If you had the chance to modify or add any service, what would you do?

[the trainbasher]

Having got to know the Stourbridge network quite well in recent years, I'd make changes to the tendered routes running from there, particularly the 17, 25 and 57.

The 25 seems to carry fresh air on the Stourbridge and Wollaston section so I'd get rid of that service altogether (seems to run a crazy 30 min frequency too which is far too high on that section).

I'd replace it by re-routing the 17 along the 25 route from Stourbridge via Wollaston back to the a491 at Audnam (there's no need for the 17 to run direct along that section of a491 from Stourbridge as it is served by the pretty regular commercial services 6 and 16).

I would then also send the 17 along the current 25 route by turning right up Bretell Lane and current route off that up to Swan Lane. However instead of then continuing the 25 to Dudley, run via Swan Lane and the 226 route to get back onto the a491 to serve Wordsley. The 226 can cover the 25 route over most of those lost sections up to Brierley Hill and Merry Hill.

I'd also get rid of the 57 which also rarely sees high passenger numbers. Most of the route up to Wall Heath and Kingswinford is covered by the 16 and doesn't need replication against a commercial route. The missing bits of the 57 through estate roads aren't a million miles away from other routes either.

The missing bit in Wall Heath of the 57 could just have a further bit tagged onto the 'new' 17 so again the 17 doesn't just replicate the 16 route.

This would obviously lengthen the 17 route but ultimately provides what tendered services should, services where commercial operation isn't feasible. It would also save substantial money for the local authority too as getting rid of the 25 and 57 would save money (even if some sort of replacement on demand type-service, over any substantial missing section, was needed).

The 25 is paid for by TfWM... but it's a BSIP funded route, like the 142. Plus the 57 covers some parts that the 15, 16 and 17 don't cover, with the 25 having been in existence in some form since Hansons started the 250/251 in 2006. The 17 dates back to the 257 of the late 90s, which ran, at one stage, through to Kinver, believe it or not, and then got replaced by the 287, before coming back after a reorganisation of the Dudley-Gornal routes iirc

Funnily enough, the 25's Lodge Farm to Dudley end also is linked to the 257's history... as the 257 replaced the 285, which at one stage ran Sedgley to Merry Hill via Stickley and Dudley... the Gornal - Stickley - Dudley section that the 257 took over in the 90s (the 283 and 282 were the 285's sister services). The 287, which the 257 replaced, also ironically, ran via Standhills Road (which the Diamond 57 touches) and had a sister service which also ran (at one stage) once a day... via Stickley!