From Sunday 1st September 2019, a number of changes to bus services in the Birmingham and Solihull area will be taking place. Also, while some services will be returning to regular timetables following the school summer holiday period, a number of services will have new revised timetables introduced. The below information is taken from the NX Bus and Network West Midlands websites.
Kingshurst & Chelmsley Wood
In response to feedback from customers and local councillors on bus services in the Kingshurst and Chelmsley Wood area, NX Bus will making a number of improvements to services from 1st September 2019. In particular, these changes will provide more buses and new links for Cooks Lane, Chelmsley Road, Over Green Drive, Gilson Way and Marston Drive.
58 – Solihull – Kingshurst
- The 58 will extend beyond Yardley to Lea Hall, Shard End and Kingshurst, providing direct links to and from Solihull town centre & Solihull Hospital.
- From Yardley Swan, the 58 will serve Yardley Yew Tree, Church Road, Queens Road, Whittington Oval, Lea Hall Station, Meadway, Kitts Green Road, Lea Village, Lea Ford Road, Packington Avenue, Hurst Lane (for Morrisons), Chester Road, Over Green Drive, Marston Drive, Gilson Way and Fordbridge Road (operating along Fordbridge Road as far as the bus turning circle).
- The 58 will reinstate the link between Yardley and Kingshurst previously provided by the 59 until 2017.
- Buses will run up to every 30 minutes on Monday to Saturday daytimes.
- The 58 will partly replace the 99, which will no longer operate from 1st September.
71 – Sutton Coldfield – Chelmsley Wood
- The route of the 71 will change between Castle Bromwich and Chelmsley Wood to additionally serve Kingshurst (Over Green Drive, Marston Drive and Gilson Way).
- Cooks Lane and Chelmsley Road will still be served.
- In Castle Bromwich, buses will no longer serve Hall Road or Chester Road and will instead run directly along Bradford Road.
- This is to allow buses sufficient time to serve Kingshurst. Hall Road and Chester Road will still be served by the 96, X12 and X70.
X12 – Birmingham – Solihull
- Service will divert between Castle Bromwich and Chelmsley Wood to additionally serve Cooks Lane and Chelmsley Road.
- This will provide Cooks Lane and Chelmsley Road with new direct links to Birmingham, Birmingham International Airport and Solihull and with more buses to Chelmsley Wood.
- There will be minor timetable changes to reflect this change of route.
Acocks Green, Shirley & Solihull
6 – Birmingham – Solihull Station
- Minor changes to timetables to improve reliability.
- Service will start and terminate in Solihull Town Centre on Station Road stop SM outside John Lewis.
- This service will no longer serve Solihull Rail Station, please use alternative bus stops on Blossomfield Road.
I understand that due to growing passenger numbers, this service will become double-deck operated using brand new Platinum vehicles, ahead of an expected upgrade to fully-electric buses next year.
99 – Shirley – Acocks Green – Sheldon – Lea Hall – Shard End
- Service will be withdrawn from the 1st September and replaced by changes to service 58 (see above) and new service 32.
32 – Shirley – Lyndon
- New service 32 will operate from Shirley Parkway to Lyndon, Barn Lane via The Baldwin, Robin Hood Island, Pitmaston Road, Shirley Road, Dolphin Lane and Acocks Green Village.
- This service will operate every hour Monday to Saturday daytimes.
A3 / A3W – Solihull – Widney Manor – Dorridge
- The A3 will no longer be serving Hockley Heath, as this will now be covered by the A7 and A8 route. This ensures that the timetable is ‘clock-face’ (operating at the same time past each hour) making it easier to integrate journeys with the railway network, and giving a more balanced timetable between Dorridge and Solihull.
- We will also be varying the A3 route to serve the Widney Manor area, with the A7 and A8 serving Warwick Road.
- The A3 will serve Alderminster Road and Monkspath Hall Road between the hours of 09.30 and 15.00 Monday to Saturday, and will serve Widney Manor Road outside of this period.
A5 – Solihull – Dickens Heath – Cheswick Green
A6 – Solihull to Cheswick Green
The demand for the A6 has been very low and will therefore be withdrawn. The A5 route will be extended to also serve Cheswick Green, maintaining a half hourly service for residents of both Dickens Heath and Cheswick Green into Solihull.
A7 / A8 – South Solihull Circular
- A7 will continue to operate clockwise, with A8 serving the same route anticlockwise.
- Through operating the service along Warwick Road and using the bus gate that has opened in Blythe Valley Business Park, journeys will be quicker.
- This will mean that the full circle can be completed in under an hour, making journeys significantly more competitive with the private car.
Further details on South Solihull changes and links to new timetables can be found at the Network West Midlands website.
A12 – Acocks Green to Solihull
- From 1 September this service will be operated by Landflight. Visit here for more information.
- Daytime off-peak frequency increases to every 30 minutes.
X20 – Stratford-upon-Avon to Coventry
- New service launched by Johnsons Excelbus from Monday 2nd September, running between Stratford-upon-Avon and Coventry, via Henley-in-Arden, Hockley Heath, Shirley, Solihull, Hampton-in-Arden, Meriden and Allesley.
- Replaces current 20 (Stratford to Shirley station) and 82 (Solihull to Coventry) services.
- Operates Monday to Saturday, no change to current X50 Sunday journeys. Timetable available from Johnsons Coaches website.
Other Birmingham area changes
In addition to the above changes, a number of services will have new revised timetables implemented in order to address reliability issues.
Please see the NX West Midlands website for further details and timetable download links.
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