South Birmingham Consultation 2017

[Dom]

NX were quick enough to publise the extension of the 10A to Lichfield effective from the same date, but don't seem so keen to publish full details of these changes, could it be that they may not be popular?

Or perhaps, things aren't 100% finished yet. So they're waiting until everything is finished. At the end of the day, the services are registered so whether or not the public like them isn't going to make a difference now, the chance to argue and contest it has gone.

[Jack]

I believe the plan is that the 2 will follow the 3 route (i.e. Stoney Lane) to/from City and the 5 will be taken out of Springfield Road and routed via Wake Green Road, Yardley Wood Road and Showell Green Lane.

So the 6 will be the only Stratford Road route operating south of Showell Green Lane with the re-routing of the 5 and 31. A potential loss of 6bph from Springfield Road to/from City. I'm also lead to believe that ALL Stratford Road services (2, 3, 5, 6, 31 and 37) will depart from Carrs Lane, with a rumouref future renumbering of the 31 to 4.

5 will have to serve Court Road to get to Showell Green Lane then outbound.

As has been said the 63 will no longer use Carrs Lane, would it mean the 37 will go back to its original Stop on Carrs Lane with the 6 stopping at it too? This would be better as the current 6/37 Stop is a nightmare when there's 3 max buses at the stop, means buses start queuing down Carrs Lane.
Does the 31 seriously need to be pointlessly renumbered?

[winston]

Or perhaps, things aren't 100% finished yet. So they're waiting until everything is finished. At the end of the day, the services are registered so whether or not the public like them isn't going to make a difference now, the chance to argue and contest it has gone.

If they're registered, they're finished. The latest changes are different again to the previous proposals consulted on last year. They need to give passengers plenty of notice.

[Mike K]

NX were quick enough to publise the extension of the 10A to Lichfield effective from the same date, but don't seem so keen to publish full details of these changes, could it be that they may not be popular?

The notice about the 10A says "we're really excited to announce our new service to Lichfield...".

"We're delighted to announce that Weoley Castle will be losing its link to Five Ways, Broad St and Brindley Place" might not go down quite so well.  :o

[V89MOA]

If they're registered, they're finished. The latest changes are different again to the previous proposals consulted on last year. They need to give passengers plenty of notice.

I've still not seen anything published about rerouting the 5 to serve Yardley Wood station but the flags on Robin Hood lane (by the bridge) have been changed to 'Not In Use' and the stops all down Highfield Road have shown both 5 & 76 for at least a month now... the map on the NXWM website shows the old line of route but Network West Midlands has the 5 down as serving the station... I wonder who's cock up that is?

[MW]

If the 1/1A is being increased to every 10 mins during the day, it does imply that the 31 will be using Warwick Road instead of Stratford Road I suppose.

I just hope the 31 remains untampered. It's been the same route for years. (City to Fox Hollies section anyway)

It's definitely a good idea to remove Springfield Road from the 5 route. It can be very tight negotiating around the stupidly parked cars, and if you're running 4-5 mins late, and the bus coming the other way is on time, you will meet on Springfield Road and potentially get stuck.

I'm sure the new proposed 5 route has some very low hanging trees/branches on Wake Green Road though. (Section in between College Road & Springfield Road).

[2206]

If the 1/1A is being increased to every 10 mins during the day, it does imply that the 31 will be using Warwick Road instead of Stratford Road I suppose.

I just hope the 31 remains untampered. It's been the same route for years. (City to Fox Hollies section anyway)

It's definitely a good idea to remove Springfield Road from the 5 route. It can be very tight negotiating around the stupidly parked cars, and if you're running 4-5 mins late, and the bus coming the other way is on time, you will meet on Springfield Road and potentially get stuck.

I'm sure the new proposed 5 route has some very low hanging trees/branches on Wake Green Road though. (Section in between College Road & Springfield Road).

At the moment, there are no registation changes to the 31, suggesting it won't be changing, at the moment?
https://www.vehicle-operator-licensing.service.gov.uk/search/find-registered-local-bus-services/details/510408/

I believe the plan is that the 2 will follow the 3 route (i.e. Stoney Lane) to/from City and the 5 will be taken out of Springfield Road and routed via Wake Green Road, Yardley Wood Road and Showell Green Lane.

So the 6 will be the only Stratford Road route operating south of Showell Green Lane with the re-routing of the 5 and 31. A potential loss of 6bph from Springfield Road to/from City. I'm also lead to believe that ALL Stratford Road services (2, 3, 5, 6, 31 and 37) will depart from Carrs Lane, with a rumouref future renumbering of the 31 to 4.

If they are rerouting the 31, how would they potentially reroute it, would it use Showell Green Lane with the 5, or
Warwick Road with the 37?

[Jack]

I just hope the 31 remains untampered. It's been the same route for years. (City to Fox Hollies section anyway)

It's definitely a good idea to remove Springfield Road from the 5 route. It can be very tight negotiating around the stupidly parked cars, and if you're running 4-5 mins late, and the bus coming the other way is on time, you will meet on Springfield Road and potentially get stuck.

I'm sure the new proposed 5 route has some very low hanging trees/branches on Wake Green Road though. (Section in between College Road & Springfield Road).

