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A good example for us to look at is Manchester's Oxford road. It's about 1.5 mile road, and only buses and bicycles are allowed to use the road for most of the day.

Despite a lot of buses using it, it rarely gets congested during rush hours.

Can a similar road exist in Birmingham?

And which road will that be?

Living in Manchester at moment, I can see big differences in the bus networks between Manchester and Birmingham.

There are 3 main bus operators, starting from largest - Stagecoach mainly operates in south & east Manchester but also operates in elsewhere in Manchester at lesser extent. Arriva operates some bits of the west. First mostly operates the north. They all overlap at various areas/roads. There are a lot more smaller bus operators.

In theory, it should mean the bus network in Manchester is better due to more competition right? Unfortunately not.

My complaints about the bus network in Manchester is that the ticketing and real time bus info, etc etc is not very integrated. TFGM has less visible input as to how bus works in Manchester in comparison to TFWM with Birmingham.

Bus timetables? What's that? Buses around here are late more often than not.

Bus network in Manchester tend to focus more on coverage than frequency - resulting in loads of bus services with 30 minute or hourly bus frequency each. I personally like it even though it can be difficult to remember all these bus services, it can brighten my day up if I just happen to catch one of these irregular bus services that gets me 5 minutes closer to wherever I'm going to instead of having to use main bus route and walk from a main road. There are a lot more peak-time only bus services.

It's also nice to take a slower but direct bus service - the one I currently take for my commute is 15 minutes or so slower than other route with a change yet I still take the direct one.

No inner/outer circle bus services. They do have a lot more bus services that don't go into city though, I don't find them useful but seeing it's still alive, I'm sure others find them useful. They're at worse frequency than inner/outer circle bus services though.

I noticed that a lot more Mancunians take bus - there are a lot of people who have a car but still take a bus for whatever their reason is. Also, for example, a bus service that comes every 10 minutes, is enough to fill a bus while driving through a quiet suburb in Manchester. This isn't the case in Birmingham.

Lastly, night bus service in Manchester DOES NOT mean 24 hour bus service. Unfortunately I had to learn that lesson.

Honestly, I'm surprised how well NXWM runs their bus network in Birmingham despite having no main competitor.

One I know of is Coventry Road/A45 corridor.

In 2008, I believe they had 57, 57A, (58?), 60 and 900. 20 minute frequency for 57 and 57A, 30 mins for the 58 and 10 mins for the 60 and 30 mins for the 900.

Which gives a combined bus frequency of every 3.75 minutes. Nowadays, we only have X1, X2 and 60 left, which gives the combined bus frequency of every 5 minutes.

Does anyone have similar examples for other bus corridors?

Stratford and Coventry Road corridor can get very busy at times, although I think it's not that bad in comparison to other bus corridors.

Broad Street corridor is probably the most congested corridor into the city centre.

The least busiest bus corridor is probably Perry Barr corridor - even though it gets a lot of car traffic, it's not very congested.

Does anyone have better idea?

Let's say majority of my lectures/classes are on eastern end of Pritchatts Road and I am in city centre just outside Moor St.

What route should I take? I know there's 98/99, x64 and trains. No idea if there is more  I have train pass for other commutes, I'm happy to use trains if it's quicker.

Any suggestions?

One of suggestions outlined in the review was to divert one of those bus routes along Stratford Road to Coventry Road.

This suggestion never saw the reality. Perhaps they know something I don't. Anyway, here's a suggestion of mine.

With bus routes of 2, 3, 5, 5A, 6, 31, and 37 (probably outdated by now), there's around 30-35 buses per hour along the road in one direction during daytime.

Buses on Coventry road do sometimes get busy during the day especially when it's running through Small Heath.

So, my suggestion is to divert one of those 20 minute frequency bus routes from Stratford Road to Coventry Road. The one that goes via Acocks Green would be easier to divert. The 31 could be suitable for this role.

The 31 would go to Acocks Green then onto Coventry Road. Only issue is congestion if they go via Yardley Road. Going via Stockfield road would be better instead.

On Coventry Road, the route would go express and skip Small Heath. 957 frequency would be reduced from 15 minute frequency to 30 minute. Two additional buses gained from the reduction would go towards forming the new 57.

The 60's frequency would be reduced from 15 minute to 30 minute and additional buses will go towards the 57.

To summarise it up:

31: 20 minute frequency. No additional buses needed.

57: 20 minute frequency. New route.

60: 30 minute frequency. Reduction from 15.

957: 30 minute frequency. Reduction from 15.

The people who lose out on this suggestion are the ones who live near Summer Road in Acocks Green. I think it's possible for a bus route in that region to be rerouted to cover the road. The ones on (old) Lode Lane would lose out on less express buses but IMO 30 minute frequency is enough for them as people rarely go full length.

What does anyone think of this suggestion?

What are the disadvantages of using bendibus instead of other buses? I know that fare evasion is one disadvantage but surely this isn't enough to discourage bus operators from it? I mean, they could just not let anyone in through any of doors other than the one at front as seen in NX bendibuses. IIRC London operators abandoned bendi bus because of higher accident rate due to unsuitability of using it in heavily urbanised area although I don't think it applies here in Birmingham.

A much higher passenger capacity would cover the disadvantages mentioned above.

Can anyone enlighten me here?

The bus stop shelter just outside Small Heath Asda with buses towards Birmingham has a swift card reader inside it. All it says is it's coming soon. Does anyone know what it's for?

This thread is for anyone who has stumbled into a "bus stop NOT IN USE" sign and wants to know a bit more about its history.

It needn't to have a sign stating "bus stop NOT IN USE", any abandoned bus stop will do. School buses only stop is fine if you know (or think) it was used for normal passenger bus services before.

