On Sunday 2nd September, along with the Dudley & Sandwell changes taking place on the same date, there will be a number of other service changes taking place. Most are where services resume normal timetables, following the school holiday period, but there are also a number of more significant changes, which I will summarise below.
More Diamond and NX Bus collaboration
Following on from the partnership between TfWM, NX Bus and Diamond Bus on the 42 and 43 services, services 301 and 302 (Walsall to Mossley/Lower Farm) are being renumbered to 31 and 32, and a new combined timetable is being launched, with both operators tickets and passes being issued and accepted on all buses on those services.
Wolverhampton to Pattingham & Codsall
NX Bus will be taking over the contract to operate services 10A and 10B from Arriva Midlands.
These services will run between Wolverhampton, Perton and Pattingham (10A) and Wolverhampton, Perton and Codsall (10B), and subsequently, the times of service 10 between Wolverhampton and Perton will be changed from this date.
The 10A and 10B will run on Monday – Friday only. Unfortunately, buses to Pattingham and Codsall will no longer run on Saturdays, as required by the contract set by Staffordshire County Council. The 10 will continue to run between Wolverhampton and Perton on Saturdays and Sundays.
Buses on the 10A and 10B will run directly through to Wolverhampton from Pattingham and Codsall, and passengers will no longer have to change buses in Perton, as they currently do when using Arriva’s services.
Read more and download new timetable here.
Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon and Chipping Norton
As previously revealed on this website, service X20 is being withdrawn, and new service 20 is to be introduced, operating between Shirley rail station and Stratford-upon-Avon only. New Sunday only service X50 will be introduced and will operate between Birmingham city centre and Chipping Norton, via Stratford-upon-Avon.
Unfortunately passenger numbers are too low for us to continue commercially operating a Monday to Saturday service into Birmingham City Centre and congestion along the Stratford Road is causing the service to have timetable reliability issues. The new service 20 is designed to improve reliability and maintain a regular service along this important link between Shirley and Stratford-on-Avon. Whilst we appreciate that this will be disappointing news to some customers, we are doing it with the best intentions for reliability purposes and to ensure the route can continue for the foreseeable future.
Read more and download new timetables here.
Paradise Circus closure
From Monday 3rd September, Paradise Circus will be closed to all traffic, and all services currently using Broad Street will be diverted via Sandpits. In addition, services 82 and 87 will be rerouted and will access Colmore Row via Great Charles Street and Snow Hill, no longer serving New Street and Moor Street stations.
Other changes
Service 36 (Walsall to Alumwell) – terminus in Walsall moves to Bradford Place
Service 50A (Birmingham to Wythall) – service withdrawn
Service 39 (Walsall to Bilston) – will serve Bilston bus station again
New timetables can be viewed at the Network West Midlands website, or on operators’ own sites.
Full list of all changes can be downloaded here.
