Questions for the NXWM Operations Director

[winston]

Or get the 125 from Stourbridge to Bridgnorth via Kiddy. That service is actually fairly healthy and Whittles have even introduced a summer Sunday service as a trial. Saying that the lack of real bus service between Merry Hill and Kidderminster is probably down to the good rail connections with only a short bus hop from Cradley Heath or Lye.

A single bus service from Merry Hill to Kiddy would be a lot cheaper though, a single £2 fare rather than a £2 to Cradley/Lye PLUS whatever the rail fare is - I don't know much about rail fare structures but since it crosses over the border into Worcestershire I'd say that would bump up the rail fare a bit

Kidderminster is outside the West Midlands / Centro area, so the bus fare would be more than £2 anyway.

A Kidderminster - Merry Hill service may be an option / more viable for Diamond ?

[Tony]

Or get the 125 from Stourbridge to Bridgnorth via Kiddy. That service is actually fairly healthy and Whittles have even introduced a summer Sunday service as a trial. Saying that the lack of real bus service between Merry Hill and Kidderminster is probably down to the good rail connections with only a short bus hop from Cradley Heath or Lye.

A single bus service from Merry Hill to Kiddy would be a lot cheaper though, a single £2 fare rather than a £2 to Cradley/Lye PLUS whatever the rail fare is - I don't know much about rail fare structures but since it crosses over the border into Worcestershire I'd say that would bump up the rail fare a bit

An off-peak Kidderminster to Merry Hill return using the train is £6.20 (£3.20 return on the train+£3 plusbus). I very much doubt you could do that cheaper by bus in any combination (Peak is only £6.80)

[Stuharris 6360]

Or get the 125 from Stourbridge to Bridgnorth via Kiddy. That service is actually fairly healthy and Whittles have even introduced a summer Sunday service as a trial. Saying that the lack of real bus service between Merry Hill and Kidderminster is probably down to the good rail connections with only a short bus hop from Cradley Heath or Lye.

A single bus service from Merry Hill to Kiddy would be a lot cheaper though, a single £2 fare rather than a £2 to Cradley/Lye PLUS whatever the rail fare is - I don't know much about rail fare structures but since it crosses over the border into Worcestershire I'd say that would bump up the rail fare a bit

Kidderminster is outside the West Midlands / Centro area, so the bus fare would be more than £2 anyway.

I gather areas outside the Midlands but served by NXWM services (like Swindon & Wombourne on the 255/256 routes) are inside the Centro area then?

It is now, but didn't used to be the case.

Years ago, if you caught a bus like the 256, you weren't allowed to board or alight the bus outside the West Mids County, eg:Wombourne, and special fares would be charged to destinations outside the West Mids County

[PM]

Or get the 125 from Stourbridge to Bridgnorth via Kiddy. That service is actually fairly healthy and Whittles have even introduced a summer Sunday service as a trial. Saying that the lack of real bus service between Merry Hill and Kidderminster is probably down to the good rail connections with only a short bus hop from Cradley Heath or Lye.

A single bus service from Merry Hill to Kiddy would be a lot cheaper though, a single £2 fare rather than a £2 to Cradley/Lye PLUS whatever the rail fare is - I don't know much about rail fare structures but since it crosses over the border into Worcestershire I'd say that would bump up the rail fare a bit

Kidderminster is outside the West Midlands / Centro area, so the bus fare would be more than £2 anyway.

A Kidderminster - Merry Hill service may be option / more viable for Diamond

It would be a good route make it every couple of hours or so though I would first like to see a 007 which is redditch-bromsgrove-halesowen-merry hill from diamond. And cant see that the train could be much more than whittles expensive fares

[Stu]

Or get the 125 from Stourbridge to Bridgnorth via Kiddy. That service is actually fairly healthy and Whittles have even introduced a summer Sunday service as a trial. Saying that the lack of real bus service between Merry Hill and Kidderminster is probably down to the good rail connections with only a short bus hop from Cradley Heath or Lye.

A single bus service from Merry Hill to Kiddy would be a lot cheaper though, a single £2 fare rather than a £2 to Cradley/Lye PLUS whatever the rail fare is - I don't know much about rail fare structures but since it crosses over the border into Worcestershire I'd say that would bump up the rail fare a bit

Kidderminster is outside the West Midlands / Centro area, so the bus fare would be more than £2 anyway.

I gather areas outside the Midlands but served by NXWM services (like Swindon & Wombourne on the 255/256 routes) are inside the Centro area then?

