbished & fitted with a E6 engine to act as a 144 spare??
And surely WR would want to keep 67664 as it's in the heritage livery... Perhaps as another spare?? Not sure about 67663/5 though :?

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AdamH
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Re: FMR: October 2017 Bus Graph

Post by AdamH » 18:53 Thursday 26th October 2017

SMU = SteetLite Max "un-branded", ie one of the ones that doesn't have route branding for the Malverns on. I suspect that once the new Malvern branding packs finally turn up there will be a few more of these.

SE = Single-deck Enviro (Enviro300).

The introduction of the new 31U route was partly to reduce the garage's dependence on Solos as they are getting rather old now (unlike the 31 route, the new 31U isn't subject to a weight limit). You may notice there are less of the "School" double-decks on the road during the afternoon off-peak period too. This is for the same reason.

Others...
VXB = Volvo Plaxton Centro with X50 branding.
VXV = Volvo Plaxton Centro with "Village Links" branding (not yet fitted to any vehicle) for use on 417/674 routes.

willr7
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Re: FMR: October 2017 Bus Graph

Post by willr7 » 21:14 Thursday 26th October 2017

AdamH wrote:
18:53 Thursday 26th October 2017
SMU = SteetLite Max "un-branded", ie one of the ones that doesn't have route branding for the Malverns on. I suspect that once the new Malvern branding packs finally turn up there will be a few more of these.

SE = Single-deck Enviro (Enviro300).

The introduction of the new 31U route was partly to reduce the garage's dependence on Solos as they are getting rather old now (unlike the 31 route, the new 31U isn't subject to a weight limit). You may notice there are less of the "School" double-decks on the road during the afternoon off-peak period too. This is for the same reason.

Others...
VXB = Volvo Plaxton Centro with X50 branding.
VXV = Volvo Plaxton Centro with "Village Links" branding (not yet fitted to any vehicle) for use on 417/674 routes.
Ah right, it all makes sense now (I thought SE was for the Volvo Eclipse urban)
Does that mean one of the X50 branded centro’s will be stripped and replaced with village links vinyls as only two X50 branded buses will be needed during the day. And while on the topic of solo’s I've always wanted WR to get some new SHORTER Enviro 200MMC’s (like the ones Stoke got but there longer) to replace the solo’s as like you say they are getting very old now...

willr7
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Re: FMR: October 2017 Bus Graph

Post by willr7 » 13:44 Tuesday 7th November 2017

AdamH wrote:
16:14 Wednesday 25th October 2017
(Saturdays, Sundays and non-schooldays have not been included in this printout)
Adam, do you have access to the Saturday’s, Sunday’s and non school days printouts, they would be interesting to see...

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AdamH
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Re: FMR: October 2017 Bus Graph

Post by AdamH » 15:12 Tuesday 7th November 2017

Not directly. I have to ask very nicely and hope the scheduling man is in a good mood. The one published is now out of date as the 31 and 31U are now interworked to improve reliability (looks like it’s working too). I don’t want to annoy anyone by going back for each and every minor change, but I will ask again when there are some significant changes made.

DD12
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Re: FMR: October 2017 Bus Graph

Post by DD12 » 15:28 Tuesday 7th November 2017

AdamH wrote:
15:12 Tuesday 7th November 2017
The one published is now out of date as the 31 and 31U are now interworked to improve reliability (looks like it’s working too).
Thanks Adam, - does that mean it's all solos again ?

The next bus graph of interest to me will be when all 12 of the green volvos are in service -
On Saturdays, will WR continue to use some DDs on the 144 in Birmingham ? - if yes, they will need to be StreetDecks, or Euro 6 conversions (?)
( - I'm wondering if all four of our StreetDecks are to receive Malvern "decoration" ?)

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