Diamond Bus Network

The last bus to get to my hometown out of Birmingham on a night is run by Diamond, yes the insides are nice and clean, leather seats and wooden floors. They give change back so you never loose out money.
But the amount of times i’ve been stuck in town because this bus never shows up is amazing, and even when it does show up its either early or late, never in-​between.
They also run the first service of the day (7am) and that seems a little better, never had problems with that.
Just be aware any day savers or tokens you have off any other bus’s are not valid on these bus’s, seems obvious but its an easy mistake to make.

My first impressions of the Diamond buses were completely positive. I mean, eliminate flooring, leather seats, what’s not to like.
It’s only been since I’ve began to buy a day-​saver with the Travel West Midland buses, that Diamond have started to arrive at the completely wrong time, becoming more and more frustrating due to the fact that I’d have to spend another £1.80 just to use the bus.
If all Birmingham based buses were tied to the same company this would not be an issue, but sadly, it is.
These specific buses aren’t as regular as Travel West Midland, so based on that fact and their ability to arrive at the worst possible points; I’m not a fan.

I used to catch Diamond buses all the time, mainly because they were a much cheaper option to get to and from town when compared to West Midlands travel.
But now, for 10p dearer, and the option to buy a day saver, West Midlands travel beats Diamond’s (£1.80* single) service hands down; Unless you’re only making one journey that is.
If this bus service was more regular, I would probably use it more often, and buy a return/​day saver. But at the moment, it’s likely that you’ll be waiting quite sometime for a return bus with Diamond, so it makes more sense to purchase a day saver ticket (£3.80*) with the consistent and reliable West Midlands service.
However, particularly regarding the 17 route, there does seem to be an increase in this service, so maybe I will switch over to using them if they become more constant in other areas (such as the 50 route).
Nevertheless, the only truly great fact about Diamond is the super fast time it takes to get to the city centre (mainly because nobody really catches it, so it doesn’t stop very often!)