If you had the chance to modify or add any service, what would you do?

[Alex]

Title says it all, really
Money or patronage is no issue here as it's just for fun, so have at it :)
For me, the routes i'd modify are:

40/41. Modifications: Have a combined quarter hourly frequency to Walsall from Willenhall, Union St by running an additional 2 buses on the 40/41 as 40A's, following the 326 out of Lane Head then following the 41's route down the Lucknow Rd towards Willenhall and having the 40A terminate at Union St

[CL]

Have Harborne Services go to the Markets, like the 103 (now 24) - but with all the Harborne Corridor. i.e. 22, 23, 24 (obviously), 29/A... Under a different number, of course...

Alternatively, introduce service 25. Markets to Weoley Castle, via Colmore Row, Augustus Road, then Harborne (via Westfield Road), Welsh House Farm, Quinton, West Boulevard, Bartley Green, Kitwell, then back round Bartley Green.

[Liverpool Street]

Have Harborne Services go to the Markets, like the 103 (now 24) - but with all the Harborne Corridor. i.e. 22, 23, 24 (obviously), 29/A... Under a different number, of course...

Alternatively, introduce service 25. Markets to Weoley Castle, via Colmore Row, Augustus Road, then Harborne (via Westfield Road), Welsh House Farm, Quinton, West Boulevard, Bartley Green, Kitwell, then back round Bartley Green.

I agree, a Harborne service could serve that side of town, but not all of them.

Service 25 wouldn't work with the route you've provided. It wouldn't need to go via Welsh House. And rather then Bartley or Kitwell, how about Quinton Church? Just a thought.

[Westy]

The 'missing' link between Mossley & Lower Farm via Turnberry in Bloxwich, instead of diverting the Cannock buses to serve there!

[the trainbasher]

The 'missing' link between Mossley & Lower Farm via Turnberry in Bloxwich, instead of diverting the Cannock buses to serve there!

Personally with that bit I'd run it so the 301 does it Clockwise and 302 anticlockwise as a sort of Lollypop style route.

[Sayeed]

I'd let NXWM operate the 10/H route

[leewhayward29]

The 'missing' link between Mossley & Lower Farm via Turnberry in Bloxwich, instead of diverting the Cannock buses to serve there!

Personally with that bit I'd run it so the 301 does it Clockwise and 302 anticlockwise as a sort of Lollypop style route.

I put a link
What would you say if the 301 and 302 was to link

[monkeyjoe]

I'd let NXWM operate the 10/H route

I'm sure they would if they felt it was commercially worth it.

[Sh4318]

I'd let NXWM operate the 10/H route

I'm sure they would if they felt it was commercially worth it.

I think they tried pretty much everything to keep it commercially viable when they used to operate the 10.

[Sayeed]

I think they tried pretty much everything to keep it commercially viable when they used to operate the 10.

I agree, it was only used well at peak hours but they (NXWM) haven't tried 10H did they? I use that route often and seeing the loading towards Quinton is good especially it picks up well at Colmore Row and Harborne High St.
The only downside of current operator I'd say is not much recognised, I saw plenty of the passengers waiting at the bus stops by Morrison and at Broad St during peak hours and none of them raised their hands.

[Steveminor]

Put the old 007 back on between Bromsgrove halesowen & Merry Hill.
I'd also run the 125 into Halesowen instead of Stourbridge & extend that to Merry Hill creating new links for people in Kidderminster & Bridgnorth into Merry Hill.

[Niall]

Scrap the Sprint idea up the Hagley Road and just improve the current service! A little bit of bus priority from city to Edgbaston would greatly improve journey times during peaks, and some nice new Platinum Enviros wouldn't go amiss!

[monkeyjoe]

Scrap the Sprint idea up the Hagley Road and just improve the current service! A little bit of bus priority from city to Edgbaston would greatly improve journey times during peaks, and some nice new Platinum Enviros wouldn't go amiss!

More new buses on this route, takes the nick much busier routes in need of a make over. West gets too much focus as it is.

[Trident 4194]

Upgrade 16 and bring NXWM 4H to Hayley green to compete with diamond. Put b6s on 244, get rid of all Mercs. Make 9 all hybrids

[Stu]

When posts like this come up, I personally start thinking 'outside the box', and having read the proposals in the Birmingham Connected document, I really start thinking about the radical changes to local bus networks that will have to happen, as part of the 'grand' scheme for a Connected Birmingham. Rather than just making trivial suggestions which would only benefit myself, and not others.

Also, you have to start thinking about currently subsidised services, and how they can/could be incorporated into existing commercial services, to save money, but keep people moving at the same time. And you have to consider that it may be more cost-effective to have people transfer from one service to another, rather than operate direct services that no-one uses. And as far as the passenger is concerned, if they're already making two trips a day (to and from their destination), a Daysaver will usually be purchased, as that already works out cheaper than two single trips.

One I've just thought about, is the current 5 service between Birmingham and Solihull. Prior to the recent South Birmingham and Solihull consultation, one of the proposals was to split up this route, as not many people travelled the full length of the route from Monkspath to Birmingham, and vice-versa. That never happened, so lets just for a second consider my example proposition.

Lets break up the 5, but keep the route between Solihull and The Baldwin (Hall Green). But rather than continue on to Birmingham, where it invariably gets delayed with the rest of the Stratford Road and other city centre routes, it then replaces part of the subsidised 40 service up to Acocks Green, via Gospel Oak, Shirley Road and Dolphin Lane. The handful of passengers from Monkspath who do travel to and from the city centre, change onto a more frequent service at Shirley (the 6). Alternatively they could travel onto Acocks Green for the more frequent 37 service.
Acocks Green and Shirley do admittedly gain an extra link which is probably not needed, but part of one subsidised route is removed as a result. However Acocks Green does gain a link to the industrial area of Monkspath. (For the purpose of this example, I deliberately have not considered the remainder of the 40 route, as I don't personally use it myself).
This more local route, as a result of not having to traverse the Stratford Road close to city, and the city centre itself, does potentially become more reliable as a result of not getting stuck in traffic elsewhere. (I used to catch the 5 regularly from Cranmore, and it was not funny waiting nearly an hour for a 20min service at times, especially as I could have walked to Shirley or even Solihull in the same time).
But for sake of argument, if I did live in Monkspath and work in the city centre, I personally would probably be happier with this outcome knowing I could get a more frequent service out of city home, and then change onto a 'local' service, knowing it might be less frequent, but more reliable.
I hope this doesn't seem rambling, and makes sense to some people, we all have to understand that not everyone can be pleased at once, and not everyone is going to get a direct bus service from where they live to where they work, and it is inevitable that some people will have to make a change on their journey to get the best results for everyone.