Manor House lane: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4615476,-1.8027604,3a,47.2y,190.26h,90.76t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sWU0xdXlPyhkEhygExZACHQ!2e0

Stockfield road: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4591327,-1.818623,3a,75y,58.37h,90.04t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1szJgU5DQKcMrYlT_0eZEhzw!2e0

St Benedicts Road: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.470365,-1.84286,3a,15y,233.5h,86.04t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sid-S7sKpk7uBXIbGqtXj5A!2e0

Villa Road: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.5011381,-1.9228583,3a,21.6y,86.78h,90.25t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1suw1l95DXV6ABJSTmGvUNRw!2e0

Lyndon Road: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4488411,-1.7947182,3a,24.9y,51.3h,92.34t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s4y8BKF1sOD12EuTsXFHTww!2e0

Canley Road: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4033478,-1.5412504,3a,35y,182.79h,85.63t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1swaZ_fUMYqApHluBLQkd9rA!2e0

Lawley Middleway: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.483875,-1.880714,3a,35y,183.09h,85.79t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sKmqnMVSVa1epqY7b3w7HkQ!2e0

Wordsworth road: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4670033,-1.8568331,3a,22y,212.45h,91.92t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sy1TEUkmwOpAzFc7yOuB6VQ!2e0

This bus service would save commuters about 20+ minutes from journey time. This express services will only replace one or two busy bus service in peak time.

For X900 and X957, there will be only 5 bus stops from the city to Sheldon. The bus stops are Moor St, Digbeth, Hay Mills, Swan Centre (This can be dropped), and Sheldon.

X900 will continue as normal like the 900 after Sheldon Wheatsheaf. If this bus service proves to be popular enough, it could skip some of bus stops in Coventry including Meriden.

X957 could stay express after turning right at Wheatsheaf if the traffic on Hobs Moat is not bad enough in peak time and only stopping at Land Rover and Hospital.

To me, it seems like it's a hit or miss as to whether if the diverted bus will stop at whatever bus stops they happen to pass through while on diversion.

A notable example I can think of is 900 and 957 being diverted whenever there is problem with the small heath bypass, and those bus usually won't stop at bus stops along Coventry Road, but then they do sometimes stop which can be confusing to the passengers.

Obviously, this idea has been shot down so many times due to the traffic congestion in city being unpredictable and many cross city bus routes have had their route cut down just to city centre.

Although this suggestion is similar but instead of going through city centre, it goes around it using A4540 (The ring road). The bus will terminate just few miles after leaving A4540. I thought this could be useful to the majority of passengers in peak time who only wants to get to another side of the city as quickly as possible. I know this is what 8A/C does but it doesn't cover it completely and usually it's not useful for crossing the city.

This could apply to a select few currently running bus routes that aren't too frequent but not too infrequent.

I don't know the official name for Birmingham's iBus system.

I rarely travel to the west of Birmingham but I've been the bus once and I found it really useful. I was wondering why it hasn't rolled out across the NXWM network?

Also, what happens if the hybrid buses is used on other routes other than 22/23? Does ibus system get turned off or does it work because it has other routes programmed in?

Completely unrelated question, is it me or does the bus drivers actually drive faster in evenings rather than daytime?

I was reading about parliamentary train services at here, and then I realised there was occasional bus services such as 59A and 900A on Coventry road. Is there any other examples of this occasional bus services?

I was walking around Eastside area just outside Birmingham city centre. I've noticed bus stops on Fazeley street and it's not in use. I know this road sees plenty of buses going to garage, however I'd like to know which bus route served this road.

I know Lawley Middleway is in use by bus 14, however I can recall bus shelter being there long before bus 14 being diverted to serve this road. Which bus route served this road?

I have NXWM's term plus travel card, and it ends in few weeks, but my 16-18 photocard is already out of date, can I continue to use the travel card even though it was valid when I purchased it months ago?

Lastly, I can recall seeing someone with NXWM's scholar pass, but I tried to searching information relating to it, I can't find anything. Does anyone know about this?

Thanks

I'm only well versed on routes in east Birmingham but I think this would be profitable in the other areas as well.

Anyway, my suggestion is a new circular bus route that runs between current 8A/C and 11A/C route.

I know that in some places, both circular routes run so close together or there are no roads between them, this new bus route will have to overlap either of them.

In east Birmingham, this new bus route could replace part of the 98 (St Andrews-Fox Goose) and the 36. Seeing from the map, this route would have to run through a lot of residential areas, which means a lot of passengers.

So, any suggestions for it in the other areas in Birmingham?

I've noticed that most express buses has been removed. I can't quite remember most of them seeing my memory is bad.

I can only remember the ones that were on Bristol road, Coventry road (Was that 900?), and one on Washwood Heath road (590 probably?)

Also I can remember there was one non express bus on Coventry road that followed strange route, was it probably 560?

Any information on these routes and how popular was it?

For bonus question (I'm curious), was there any more buses on Coventry Road that's not 57, 57A, 58, 59, 59A, 60, 900 and 957 in back then?

I'm new to this forum, and I'm just a commuter who has some interest in buses. Not sure if this is right place to post.

I'm going to start my new commute soon, the commute is between East Birmingham and Warwick University.

However, there is slight problem, my commute plans are very tight, so tight that I have 1 minute timetabled connection with train at Airport at 07:40AM. Not sure if the 900 normally arrives early or late. I'm not even sure if the 900 also usually arrive before 07:45 for second train if I miss the first one.

How long does it take for any buses to go between Warwick Uni and Coventry rail station during peak times? As far as I have tried on this route, it's about 20 minutes in the 11 and 12, 10 minutes in the 87, 16 and W1C/A in off peak.

Lastly, I've been seeing some of old buses on the Coventry road replaced with new buses, when did this start to happen and will all double decker buses on Coventry road replaced with new ones?