202

[Dylan4579]

Re number it to 006 and extended it to merry hill.

[nitromatt1]

Re number it to 006 and extended it to merry hill.

That might cause a bit of confusion as there has already been a 006 in Halesowen, the Hayley Green circular which was operated by The Green Bus.

Also, I don't see why we need yet another bus route from Halesowen to Merry Hill, when we already have the 141 (2 buses per hour), 297 (2 buses per hour), 002 (4 buses per hour), 004 (1 bus per hour) and 217 (1 bus per hour), so already a total of 10 buses between Halesowen and Merry Hill per hour!

[Dylan4579]

so diamond can become more well used in the area and get more people not buying NX travelcards

[nitromatt1]

so diamond can become more well used in the area and get more people not buying NX travelcards

Every working of the 002 gets packed despite being every 15 minutes so Diamond are certainly used well enough anyway! In fact I would even suggest double decker conversion of the 002. The 142 also gets quite good loadings, and the 4H too, particularly around Hayley Green. Cannot comment on the 202 as I hardly ever see it, being hourly.

[Sh4318]

...or extend the 202 to Bromsgrove & make it half-hourly

[nitromatt1]

...or extend the 202 to Bromsgrove & make it half-hourly

It already goes to Bromsgrove...?

[the trainbasher]

Would it be worth making it half hourly with hourly extensions to Redditch via the 145 route from Bromsgrove?

[sonic84]

Ludlows tried extending the 202 to Merry Hill for a short period in the late 90's and it wasn't very well used... however that is probably due to the 007 already running from Merry Hill through to Bromsgrove.

Diamond would have been better when they ran the 007 extending it back to Merry Hill and through to Redditch.  I used the 007 from Redditch through to Merry Hill, and it was well used at the time.

The problem ludlows had with the 007 when it ran through to Redditch was that Bromgrove to Redditch section was timed at the same time as the 143, and followed the same route.  With the 143 now running hourly, the 007 could have been a success along that corridor.

[s94]

Yes id love to see the 007 back. The 217 covers the old chopped off section. The 217 loadings these days seem ok in the day. Nothing ever special but they do actually seem to be better than when it first started. As mentioned above, alot of options between Merry Hill and Halesowen already though. But perhaps a direct link between Merry Hill, Quarry Bank, Cradley, Halesowen, Romsley to Bromsgrove is still desired and has potential? :)

[Sh4318]

...or extend the 202 to Bromsgrove & make it half-hourly

It already goes to Bromsgrove...?

Make it half hourly then...!

[sonic84]

Yes id love to see the 007 back. The 217 covers the old chopped off section. The 217 loadings these days seem ok in the day. Nothing ever special but they do actually seem to be better than when it first started. As mentioned above, alot of options between Merry Hill and Halesowen already though. But perhaps a direct link between Merry Hill, Quarry Bank, Cradley, Halesowen, Romsley to Bromsgrove is still desired and has potential? :)

I completely agree.  I would say there is a need for a regular bus from Bromsgrove to Merry hill, but it would have to be an extension of the 007 rather than the 202 since the journey time from Bromsgrove to Halesowen on the 202 is already 55 minutes, which would make an extension particularly unattractive for passengers.