Review of Diamond Bus Services & Fares

16 June 2022

Diamond Bus recently confirmed that some of its services are currently under review with the risk of service cuts from 24th July & 28th August 2022.

Vital Government funding that enabled essential bus services to continue operating during the Coronavirus pandemic will end later this year. Government funding gave a life line to bus companies over the previous two years, however the long reaching effects of the pandemic are still being felt by bus operators with passenger numbers still dramatically lower than pre-covid levels.

Whilst we appreciate the news about proposed service cuts causes concern to passengers, we want to reassure you we are doing all we can to resolve this situation.

As a company we do not want to cut services, but the current climate means that the majority of our services run at considerable loss. We have been in discussion with Local Authorities, MPs and councillors to make them aware of the situation and hope that by working together we can collectively improve this position.

It is also important to state that this current dilemma is not only a Diamond Bus issue, it is an industry-wide problem created by accelerating operating costs and a reduction in the number of people using buses post COVID. Without the intervention of additional subsidy bus services will need to be reviewed for either service reduction or withdrawal altogether.

Diamond Bus has continued to be committed to providing a viable and desirable network in the Midlands. We have worked hard to meet the challenges of operating in a demanding market, by investing in new buses and better technology, whilst keeping fares affordable for passengers.

Ultimately we are committed to growing our services to keep communities moving. As we move forward from a very difficult period during Covid we want to encourage passengers back to support their local bus network. We have continued investing in our business to provide a strong local network, but in order to maintain that long term we need passenger levels to return to how they were before the pandemic.

Currently, we envisage that reviews will be undertaken over the coming months, with service changes and fare revisions to be implemented by 28th August 2022.

The impact on service reliability:

To combat current financial pressures, we have been reviewing how we operate our services more effectively, which has included interworking services and reducing stand time as labour is 50% of our operating cost.  In the short term, this has meant we have had some transitional operating issues which we are working hard to manage and reduce. 

In Warwickshire specifically, operational issues have occurred as a result of our need to quickly build knowledge around a complex set of routes and timetables following the Johnsons Excelbus acquisition. Over the last three weeks of operation reliability on our Stratford bus services has significantly improved.

After identifying the latest issues we have now put resources in place to increase supervision and making Peak-Time adjustments to put additional running time in. We are continuing to review our changes to see what is workable, both for the company and passengers

Although unfortunately delays have been experienced on some services, over the whole Diamond network we can assure residents that we are not suffering high levels of lost mileage, and that our services are running.

If customers are experiencing problems with their service we always request that they let us know.  The details they provide helps us to focus our attention and to analyse the impact of the changes we have made. We would encourage customers to get in touch with us directly at comments@diamondbuses.com

Responses to customers concerns:

Diamond are aware that customers currently have some concerns regarding our proposed service review and complaints about the current operational issues that we have encountered in some of our service areas. We have identified some key themes that have caused concern and wish to respond to customers regarding these issues. 

Please follow this link to find some recent frequently highlighted comments, we hope that our below responses will give customers further insight into the reasons behind our decisions. 

Confirmed July Service Changes:

* For timetable information for these services no longer to be operated by Diamond Bus, please visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk
** For information on alternative routes, please contact TfWM

Services still under review:

Our service review will continue over the coming weeks and months, the information detailed above may be subject to change, therefore we recommend that customers continue to check back for information regularly and follow us on Facebook or Twitter for latest updates.

Updated 28/06/22.