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What is the timeline for this cross-city plan to be completed then? And is it actually going to work, or are buses just going to get stuck in the blackhole which is Birmingham City Centre?

Plus it says it will benefit passengers by not needing to change buses in the City Centre, but that depends on where you're going to really doesn't it. It doesn't cover that many crossovers.

Happens all the time... they are always off route, nothing new.

To be fair there was a point when most of them would be on the X21/X22 but they have strayed a lot more in recent weeks from what I've seen.

7529 broken down on Wheeleys Road by the looks of it.

Maybe they'll replace some of the 48** on the 7, 33 and 101 and allow them to be cascaded to replace tridents elsewhere. 

[From my own observations only]

Are you joking, that would reduce buses to Woodgate Valley to no more than every 20 mins !

From my own observations only when I've used the 23 the section between Newman Uni and California isn't that well used and I'm not sure it needs a bus every 10 mins, but then again I don't know the full picture obviously so I was just suggesting an option.

530 Wolverhampton
19 Walsall
88 Stourbridge
13 Halesowen
A10 Solihull
62 62A Wolverhampton
22 Walsall
23 Bloxwich
66 Stone Cross
74 Walsall
20 21 Bearwood
64 Wednesbury
23 Wednesbury
303 Bilston
223 Bilston
25 Castle Vale
60 Warwick Uni
96 BHX
45 Walsall
A7 A8 Solihull
703 Arena Retail Park
002 Weoley Castle

There isn't actually 9 Birmingham area services. Perhaps it's 9 tender wins, or perhaps it's bollocks.

Those are the services anyway.

Is it all of the 002, or just Sundays?

I think it will be, and the reduction to 30min frequency on Saturday might be the first step.

I've suggested before to curtail both the 27 (at Northfield) and 76 (at QE/Harborne), then combine those ends of the route into a new one, Cofton Hackett/Longbridge to QE/Harborne, via Northfield.

That route could stay half-hourly, with the 76 going back to 20mins. Just an idea of course.

The reliability is only poor because of traffic congestion. Seems to be particularly bad through Shirley at the moment.

To be honest I'd just reroute every other 23 (and renumber it 23A or 25) which would go from California up to Northfield via the current 76 route.

But yes, you could probably curtail the 27 at Northfield too.

Wonder whether the 76 will be curtailed back to the QE at some point like the 48 was. The reliability is poor at times.

Probably not likely anytime soon in my opinion.

The X20 was withdrawn a couple of years back and replaced by the shortened 20 between QE and Cofton Hackett (this is now the 20A variant).

There have been a number of gradual decreases in frequency on the city - QE corridor since the X20/21/22 were first introduced so presumably the demand for more buses along this part of the route isn't there.

If the plan is to reintroduce a link between Birmingham city centre and Bromsgrove, that route can suffer significant traffic issues at peak times, particularly along Arthur Road and Edgbaston Park Road, impacting reliability. So it wouldn't be a quick or direct link.

I would say demand is there to be honest, but mainly during peak times. Certainly wouldn't warrant the X20 returning, maybe just more X21 and X22 in peak times.

If the 20 were to be extended to City Centre it would probably be down the Bristol Road. But I agree, not likely anytime soon.

Is there any chance of the 23/24 moving terminus to Colemore Row? St Martins Queensway just isn't suitable.

[bold]

It depends on when you bought your NX pass and when it is valid to.

From the Diamond website (my emphasis in bold)https://www.diamondbuses.com/news/wm-ticket-changes/

So if you bought a one week/month NX Faresaver last Thursday (for example), then it won't be valid on Diamond buses. (And vice-versa if you bought a Diamond week/month pass)

I guess for us DD pass holders, as these don't have an expiry date, at some point in the next couple of weeks, our cards will be updated to replace the Regional Faresaver with the nBus equivalent.

Ah, I didn't see that part about NX swift cards. I should be okay in theory then.

Are all drivers fully aware as a Diamond driver seemed to not know a NX pass is now a nBus ticket and the driver refused my NX pass saying it's not an nBus and wanted to charge me.

I believe I read on the diamond Website Diamond Value saver are now nBus meaning a passenger who uses the Diamond 16 can now use NX buses and vice versa.

This is exactly what I was afraid of. I was going to try it on the 16A but I thought that might happen.

It also says there will be further changes on the 23rd July.

A permanent change to the 45 in amongst all the temporary adjustments.

45 | Birmingham - Longbridge: The Monday - Friday frequency will be reduced to every 15 minutes all day. There will be a permanent change to the 45, which will terminate at West Heath after 9pm and no longer serve Longbridge. The frequency will also be reduced to every 20 minutes, combined with the 47 service.

I had the email from NX Bus today, my monthly direct debit increases from £50 to £55 from next month.

To be honest, its no big deal to me, after all it's still cheaper than it was at the start of 2020 (was £60pm back then), but I can see why some people are concerned.

But at the end of the day, everything else has gone up in price in the last year or so, so this was kind of inevitable really.

Whats the betting though, that should you use it after 3rd of July on a Diamond bus for example that it won't be accepted.

Driver will probably look at the fact that it says National Express on the card and say no as they haven't been informed etc.