Messages

Tony, fao YW maintenance - 6944 upper saloon near side rear opening window annoyingly rattling, the main pane below opener would benefit from being reseated/resealed

Great to see a best possible fit co-ordination between the 76 & 27 on Chinn Brook Road and Hollybank Road to and from Kings Heath after seemingly years of the two services near enough following each each other followed by a close to 20 min gap (particularly obvious back when the 27 ran to Hawkesley). From the end of the month Mon-Sat daytime will offer a 12+8 to KH & 8+12 from KH interval (ie best overall fit given alternative would be 10+10 & 6+14) and Sun daytime offers a nice 16+14 & 14+16 interval. Well done NXWM scheduling team.

The new timetables are up.

https://nxbus.co.uk/west-midlands/information/service-changes/changes-to-bus-services-in-northfield-area-from-30th-august-2020

For me the current layout works fine where for each service, the city stops it serves are listed.

The 'high frequency' demarcation on the maps is something I like but once you start looking carefully there are numerous inaccuracies versus the 10 minutes or less definition such as Walmley Ash Road and Walmley Road being shown as a HF route from Minworth to Sutton.

I also think it was a backwards step to lose the frequency guide on the back of the most recent paper versions in favour of the overly simplistic day of the week a service operates tick.

Noticed that the 99 (or the 32) hasn't been awarded. Does that mean that it is going to be withdrawn or is it staying with NX.
I don't know how tendered routes work so don't laugh at me because I don't.

AG32 (Shirley-Lyndon) is run commercially so is not affected. Same with the 58 (Solihull-Lyndon-Kingshurst).

That flag so doesn't need to be there with the replacement shelter just four car-lengths away!

In Burton Green (between Cov and Balsall Common) I've noticed both a TWM flag and round the corner a PTE one. They are still there because Burton Green is just outside the WMCA boundary (even though today both including the TWM '192' stop are actually served by Johnsons route 87).

Not a mistake, QEH to Five Ways is a loop so common to both directions of the evening timetable.
I see the Acocks Green (Dolphin Lane) loop is completely dropped. The new 31 timetable allows a minute longer inbound to Acocks but I'm unsure its exact route.

According to NWM from 24/03/2019:
1/1A and 31 are having a route change in Acocks Green in 2 weeks time, does anyone know what route they are going to take?

Pure speculation on my behalf, but I'm going to take a guess on the 1/1A losing its Shirley Rd & Dolphin La loop with the 31 rerouted accordingly.

This story explains why we have the A7W & A8W variants. Basically a concession to those opposed to the daytime routing, though quite what the issue with sending a total of two buses an hour up or down Alderminster Road is I'm struggling to see. I can think of so many other less suited roads that non-the-less accommodate a bus route. I wonder if once those opposed surely see what a non big deal it is they'll be less noise should all journeys be proposed to be routed that way in future.

S16 not swapping the S for an A?

Yes, according to the latest , however I can't find any other reference or a timetable to confirm this.

We now have some confirmation of what these changes will be.
With reference to the original consultation, it is S2 west option 4 that is to be implemented - a South Solihull circular via Cheswick Green, Blythe Valley, Hockley Heath and Dorridge. Numbered 78/79 at tender, it will actually run as service A7 & A8 (plus A6 shorts to Cheswick Gr) and will be operated by Landflight on a 5 year contract.
Also operated by Landflight, service S3 is largely retained although split as service A3 to Dorridge via Knowle (tender service nr. 83) and A5 to Dickens Heath (tender service nr. 33), along with an hourly extension of the latter to Wythall running as A4 (tender service nr. 34) following WorcCC's decision to continue subsidy.

The S1 and S11 continue, still operated by Diamond but as services A1 and A2, whilst the S15 is confirmed as being absorbed by an extension to iGo service 69.

There will also be changes to services 87 & 88 - details here.

The proposals as described imply Dickens Heath loses its bus service under three of the four S2-west options. Surely under all but S2-west option 2 the S3 would be retained between Solihull and Dickens Heath. Even under option S2-west 2 maybe one bph on the S3 this side of Solihull retained as I can't believe the Woodlands Estate (Stretton Rd) would be left without a service. I do wonder if under S2-west options 1,3 & 4 Tidbury Green and Majors Green are losing a sevice completely.
Over at Truemans Heath (Hollywood) I anticipate certain 150 journeys would be diverted off Alcester Road.

In a case like this my suggestion would be for the branding to loose the 'Up to' and instead simply state 'Every 5-10 minutes Mon to Sat daytimes'. Might not have quite the same hook, but it's correct and less open to interpretation.

... interestingly Sunday and evening 4A journeys are extended to Robin Hood Island

The 31 timetable has surprised me, I didn't think there would be a Sunday service, especially at the same frequency as the Mon-Sat

And what is especially strange is that it is surely superfluous to have Sunday daytime 4A journeys extending to Robin Hood Island when there is a Sunday 31 timetable provided.

Again today seen an AG 5 using Highfield and Cole Valley Roads rather than Robin Hood Lane. First saw this at least a week ago (before the Priory Rd/School Rd closure currently affecting the 3 and 27). No online info about such a 5 diversion from what I can see.