The wait is almost over! I have been informed that brand new electric buses are set to begin hitting the streets of north Birmingham from Monday 27th May 2024.
Following on from the replacement of diesel double-deck buses at Coventry garage last year, NX’s Perry Barr garage is the first West Midlands depot to get the full electric upgrade treatment.
The first batch of 42 vehicles are prepped and ready to enter service from Monday 27th May 2024, and will be utilised on all of Perry Barr’s double-deck routes. For the benefit of those who may not know, they are:
- 7 – Birmingham to Perry Common
- 16 – Birmingham to Great Barr
- 33 – Birmingham to Pheasey
- 52 – Birmingham to Perry Beeches
- 65 – Birmingham to Perry Common
- 67 – Birmingham to Castle Vale
- 101 – Birmingham to Handsworth
- 907 – Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield
- X3 – Birmingham to Lichfield
- X4 – Birmingham to Falcon Lodge
- X5 – Birmingham to Roughley
- X14 – Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield
The remainder of Perry Barr’s diesel double decks will then be replaced over the following few months.
It begins an interesting period, as by my reckoning at my last count, Perry Barr have 102 diesel double-decks. I don’t expect their 4 Scania OmniCities will be deployed elsewhere due to their age and being non-standard in the fleet, but that leaves 98 vehicles that could be cascaded to other garages to replace other older double-decks elsewhere.
Of course there are yet more of these to come, this is the first part of a total order of 300 electric double-deck buses to be delivered into service by early next year. As well as displacing older double-decks, we can also expect to see the number of single-decks reduced significantly.
Featured image (c) Tony Hunter, WM Buses In Photos, used as always with permission
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