Long Routes.....

[Dutsey]

Having rode the 76 end to end on Friday - this got me thinking - other than the 11A/C what are the longest routes across the West Midlands

[ellspurs]

The x12 goes from Birmingham to Solihull via Chelmsley Wood, clocking up an average journey time of roughly 100 minutes.

The x51 from Birmingham to Cannock takes roughly that amount of time as well.

The x1 from Birmingham to Coventry is around 80-90 minutes. This service spends a bit of time at higher speeds so may be the longer of the three mentioned.

[Rachvince53]

Stagecoach 148 Coventry to Leicester takes 2 hrs 17 mins

[fleetline6477]

I know its outside West Midlands, 2 new First West of England routes starting on 7th April

374 Bristol - Taunton
375 Bristol - Bridgwater both 3h 10 minutes end to end

[BrumKev86]

I know its outside West Midlands, 2 new First West of England routes starting on 7th April

374 Bristol - Taunton
375 Bristol - Bridgwater both 3h 10 minutes end to end

Will interesting to see how they go, gotta be near enough 50 miles each way from Bristol to Taunton. I've got the 376 from Bristol to Street before and that's about 30 miles but at least the scenery is nice for most of the route and it don't stop too much.

In terms of the Midlands I agree about the 76 but I haven't quite rode it end to end. Rode it between Solihull and Harborne and that was long enough. Some old routes were long like the 144 between Worcester and Birmingham, when the X20 ran between Stratford and Coventry via Solihull.

[Mike K]

Certainly not the longest distance but must be the route that takes the longest and most convoluted way to go not very far - Kev's 55 takes 1 hour 49 to get from Quinton to Longbridge.

[Rachvince53]

Will interesting to see how they go, gotta be near enough 50 miles each way from Bristol to Taunton. I've got the 376 from Bristol to Street before and that's about 30 miles but at least the scenery is nice for most of the route and it don't stop too much.

In terms of the Midlands I agree about the 76 but I haven't quite rode it end to end. Rode it between Solihull and Harborne and that was long enough. Some old routes were long like the 144 between Worcester and Birmingham, when the X20 ran between Stratford and Coventry via Solihull.

Even longer was the X50 which ran to Oxford. The 144 was even longer at one time as it ran to Malvern.

[Crosville]

X8 Birmingham-Wolverhampton can take just under 90 minutes off peak, & up to 20 minutes longer in the peak

Outside West Midlands.

TrawsCymru have a load of routes that can take well over 3 hours, T2 Bangor-Aberystwyth takes nearly 4 hours, T4 Cardiff-Newtown takes around 4 hours too

Here's the new first 374/375 Bristol-Taunton/Bridgewater timetable

https://www.firstbus.co.uk/sites/default/files/public/maps/374_375_376_376a_Wells_Web.pdf

Stagecoach operate some monster routes in Scotland, but tend to allocate coaches, however 35 Aberdeen-Inverness uses standard buses & can take 5 hours 30 minutes, i believe the 35 is one of the most scenic routes in the UK too. 

[BlackCountryBusSpotter]

The 79 back in the day took nearly 2 hours to get from Wolverhampton to Birmingham at peak times. It takes about an hour to get from Wolverhampton to West Bromwich now. The 997 takes over an hour about 1 hour 10-20 minutes off Peak longer on Peak to get from Walsall to Birmingham. 

[Stu]

I remember the 'old' 258 route that ran from Wolverhampton to Birmingham (before it was shortened to Merry Hill to Birmingham).

I'm pretty sure that took around two and half hours end to end.

Went via nearly everywhere lol

[frostjay974]

A full journey on the 25 Wolverhampton - Pendeford can take up to 1 hour 20-30 minutes 

[Wumpty]

The original 966 route that ran Wolverhampton to Airport & NEC via Walsall, Sutton and Chelmsley Wood took circa 2hrs 20 mins, much longer in rush hour.

[Mike K]

The predecessor to the current 76, the 69 was a very long route, particularly at the point it ran Weoley Castle to Heartlands Hospital via most of south Birmingham and the moon. 

[the trainbasher]

Looking in my WMPTE North Division timetable book, it has times for a X90 Midland Red service, Lichfield - Cannock - Wolverhampton - Bridgnorth which clocks in at around nearly 4.5 hours for a round trip, and a Midland Red service 154 Stafford - Cannock - Aldridge - Brum which takes a few hours round trip too

[MasterPlan]

The predecessor to the current 76, the 69 was a very long route, particularly at the point it ran Weoley Castle to Heartlands Hospital via most of south Birmingham and the moon.

Don't forget the 49 which replaced the 69 by extending to terminate at Weoley Castle. Now that was a long route to Solihull too.

And the version of the 48 which took place after the network review in 2018. Where instead of going straight to Weoley Castle and Northfield after the QE it went round Hawkseley etc to replace the 84.