Service changes are due to come into force on Sunday 27th April, today (Friday) NWM finally updated the bus stop flags at the village bus interchange (no new timetables at stops yet).
But it looks like somebody at NWM has dropped a major clanger!
Stop AG: 37 (towards Bham), no change
Stop AH: previously 3 (towards Shirley), 31/31A (towards Shirley), 36 (towards Sparkbrook), 40
now 1 (towards Shirley), 36 (towards Sparkbrook), 40
Stop AJ: previously 1 (towards Moseley)
now Ring-And Ride buses only
Stop AL: previously 30, 31 (towards Bham), 31A (towards Bham), 36 (towards Heartlands Hospital), 96, 99
Now 30, 31 (towards Bham), 36 (towards Heartlands), 96, 99
I don't know how familiar people are with the interchange at Acocks Green village, so you may not spot the glaring omissions as I see them, but basically:
-where does the 1 towards Bham now stop?
-and where does the 31 towards Shirley now stop?
-and why waste a bus shelter for the purpose of Ring-And-Ride buses only? (I never see any round here anyway!)
I have already reported this to Network West Midlands via their Facebook page, but typically as its Friday now I won't get a response until Monday, which will be after the service changes have taken effect! (And I will have to catch the 1 on Sunday to get to my parents' house!)
To me it makes sense for the 1 towards Bham to use the AL stop, so it is shared with the 31, and the 31 towards Shirley to use the AH stop, so it is shared with the 1, as they both go in the same direction(s). But instead of wasting stop AJ on Ring-And-Ride services only, why not use that stop for both 1 and 31 journeys towards Shirley?
I suppose I will have to wait until Sunday comes around, to see for myself where the buses will actually call!
What would I have done?
Stop AG: 37 towards Birmingham
Stop AH: 30 towards Solihull, 96 towards Sheldon, 99 towards Lea Village (all are 30 minute services, so retime all timetables so each arrive and depart every ten minutes to avoid more than one bus using the stop to layover at any time)
Stop AJ: 1 and 31 both towards Shirley, and 36 towards Sparkbrook
Stop AL: 1 and 31 towards Springfield/Birmingham, 36 towards Heartlands Hospital, 40 towards Springfield
Well, if I'm confused, then things must be bad!
According to the timetables on the NWM website, the 1 towards Broad Street/Five Ways does use stand AL, and the 31 towards Shirley/Solihull uses stand AH (despite the flags saying otherwise)
However I walked past stand AJ last night, and it now has timetables inside for 1 and 31!
I just saw the 31E loading at stand AH, then a few minutes later the 1 to Broad Street also picked up passengers from there!
NWM/Centro have made a right mess of this!