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That's right.  Redditch has ties with Bromsgrove but not with Solihull.

Midland Red ran a service with around 4 journeys a day during the 1980s, but it was not successful.  The 175 provided a peak hour link, but that was initially because Hardings of Redditch operated the (Wythall - Redditch) service on tender and ran the "garage" workings in service.

It may also be for the fact and it may be an unpopular opinion, that for an urban conurbation the size of the West Midlands, most bus passengers have access to reasonable services, with decent spans of operation most days of the week and with the exception of things such as fares, Sunday provision and punctuality etc, are happy or at least satisfied with what they've got. 

I agree with you.  The West Midlands does have a reasonably good spread of services, seven days a week, with very reasonably priced nBus tickets.  Punctuality and journey times are often not brilliant, but that is mainly due to general traffic congestion which - maybe - is preceived by the general public (as well as us forum readers) to be outside operators' control.

I reckon another factor may be that, unlike in some other PTE/CA areas, there is no general feeling that a major operator in the conurbation has provided a poor service and thereby made themselves a target for politicians.

The main case for franchising in the West Midlands is the principle that there should be public control, and that in itself is not going to set the world alight.

Bordesley is still within a heavily industrialised area, the Blues ground, short walk to Sparkhill, Highgate and the top of Digbeth. It's always been seen as a "nothing" stop, though in actual fact, it's quite a strategic stop that negates the need to travel into city centre and back out again.

I used Bordesley Station daily for about a year in the late 1980s, as I worked in an office nearby.  At the time Shirley line trains called all day, and Dorridge trains called during peak hours.  Loadings were never much.

I defected to the bus because morning trains were overloaded and I discovered that Warwick Road buses were not.

Does anyone know how old the outer circle and 4 ( previously the 37 ) routes are? Surley they have been here for a very long time haven't they?

The first bus service along the Warwick Road was the 44, which started in 1937.  This replaced tram service 44, which had started in 1916.

The Warwick Road was the last main road in Birmingham to have a tramway.

Ah yes, but that's a separate funding stream, there is another one for the Coventry electric bus city project, which is funding the electric buses for the 86.

Yes, that is correct.

Yes, Rugby local 4 (Brownsover - Cawston Grange) will be getting electric single deckers.

The services within Warwickshire getting electric buses (all Yutongs) are in this list:

https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/5090/zero-emission-buses-are-set-for-warwickshire-roads-thanks-to-new-funding

In fact Stagecoach Midlands have set a limit of £2.50 for journeys in each town's Megarider zone, plus the TfWM area, and £3.00 for journeys beyond.  The best value is probably in the Rugby and Daventry zone, where the fare on the 86 from Coventry to Rugby is £2.50.

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/midlands/local-3-pound-single-fare

I don't have any inside knowledge, but I understand four Midlands (Rugby?) Yutongs are temporarily running for Stagecoach West Scotland until their intended garage is ready for electrics.

Looking the TFWM website it seems the 188 maybe going back to the original route from the 23rd of this month

The Stagecoach Midlands website now confirms this is the case from the 22nd. There are also some timetable changes to the 41, 46 and 87 at the same time.

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/service-updates/serviceupdatesarticle?SituationId=ID-17/02/2025-14:34:28:520

I can sort of understand the 3/3A going to Pensnett, as they lost some work start of this year and presumably have spare vehicles.

Or spare drivers?  If so I can understand moving routes to where drivers are available.

The 966 end to end was an epic route, but on my (few) rides the Walsall - Sutton section was the busiest by some way.

Between Wolves and Walsall, I guess it was the familiar story that a low frequency fast service rarely does well when there is a much more frequent all stops service.

I bet there was hardly any cross-Walsall usage either.

The passenger's actions do seem well over the top.

I thought I'd look for the conditions of carriage on the NX website, and found here that:-

"You must let an authorised member of staff or a police officer inspect your contactless payment card or device at any time during your journey if asked to do so. You may be asked to touch your card or device on their portable card reader as part of their inspection or to state the last 4 digits of the card number for a physical card or the 'Device Account Number' for Apple Pay or 'Virtual Account Number' for Android Pay, if requested to do so."

I think the first sentence is clear enough!

Strangely it seems Stagecoach changes take effect from the Saturday? Whereas NX and other ops changes don't take place until tomorrow. Sunday being the day changes normally take place.

I would have thought that TfWM would have specified the starting date in contracts, so why Stagecoach seemingly started the 188 and rerouted some 169 journeys today instead of Monday is a mystery to me.  Does TfWM know?

Stagecoach Midlands Warwickshire normally make changes on Saturdays - a hangover from the Midland Red era of many decades ago (just as NX normally make changes on Sundays - a hangover from WMPTE and even Birmingham City Transport days).  But in the past changes to services run for Centro/Network West Midlands etc have been made on Sundays until now.

NX Coventry 2 certainly ran today, and according to bustimes so did Landflight A3.

Unfortunately there's almost no market in Buses or BI magazines.  I understand it's difficult to even give them away as so many still exist.

If you're lucky you might find a buyer for a few on eBay occasionally.

Whether they're struggling or whether it's lack of attention to detail I do not know.  I suspect the latter.

Stagecoach Midlands uploaded Christmas and New Year changes to its "Promos and Offers" web page this year: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/midlands/christmas-and-new-year-bus-services-warwickshire

I wonder how many customers thought to look there?

Note that in the Nuneaton area, a "normal Sunday service" (except for late journeys) was alleged to be operated on Christmas Eve (which was a Tuesday).  Needless to say, that wasn't the case.