No doubt Simon himself can confirm this, but with the 255/256 beginning and ending in the West Midlands area, those areas 'outside' become an exception to the rule, probably same for the 90 service through Coleshill. Kidderminster is a bit further out though.

[Tony]

Or get the 125 from Stourbridge to Bridgnorth via Kiddy. That service is actually fairly healthy and Whittles have even introduced a summer Sunday service as a trial. Saying that the lack of real bus service between Merry Hill and Kidderminster is probably down to the good rail connections with only a short bus hop from Cradley Heath or Lye.

A single bus service from Merry Hill to Kiddy would be a lot cheaper though, a single £2 fare rather than a £2 to Cradley/Lye PLUS whatever the rail fare is - I don't know much about rail fare structures but since it crosses over the border into Worcestershire I'd say that would bump up the rail fare a bit

Kidderminster is outside the West Midlands / Centro area, so the bus fare would be more than £2 anyway.

I gather areas outside the Midlands but served by NXWM services (like Swindon & Wombourne on the 255/256 routes) are inside the Centro area then?

No doubt Simon himself can confirm this, but with the 255/256 beginning and ending in the West Midlands area, those areas 'outside' become an exception to the rule, probably same for the 90 service through Coleshill. Kidderminster is a bit further out though.

These areas are still 'officially' outside the Centro area and up until recently nNetwork tickets were valid in most of the close ones, but nBus tickets were not. On a route which passes out, and then back in both tickets have always been valid as long as the journey starts and finishes within the West Midlands.

Centro have now made the nBus ticket have the same validity as nNetwork. Centro are allowed to subsidise public transport for a certain distance outside their official area.

[s94]

Or get the 125 from Stourbridge to Bridgnorth via Kiddy. That service is actually fairly healthy and Whittles have even introduced a summer Sunday service as a trial. Saying that the lack of real bus service between Merry Hill and Kidderminster is probably down to the good rail connections with only a short bus hop from Cradley Heath or Lye.

A single bus service from Merry Hill to Kiddy would be a lot cheaper though, a single £2 fare rather than a £2 to Cradley/Lye PLUS whatever the rail fare is - I don't know much about rail fare structures but since it crosses over the border into Worcestershire I'd say that would bump up the rail fare a bit

Kidderminster is outside the West Midlands / Centro area, so the bus fare would be more than £2 anyway.

A Kidderminster - Merry Hill service may be option / more viable for Diamond

It would be a good route make it every couple of hours or so though I would first like to see a 007 which is redditch-bromsgrove-halesowen-merry hill from diamond. And cant see that the train could be much more than whittles expensive fares

As much as Id like to see the 007 return Bromsgrove- MH, I doubt it ever will though. Hansons did used to run the 252 between Merry Hill and Kidderminster on Weekends but that got withdrawn so sounds like it wasnt that popular. However I dont think it ever got much publicity?

[Stuharris 6360]

Or get the 125 from Stourbridge to Bridgnorth via Kiddy. That service is actually fairly healthy and Whittles have even introduced a summer Sunday service as a trial. Saying that the lack of real bus service between Merry Hill and Kidderminster is probably down to the good rail connections with only a short bus hop from Cradley Heath or Lye.

A single bus service from Merry Hill to Kiddy would be a lot cheaper though, a single £2 fare rather than a £2 to Cradley/Lye PLUS whatever the rail fare is - I don't know much about rail fare structures but since it crosses over the border into Worcestershire I'd say that would bump up the rail fare a bit

Kidderminster is outside the West Midlands / Centro area, so the bus fare would be more than £2 anyway.

A Kidderminster - Merry Hill service may be option / more viable for Diamond

It would be a good route make it every couple of hours or so though I would first like to see a 007 which is redditch-bromsgrove-halesowen-merry hill from diamond. And cant see that the train could be much more than whittles expensive fares

As much as Id like to see the 007 return Bromsgrove- MH, I doubt it ever will though. Hansons did used to run the 252 between Merry Hill and Kidderminster on Weekends but that got withdrawn so sounds like it wasnt that popular. However I dont think it ever got much publicity?

Every time to saw the 252, it was very full, but a lot of the passengers were oaps, so doubt it was very profitable.

[bususer12]

Something like that would do well on a Weekend, especially using the way that the 252 went, helping the x96 on Sundays. I think that a £5 return would be appealing if Diamond or Hansons fancied another shot at it just weekends to begin with.

