First Bus caused a bit of a stir earlier this month when it was revealed they would be curtailing their 144 service to operate between Worcester and Catshill, no longer continuing to Birmingham city centre via Rubery and Longbridge along the Bristol Road.
First cited “low passenger usage” along that part of the route as the reason for the curtailment.
Over 2000 people signed an online petition calling for the decsision to be reversed. And local newspaper Bromsgrove Standard was ‘inundated’ with reader letters complaining about this.
While First are proceeding with their service curtailment effective from Sunday 1st May, after discussions with Worcestershire County Council, an emergency tendered contract has been awarded to NX West Midlands which will see the county council subsidising a service to operate between Bromsgrove and Longbridge, from Tuesday 3rd May.
I understand the contract will last for six months, so is clearly being offered on a “use it or lose it basis”. In the meantime the county council will review the network and hopefully reach a longer-term solution.
I understand this service will operate as 144A, following the current 144 route between Bromsgrove bus station and Longbridge via Catshill and Rubery, every hour Monday to Saturday daytimes.
It remains to be seen how successful this service ends up, and how many of the 2000 plus people who signed the petition will actually use it.
Of course, if it does prove to be viable for NX Bus to operate without external funding, it would be interesting to see how it could be incorporated into their other commercial services.
Featured image is (c) Tony Hunter, WM Buses In Photos
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The use it or lose it analogy is rather false i live by 89 bus that is only every 30mins and goes to only 2 centres. The lack of destinations and choice/options/bus services at my local stop means 9 times out of 10 I walk to 87 stops on High St or 12 stops on Warley Rd as I know a bus will turn up and have more options so I hardly use the local bus stops at all, not that I dont want to but I have places to go. If there was more options at my local stop Id use it more and I did when there was more services to more places serving it. NX are a bit obsessed by trying to put one bus more frequent to few places that doesnt encourage people by me to use buses at all the more services at a local stop the more people will use it or it will be a never ending cycle of putting one infrequent bus up a road nobody will use
I totally disagreed with changes such as removal of 444 and 450 which added journey time and took off vital links in Smethwick area. I live there and many have been impacted long term. I disagreed with 448 rerouting and adding 444 it increased journey time from Devonshire Rd and Smethwick High St to Bearwood and Warley and vica versa. I disagreed with 444 removal as it got rid if any Bearwood links in Smethwick and 450 removal which cut of many roads to Smethwick High St and West Brom as well as Bearwood and rerouting of 89 which cut off links between Tat Bank and Smethwick all of which have increased journey times and made it more convoluted
In fact by me they should be providing a Bearwood to West Brom bus as getting to Bearwood is harder than getting to Cape Hill and Oldbury as 87 is on High St thus a link down there snd Queens Head is rewuired so the 48 or 48a should be doing that. It provides better direct links all round. The fascination with Birmingham is bizarre and shows lack of understanding of area by TfWM and NX
I disagree here. In areas like Smethwick where services on my road have been reduced all it means is passengers who rely on buses and use services use them less and certainly wont encourage car users out of cars, as people go to a variety of local centres at different times. In fact I go to various different local centres as each centre has different facilities as facilities are spread out. The less options at local stops the less people use them. When the 450 and 444 were replaced with hodge podge of hourly buses quite frankly doing less and not giving links 450 and 444 did it just reduced passengers overall as they could see less benefit in using each individual service. Following the money and passenger numbers is the wrong way to view it what gets lost is the overall network and links services provide. People who use buses use them for a variety of reasons not just one purpose. I know use buses less than 3 years ago down to some bizarre bus changes chasing car users and passenger numbers. Changing the bus route or taking it off doesnt mean the Network is better or doesnt encourage use in fact in my case and others it had the opposite effect.
I know it’s only early days and also a snap shot but it looks promising.
From What I saw today the 144A might be kept after the 6th month triaI
They very rarely change their decisions so I doubt the petitions do any good. People did petitions when 444 and 450 in Smethwick was took off due to Warley Review, we are still suffering 10 years later, important local links to Bearwood and Smethwick High St and linking sections together removed put people off using local buses at all infact few by me now use buses, me included. The decision makers dont understand how locals get around and rarely understand how specific roads and areas are affected
Will first now withdraw the 144A registration to Catshill or will it run in competition ?
I’m not 100% certain, my understanding is that First are essentially renumbering the 144A to 144 between Worcester and Catshill.only.
First have renumbered the 144A as 144 between Catshill & Worcester . NXWM will operate the 144A between Bromsgrove & Longbridge.