Changes: Travel Express

Revision as of 15:15, 11 August 2021

Travel Express was founded in 2000 by Kishan Singh Chumber, with the companies incorporation date being 25 September 2001. The current and former routes were commercial with very little services to be contracted services operated under the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). Currently all services except the 303 and 529 are operated in competition with National Express West Midlands.

History

Travel Express (2001-2015)

Initially, Travel Express ran services in Birmingham before switching operations to Wolverhampton. Services in Birmingham included 9, 16, 63 and 126, the fleet at the time had two Leyland vehicles, a Renault minibus and the others were Carlyle or Alexander/Plaxton bodied with step entrances. At one point, operations then began in Wolverhampton with the current routes today (1, 11, 32, 33, 303 and 529) but a few more were also introduced.

The company came under fire in January 2015 following a public enquiry by Traffic Commissioner Nick Jones, with the investigation finding that buses were unsafe and dirty, basic safety principles were unmet and that the company employed no cleaner, whilst branding manager Kishan Chumber 'incompetent'. Chumber responded, stating that the results of the public enquiry were a "gross vilification of the business" and that Travel Express were being unfairly targeted. The company had its number of allowed buses reduced from 13 to 8, and its routes reduced from 4 to 2. In September 2015, the company's licence was revoked for failing to comply with requirements imposed by the Traffic Commissioner.

Birmingham Bus Services

9 Birmingham to Halesowen

16 Birmingham to Hamstead

63 Wolverhampton to Rubery

126 Birmingham to Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton Bus Services

1 Wolverhampton to Tettenhall Wood

2 Wolverhampton to Bushbury Hill/Fallings Park

3 Wolverhampton to Fordhouses

6 Wolverhampton to Pendeford

11 Wolverhampton to Underhill

32/33 Wolverhampton to Northwood Park Circulars

510 Wolverhampton to Perton

529 Wolverhampton to Willenhall

598 Wolverhampton, Stafford Street to Bushbury Hill

At a point, Travel Express' routes were numbered within the 500s, presumably to avoid confusion with the service operated by National Express

Let's Go! (2016-Present)

In 2016, Travel Express, now trading as ‘Let’s Go’ received a new licence to operate 8 vehicles, under three conditions: (1) the company employ a full-time transport manager, (2) employ a full-time mechanic, and that the owner have no role in vehicle maintenance. The services that were operated are the same but with only routes 1, 2, 11, 32 and 33. The company was still renowned

In 2018, Travel Express' owner, Kishan Singh Chumber, applied to be re-instated as a Transport Manager for the company. At the January 2018 Traffic Commission meeting, he withdrew his application.

In late October 2018, Travel Express won their first TfWM tendered route, the 303 from Bilston to County Bridge that was previously operated by Diamond. The company purchased a former London General Wright Streetlite WF for this, however this has since been sold through to Vectare Essex and the route is operated by either an East Lancs Esteem, or E200.

In 2019, 17 Alexander Dennis Enviro 200s were purchased to replace the elderly Dennis Darts, out of the 23 vehicles by then, 5 were Dennis Darts with Plaxton Pointer bodies with one ALX200 while the remaining 17 were Enviros (in which three have Facelift bodies). The livery also included a change in livery from red to all-over white with the yellow 'Let's Go!' logo receiving a black outline.

On 28 March 2020, before lockdown started, all services except the 303 were all suspended.

On 1 May 2020, a single return journey 529 service started and again overruns a National Express service being the Platinum 529 service that continues down to Walsall, this goes as far as County Bridge where the first 303 starts from and by Tracker history now, the bus does the 32/33 circulars then operates a 529 journey before doing the 303 bus for the day then going back to the 529 and 32/33 services. This service it started within Wolverhampton Town Centre until on 4 February 2021, the stopping places were varied with the morning service starting from Wolverhampton, Horseley Fields and the afternoon return journey terminates on Old Hall Street.

Most of the Dennis Dart bodied Pointers and ALX200s were last seen from 2020 with another three gone from March to April 2021 and more Enviro 200s have entered service by then, the current Dennis Darts operational are Pointers being SK51AYD and CX03EBJ.

SK51AYD and CX03EBJ were withdrawn after 30 June 2021 with YX10FEK and YX63ZXM entering service after this date, the latter's appearances dried up from 6 July.

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MX61BCU was seen from 28 July 2021

The commercial services were reintroduced in stages, route 11 was reintroduced first on 14 June 2020, then route 1 on 3 July 2020, routes 32 and 33 were reintroduced months last on 15 November 2020, it is unknown if their route 2 will run again soon.

Services


Service No.	From	To	Via	Service Level	Frequency
1	Wolverhampton Police Station, Bilston Street Wolverhampton, St Marks Church	Tettenhall Wood, Penk Rise	Chapel Ash, Whitmore Reans	Mondays to Saturdays	Every 15-20 mins
11	Wolverhampton Bus Station	Underhill, Wildtree Avenue	Fallings Park, Park Village, The Scotlands	Daily	Mon to Sat every 10-15 mins Sundays every 20 mins
32/33	Wolverhampton Bus Station	Northwood Park	Circular Services via Oxley and Bushbury	Mondays to Saturdays	Mon to Fri every 10-45 mins Irregular during peak Saturdays every 15-40 mins
303	County Bridge, Coronation Ave	Bilston Bus Station	Lodge Farm, Willenhall Market Place, Portbello	Mondays to Saturdays	Every 60 mins (Shopping hours only)
529	Wolverhampton, Horseley Fields	Bentley, County Bridge	Portbello, Willenhall Market Place	Mondays to Saturdays	Two services (one in both directions)

Fleet List
Registration	Vehicle type	Seating capacity
EU08 FHD	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B28F
KX57 FMC	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29F
KX57 FME	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29F
KX08 UXU	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29F
LJ56 LDC	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29F
LJ08 RJY	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B26F
MX60 GXH	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29F
MX61 BCU	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29F
PN07 KRZ	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 / East Lancs Esteem	B23F
YX09 HZA	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29F
YX10 FEG	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29D
YX10 FEJ	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29D
YX10 FEK	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29D
YX10 FEO	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29D
YX61 BXH	Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart	B29F
YX63 ZXM	Alexander Dennis Enviro200	B29F
YX64 VOM	Alexander Dennis Enviro200	B29F
YY15 GEK	Alexander Dennis Enviro200	B29F

@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 Most of the Dennis Dart bodied Pointers and ALX200s were last seen from 2020 with another three gone from March to April 2021 and more Enviro 200s have entered service by then, the current Dennis Darts operational are Pointers being SK51AYD and CX03EBJ.
-SK51AYD and CX03EBJ were withdrawn after 30 June 2021 with YX10FEK and YX63ZXM entering service after this date.
+SK51AYD and CX03EBJ were withdrawn after 30 June 2021 with YX10FEK and YX63ZXM entering service after this date, the latter's appearances dried up from 6 July.
+Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MX61BCU was seen from 28 July 2021
 The commercial services were reintroduced in stages, route 11 was reintroduced first on 14 June 2020, then route 1 on 3 July 2020, routes 32 and 33 were reintroduced months last on 15 November 2020, it is unknown if their route 2 will run again soon.