Moor Street Bus Stops - MS1/2

[jrwxyz]

After complaining to Centro about stops MS1 and MS2 and how there are often six or more #50 buses from four different companies and also a 35 at one stop and then the 126/7/8/9 and 73 behind. I catch buses from both stops and find that I'm either having to walk around Selfridges to get the 50 or walking in between buses to get the 126. Also, the PA4 stop which is meant for the Coventry Road buses to unload seems to be just a Johnson's waiting area. I got the following response and was wondering if anyone has any ideas or solutions?

"Congestion at Bus Stops MS1/MS2 - Moor Street Queensway

Thank you for your comments made regarding your
concerns over the number of buses using the above bus stops,
situated outside Selfridges/The Bull Ring, on Moor Street
Queensway.

We are aware that these are both particularly busy bus stops and do
appreciate your concerns and similar concerns raised by other
customers.

The closure of Corporation Street in July 2012 brought about the
most immense changes to the city centre road network for over a
decade.  Due to the scale of the works, we had to consider the whole
city centre network and not just services directly affected by the
closure of Corporation Street.

We had to carefully consider the implications that changing one bus
route would have on other routes therefore, lengthy negotiations with
bus operators were held.  One vital consideration was that we had to
ensure that there was sufficient road capacity (on all city centre
roads) to cope with the new traffic flows.

Whilst the 50 service itself was not affected by the closure of
Corporation Street, the bus service changes on 22 July 2012
coincided with road improvements to the layout of Moor Street
Queensway.  These works included a new turning circle opposite
Moor Street station.

National Express West Midlands (NXWM) and Diamond, took this
opportunity to review the 50 service and decided that by using the
turning circle, avoiding having to travel along Moor Street
Queensway and Park Street, the overall reliability of the route could
be improved.

In order to make use of the turning circle, service 50 has to use stops
MS1 or MS2.  These bus stops (outside the Bull Ring/Selfridges) are
now predominantly used by services which either turn left towards
New Street station, or use the turning circle in front of Moor Street
station.  The 35 service, which previously operated along Corporation
Street, was been moved to the same stop as Service 50, to give even
more choice to customers travelling to Moseley and Kings Heath.

The use of the turning circle not only makes the 50 and 35 Services
quicker leaving the city centre, it is important to understand that it
does also remove between 25 and 30 vehicles per hour from the very
busy Moor Street/Priory Queensway/Park Street junction.  This was a
key consideration when all of the bus routes and road usage were
discussed.

Therefore, the only stretch of pavement available in the Moor Street
Interchange for bus Services on the 35, 50, 126, 127, 128 and 129
routes is before the turning circle and before the left turn towards
New Street station.

Regrettably, other than remove some of the above services from this
location, which as you can appreciate, would not be welcomed by
users of the services, there really is no alternative than the current
arrangements.

I would like to assure you that we will continue to work closely with
bus operators over the coming months.  The operators constantly
evaluate service patronage and service reliability data, we will also
be advising them of the feedback and suggestions we have received.

I appreciate this will not be the answer you were hoping for, but thank
you for raising your concerns with Centro.

Kind regards

Stephen Holloway
Customer Relations Officer"

[richie]

In fairness it is a bit of a fob off but a very good one with a detailed explanation.

[ilovetea4370]

I don't really see why the 35 and 50 need to share a stop anyway, they never used to before the changes and with a 50 every 5 minutes is there really a need for more choice?! It also seems to create plenty of agro with the familiar queue jumping arguments when buses stop halfway down the road.

[monkeyjoe]

I agree with Centro on this one occasion

[Kevin]

Doesn't particularly explain why the 126/7/8/9 need to stop there though, don't they stop just the other end of the tunnel by New St as it is?

[JackC]

Doesn't particularly explain why the 126/7/8/9 need to stop there though, don't they stop just the other end of the tunnel by New St as it is?

I don't think they do.

[Stu]

Yes they do, at MS1, and they share the stop with the 73, they stop there so they serve Moor Street station.



From Network West Midlands' Facebook page!

[Justin Tyme]

When I used the 126/127 from Moor Street Station to Five Ways, last year, going to work, alot of people got on at stop MS1.   The126-9 don't stop at the bus stops just after the tunnel.  The next stop after MS1 is NS9, which is well down Smallbrook Queensway after the bridge over Station Street.

[JoNi]

Birmingham is one of the few cities which doesn't have cross city bus services. Edinburgh has them and it just as busy, more so with the tram works but they seem to cope and also run 24 hours a day. I appreciate that Birmingham city routes have schedules that are built around cumulative layover at the outer terminus with seemingly minimal staff facilities, hedges used as toilets. I made the observation to a senior manager of a southern bus company that the Dennis Tridents he saw on the Bristol Road are really trams underneath with cultures from the 19th century! Lets face it buses do u-turns from opposite directions outside Moor Street when they could provide through routes. You wouldn't expect buses to turn round in Princes Street. Perhaps thats why the new FTR based network is proposed as managers seem unable to grasp this nettle and deal with it to the good of passengers who are actually the reason bus services operate for!