WB 74 - Frequency

[CL]

Recently, over the weekend. There has been a bundle up of up to four 74's going into Birmingham. Mix and Match, with no 16 or 75 in sight until after a fourth or fifth bus! Does anybody know anything about the 74's weekend frequency? BTW, the bus stop was HA - Hockley Circus, and it was approx. 2-3pm-ish

[fleetline6477]

Between each 74 Dudley - Birmingham which operates a 10 minute frequency there is a 74E West Bromwich - Birmingham and a 74E Handsworth, Island Road - Birmingham. Towards Birmingham they all display 74 Birmingham so it is unclear at which point they started their journey. The 75 operates every 20 minutes Wednesbury - Birmingham.

Until recently (1st September, I think but may have been earlier) the current 74E between West Bromwich and Birmingham operated as 75E, so if it appears there are suddenly more 74 journeys they have just renumbered.

[CL]

Between each 74 Dudley - Birmingham which operates a 10 minute frequency there is a 74E West Bromwich - Birmingham and a 74E Handsworth, Island Road - Birmingham. Towards Birmingham they all display 74 Birmingham so it is unclear at which point they started their journey. The 75 operates every 20 minutes Wednesbury - Birmingham.

Until recently (1st September, I think but may have been earlier) the current 74E between West Bromwich and Birmingham operated as 75E, so if it appears there are suddenly more 74 journeys they have just renumbered.

Not quite what i was looking for... But i guess this makes sense. Thanks for the information, though! I really appreciate it and i did answer one of my questions...

[Stuharris 6360]

According to the National Express website, its every 5/10 minutes on a Saturday.

[Sh4318]

Recently, over the weekend. There has been a bundle up of up to four 74's going into Birmingham. Mix and Match, with no 16 or 75 in sight until after a fourth or fifth bus! Does anybody know anything about the 74's weekend frequency? BTW, the bus stop was HA - Hockley Circus, and it was approx. 2-3pm-ish

74 - Every 10 minutes between Birmingham and Dudley
74E (Island Road) - Every 20 minutes between Birmingham and Handsworth, Island Road
74E (West Bromwich) - Every 20 minutes between Birmingham and West Bromwich
(75 - Every 20 minute between Birmingham and Wednesbury)

74, 74E (West Bromwich), 75 create an every 5 minute frequency between West Bromwich and Birmingham
74, 74E (West Bromwich), 74E (Island Road), 75 create an every 2-5 minute frequency between Handsworth, Island Road

16 is every 6/7 minutes in the daytime, so I imagine bunching in the Hockley area is very common trend , if you think about it, that's a total of 25 buses an hour

[wilmotm (Matt Wilmot)]

And you have to remember it does travel through some of the busiest areas, especially Birmingham Road, often if the Albion are at home, almost the whole PVR can get stuck! The other Saturday in Dudley I was told that an Inspector was instructing 87's to leave Dudley as 74's because the gap in the timetable had been huge, and I did see an 87 branded Gemini leaving as a 74 when I got back from the match

[Kevin]

I think it's fair to say that, thanks to the other users of the soho road, the 74 timetable is more of a guideline than anything else