Another route would be to go the 002 route to Halesowen and then to Kidderminster, at least giving a bit of an 002 Sunday service.

[s94]

Or get the 125 from Stourbridge to Bridgnorth via Kiddy. That service is actually fairly healthy and Whittles have even introduced a summer Sunday service as a trial. Saying that the lack of real bus service between Merry Hill and Kidderminster is probably down to the good rail connections with only a short bus hop from Cradley Heath or Lye.

A single bus service from Merry Hill to Kiddy would be a lot cheaper though, a single £2 fare rather than a £2 to Cradley/Lye PLUS whatever the rail fare is - I don't know much about rail fare structures but since it crosses over the border into Worcestershire I'd say that would bump up the rail fare a bit

Kidderminster is outside the West Midlands / Centro area, so the bus fare would be more than £2 anyway.

A Kidderminster - Merry Hill service may be option / more viable for Diamond

It would be a good route make it every couple of hours or so though I would first like to see a 007 which is redditch-bromsgrove-halesowen-merry hill from diamond. And cant see that the train could be much more than whittles expensive fares

As much as Id like to see the 007 return Bromsgrove- MH, I doubt it ever will though. Hansons did used to run the 252 between Merry Hill and Kidderminster on Weekends but that got withdrawn so sounds like it wasnt that popular. However I dont think it ever got much publicity?

Every time to saw the 252, it was very full, but a lot of the passengers were oaps, so doubt it was very profitable.

Ahh fair enough. Yeah, just OAP's isnt going to be much good. But more publicity and it could work well. I think many would appreciate more cross boundary routes even if it is a bit more expensive. I do hate the way everything seems like it has to stop at the county borders and mustn't dare cross it! Lol. But Yes id like to see a 252 style route back from Merry Hill, via Quarry Bank/Amblecote Road, Stourbridge Town Centre, Wollaston/Norton, Stourbridge Road, Kidderminster train station (for connections to the Severn Valley Railway primarily) and perhaps even on to Bewdley or Stourport would be a bonus.

[sonic84]

I also think that a Kidderminster to Merry Hill bus route would be a viable option, although I am aware it has been tried in several forms before.

Does anyone remember First Midland Reds attempt, the 285 running Kidderminster - Blakedown - Hagley - Pedmore - Stourbridge - Amblecote - Merry Hill - Dudley from the late 90's.

I think the only way the link will be restored though unfortunately is if Hanson's took over the 125, and combined it with there Stourbridge - Merry Hill route, similar to what Whittles did to restore the Halesowen - Stourport connected by amalgamating the 11 & 192 routes.

[the trainbasher]

There was another Kiddy-MH route that lasted until 2002ish...the MRW 234!

[NX OD]

Hi Simon,

was out & about today and noticed a poster on a bus talking about timetable alterations for the 1st September 2013.

This poster seemed to be generic for the whole of the Birmingham & Black Country. My question is , with duplicated route numbers through out the West Midlands now, if the poster says a timetable change for the 27 for example, which 27 does it mean, Dudley to Wolverhampton or Hawksley to The Maypole?

I know that it means Hawksley to The Maypole, but am sure it will confuse some people.

Stuart

Did the poster have route numbers on it then?

[NX OD]

Hi boss can we have some more cascaded deckers down pensnett either enviro 400 or more tridents? And a question we get asked a lot down merry hill bus station  is what bus can I catch to Kidderminster  as you know we haven't got anything that goes down there

Hi,

There are no more planned at the moment.

Not sure on Kidderminster buses but I think others have answered on this.

[NX OD]

Hi Simon

Can you answer me a question about the new 222 timetable.  Since it became a 15 minute frequency service in June, it departs from both Dudley and Merry Hill at 00 15 30 and 45 minutes past each hour.  This means that between Commonside (Pensnett) and Merry Hill it runs at exactly the same time as the 255.  Thus people in Pensnett get a 15 minute wait before two buses turn up together.  The 255 timetable would be difficult to change at it interlinks with the 256 and 257 services.  Therefore, would it be possible to change the 222 timetable so that it runs 8 minutes later and thus provides a 7/8 minute frequency between Pensnett and Merry Hill.  You could even operate the two services from the same stand at Merry Hill making life easier for passengers along that corridor, as the departure times would not clash.

Thanks   

Hi Roy,

A good point and the Black Country schedulers are going to have a look at the options for this.