The only change I'd make to the 31 is to not use Pitmaston Road and instead use Redstone Farm Road. Pitmaston is so tight, even worse when the school kids are coming out of the school, the buses get stuck. I do hope the 31 stays the same from City to Acocks Green.

I agree with the 5 no longer using Springfield Road, can be tight at times with cars parked everywhere. But in a way I disagree with the 2 using Stoney Lane. The 3 can be get snarled up trying to do the right turn onto Highgate Road in both directions, but would mean the 2 doesn't get stuck in Stratford Road traffic.

People are still moaning about the 37 no longer serving Olton Station (been 2 years now). Waste of time going down there, nobody really used the stops. The two 'replacement' pole stops on Warwick Road could do with shelters, these stops do tend to get a number of people waiting at them. Funnily enough the people who moan are the elderly who don't want to do a short walk.

[MW]

The only change I'd make to the 31 is to not use Pitmaston Road and instead use Redstone Farm Road. Pitmaston is so tight, even worse when the school kids are coming out of the school, the buses get stuck. I do hope the 31 stays the same from City to Acocks Green.

I agree with the 5 no longer using Springfield Road, can be tight at times with cars parked everywhere. But in a way I disagree with the 2 using Stoney Lane. The 3 can be get snarled up trying to do the right turn onto Highgate Road in both directions, but would mean the 2 doesn't get stuck in Stratford Road traffic.

People are still moaning about the 37 no longer serving Olton Station (been 2 years now). Waste of time going down there, nobody really used the stops. The two 'replacement' pole stops on Warwick Road could do with shelters, these stops do tend to get a number of people waiting at them. Funnily enough the people who moan are the elderly who don't want to do a short walk.

I do agree with that about Redstone Farm Road operation wise. But Pitmaston Road runs through the middle of two sides of a dump basically. So either side use the 31. Redstone Farm is further away for a lot of the clients for the 31. (Basically if you look in between Shirley Road & Redstone Farm Road, the 31 caters for all of that estate within there. Moving it to Redstone is pushing it away from those towards the Shirley Road side.)

And yeah, that Stoney Lane/Highgate Road junction is an absolute nightmare. In fact that junction definitely needs looking at. I think it'd be good to have Stoney Lane crossing Highgate Road, through that car park and meeting Stratford Road. It'd be a weird junction but it's be better. Spread the traffic around a bit!

[Tony]

NX were quick enough to publise the extension of the 10A to Lichfield effective from the same date, but don't seem so keen to publish full details of these changes, could it be that they may not be popular?

The reason is whenever there's one of these mass changes the commercial  network  is registered  and Once TfWM receive  the registrations they then look to see if any tendered services need changing or adding before the full network is made public

[winston]

The reason is whenever there's one of these mass changes the commercial  network  is registered  and Once TfWM receive  the registrations they then look to see if any tendered services need changing or adding before the full network is made public

Isn't that leaving things a little late though? The commercial registrations already appear to have gone in / being made public 2-3 weeks late i.e well after the usual 56 day notice period. It's only 5 weeks today until they now take place.

[metrocity]

The reason is whenever there's one of these mass changes the commercial  network  is registered  and Once TfWM receive  the registrations they then look to see if any tendered services need changing or adding before the full network is made public

I thought the rules had now changed and as a result TFWM would have notified many weeks ago?

http://www.route-one.net/articles/Sudden_changes_to_bus_service_registration_law_deliver_industry_turmoil

[Jack]

I do agree with that about Redstone Farm Road operation wise. But Pitmaston Road runs through the middle of two sides of a dump basically. So either side use the 31. Redstone Farm is further away for a lot of the clients for the 31. (Basically if you look in between Shirley Road & Redstone Farm Road, the 31 caters for all of that estate within there. Moving it to Redstone is pushing it away from those towards the Shirley Road side.)

And yeah, that Stoney Lane/Highgate Road junction is an absolute nightmare. In fact that junction definitely needs looking at. I think it'd be good to have Stoney Lane crossing Highgate Road, through that car park and meeting Stratford Road. It'd be a weird junction but it's be better. Spread the traffic around a bit!

Back when the consultation started, there was the option for the 31 to be rerouted off Pitmaston Road onto Redstone Farm Road. Another option which sounded bad was removing the 1 and 31 off Nailstone Crescent, Broom Hill Cresecent and Severne Road and to keep them down Gospel Lane. I didn't think that will please people from Severne Road.

The Stoney Lane/Highgate and Stratford Road junction is a real joke. I remember all the work that was done a few years ago to 'improve' the whole junction. I'd leave the 2 in its current form through Sparkhill instead of it having go through that nuisance junction, the 3 struggles getting through it a lot of the time.

[Steveminor]

I thought the rules had now changed and as a result TFWM would have notified many weeks ago?

http://www.route-one.net/articles/Sudden_changes_to_bus_service_registration_law_deliver_industry_turmoil

Yes that's correct. Operators have to announce changes to local authorities  23 days before registering them.

[BigDaddyCool]

Has anyone else heard rumours that the road layout around the uni/ QE is going to get looked at? I certainly hope that this has got some legs as it seems to be getting steadily worse.

The thought of more buses through there I think will finally tip me over to either cycling or the train permanently! I can't be the only one that gets agitated by this nightmare.