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I was flicking through the 1986 WMPTE fleet list booklet just now and there's a section on routes that had been registered by WMT in the spring for October. It was organised by garage and in the YW section it shows the following:

77 Northfield to Kings Heath
78 Cotteridge to Kings Heath

I'm assuming that the 78 became the retained and extended 27 and I know there was an old 77 that went from Kings Heath to Longbridge but can anyone shed more light on what these routes were intended to be? It also shows the 49 running from Solihull to Rubery and not Northfield, was this part of the mix too?

Also, were there any other routes/changes that were registered but didn't happen in the end (either WMT or MRW)?

I think the 77 and 78 were to replace the 27 using double deckers which would of meant rerouting away from Bournville Station, Midland Red West intended to register the 27 in some form on competition with WMT

Do you have figures to show that?

I bet he doesn't

Only 3 garages now aren't fully staffed and lost mileage due to breakdowns or no bus is less 1% so not much more NX can do about reliability other than get more electric buses into service which seem to be doing very well at Coventry. All other reliability is down to roads and traffic, like this morning with Six Ways Aston underpass closed causing chaos for all Birchfield Road services, but to someone in Aldridge complaining the 997 is late towards Walsall, that will still be NX's fault

Yes I was stuck in that this morning, I pleaded with the bus driver on the 907 to go onto the bus lanes but he said no it's a designated route, meanwhile x51/936/997 were using bus lanes. Before I asked him 4863 was on the 51 right in front of us at Perry Barr Bragg Road and he got into City only a few mins late whereas our 907 was nearly 30 mins late.

I'm just wondering if there is going to be a purge by NX to improve reliability, customer feedback etch because in the event of franchising imagine Stagecoach or Arriva winning franchises for the Sutton routes or Bristol Road or Pershore Road etc. NX could end up losing work. Parker is already making a lot of noise and if NX aren't worried then maybe they should be.

I think a lot of people on here are over speculating about what is going to happen with or without franchising. We all need to take a breath and see what happens next.
I will point out now that when Tony Blair became leader of the Labour Party he pledged to put the railways back into public ownership under a new Labour government ....... it didn't happen !

well, Labour are in IT'S OFFICIAL (just announced) so lets see how much of Andy Streets mess, they can clear up ???

So you think this will be the golden bullet that the buses need do you ?

I've been seeing all over the news about people moaning about the "outer circle", do you think it will ever go back to being the full circle or will it cause to many issues on the national express side.

There were reasons why the 11A/C was split up in the first place, It was originally due to major roadworks in Perry Barr at that time (2021). This arrangement has improved reliability to an extent which is why it is still running now. The idea if it going back to the full circle would reduce reliability more than what it was in 2021, so it should be left alone.

To return it to being a full circular route (once he franchises everything).

Edited to add online article where it is mentioned : https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/secret-dates-jam-sandwiches-school-29047686

First of all the article says the route was split in half in 2021, but it wasn't, it was split into two sections, the first was a short section from Acocks Green to Perry Barr via Yardley and Erdington, the second is the much longer section from Acocks Green to Erdington via Kings Heath, Bearwood and Perry Barr. Boths routes created an overlap of both routes between Erdington and Perry which was introduced due to the major roadworks in Perry Barr at that time. This arrangement has improved reliability to an extent which is why it is still running now.
Richard Parker's idea of going back to the full circle would reduce reliability more than what it was in 2021. 

Quite possible, yes, they are being delivered at around 5 a week, and we have another 4 weeks before the first batch go into use

Will it beat the SDA --- S/TVP ---S batches of fleetlines and nationals which added up to more than 220 buses in one registration year, not forgetting the 4 prototype metrobuses of course

Correct - we have the vehicle on trial for a month.

I tried to catch it this morning on the 0739 to Maypole but it went on the outside lane not serving the Selfridges stop with Not In Service on the front. According to bus times it started at Birchall Street at 0758, the bus might of had a minor fault

Bus Users UK has published a Quick Guide to the recently announced Accessible Information Regulations.
The Regulations will come into force fully by 2031 and will make bus services more accessible to people with disabilities and improve the journey for everyone.
During the phased implementation, passengers will be able to expect clear audio and visual announcements alerting them to next stops, diversions and the final destination.
https://bususers.org/uncategorised/guide-to-accessible-information-regulations/


In a nutshell:
- Vehicles first used in public service after 1st October 2019 will be required to provide audio/visual announcements from 1st October 2024.
- Vehicles first used in public service between 1st October 2014 and 30th September 2019 will be required to provide announcements from 1st October 2025
- Vehicles first used in public service between 1st January 1973 and 30th September 2014 will be subject to these regulations from 1st October 2026

In the case of NX Bus, since October 2019 they've only been buying vehicles with the necessary equipment already installed.
By my estimates, from October 2014 to 2019, the only vehicles that weren't delivered with this equipment would have been the Enviro200 MMCs and the non-Platinum Enviro400 MMCs.

I guess someone at NX is going to be busy getting all the stop announcements recorded for every route!

My concern is how this will impact on smaller independent operators, and whether there will be funding available to help towards the cost of retrofitting buses with the NSA equipment.

Correct me if I'm wrong but if the driver doesn't change to destination at the terminus then the next stops don't work. There have been many occasions when the 50 has been going out of the City with Birmingham still on the front, therefore the next stop announcements don't work

I seem to remember that one fleetline also had them fitted, 6890 if I remember.

You're right it did and metrobus 2102 I think 

The 110 exists and does the same journey Tamworth to Birmingham

No it doesn't, the 116 was a completely different:

110 via Fazeley, Whitehouse Common, Sutton Coldfield and Erdington
116 via Kingsbury, Curdworth and Minworth

I'm pretty sure some of these may have been changed to numbers in the later 70s - I think I've seen a photo of a 2xx GON Fleetline on a 161 showing the correct number - presumably a Coventry Road vehicle? I think the 3781 onwards Fleetlines in Birmingham had four track blinds?

I think in the 1970's all ex Birmingham fleetlines had all number blinds having A C E N S and W on them

There were a few others: 36L to Millhouse Road/Bierton Road, 48L to Maypole, 67L to Chester Road/Tangmere Drive, 90L to Lambeth Road/Queslett Road.

The letters D, G and I were not used, no doubt because they could have been mistaken for numbers.

It's worth pointing out that letters A, B and C (sometimes also others) were normally used for short workings from the outer terminus, not from city.  For example, at the Maypole there was at least one 50B working to Rea Street/Digbeth.

D was used: 54D Garrison Lane/Cattell Road