South Birmingham Consultation 2017

[MasterPlan]

Whoever designed the layout around the QE had clearly been watching too much F1 as it's essentially a pit stop.

[metrocity]

Whoever designed the layout around the QE had clearly been watching too much F1 as it's essentially a pit stop.

Sounds like Square Peg stops after 5pm on a weeknight !

[Oozells]

Surprised no one's mentioned this that was on the website:

"Following an extensive public consultation, this summer we're making some changes to bus routes in and around South / South West Birmingham.

These include small changes, such as timetable improvements so that our buses can run more reliably. There are also some larger route changes, to cater for new and emerging travel needs, and also help to overcome increasing traffic congestion around busier areas.

These changes will bring new express services, more direct routes to Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the University of Birmingham, and a simpler network that is easier to understand.

Many will see very little change to their journey, but we've put together this route-by-route guide to tell you about what's happening in the coming weeks.

The following changes will be made from Sunday 22nd July 2018.

[Insert Map]

Service 1 will be replaced with the following new and modified routes:

1 / 1A  Fox Hollies – Acocks Green – Springfield – Moseley – Cannon Hill Park – Five Ways (1) or University / QE Hospital (1A) 

Buses run up to every 10-20 minutes

4A  Gospel Oak – Acocks Green – Birmingham 

Buses run up to every 10 minutes

+ More buses will run through Mosley (1 / 1A)

+ New direct route to University / QE Hospital (1A)

+ Gospel Oak will have more and faster buses to / from the city centre (4A)

- Gospel Oak will no longer be served by the 1

The 1 / 1A will run up to every 10 minutes between Acocks Green and Edgbaston, from there the 1 will run up to every 20 minutes to Five Ways; the new route 1A will then run up to every 20 minutes along Bristol Road and Aston Webb Boulevard to University / QE Hospital.

In Acocks Green / Fox Hollies, buses on the 1 / 1A route will run around a loop of Shirley Road, Dolphin Lane and Olton Boulevard East.

The new 4A will run from Gospel Oak along Severne Road and Gospel Lane to Warwick Road, then through Acocks Green and direct along Warwick Road to Birmingham city centre, reducing journey times for our passengers.

     

2 / 3  Maypole – Warstock – Yardley Wood – Billesley – Birmingham 

Buses run up to every 10 minutes between Wake Green and Birmingham

+ Buses will run up to every 10 minutes between Billesley and the city centre

Between Wake Green and the city centre, services 2 / 3 will now use the same route along Stoney Lane. Showell Green Lane will now be served by the 5.

     

4 / 4A  Solihull (4) / Gospel Oak (4A)  – Acocks Green – Birmingham 

Buses run up to every 10 minutes

+ Buses will run up to every 5 minutes between Acocks Green and the city centre along Warwick Road

+  Buses will run up to every 10 minutes to / from Gospel Oak

The new 4 / 4A services replace routes 37 and 31, see these sections for more information.

       

5  Solihull – Monkspath – Shirley – Sarehole Mill – Birmingham 

Buses run up to every 6 minutes along Stratford Road (when combined with the 6)

+ More reliable buses by avoiding Springfield Road and traffic in Solihull

+ Robin Hood Lane will be served again

- Buses will not serve Springfield Road due to ongoing issues with parking

Between Solihull and Widney Manor Station, buses will no longer serve stops on New Road and Warwick Road, due to delays caused by traffic queuing for town centre car parks.

At Widney Manor Station, buses towards Solihull will now stop opposite the station entrance and not pull into the forecourt.

Springfield Road will no longer be served due to ongoing issues with parking, preventing larger vehicles from passing and causing delays. All buses on this route will now serve Showell Green Lane. This may be revised if the problem improves in future.

         

Services 22 / 23 will be replaced with the new and modified routes:

23  Bartley Green – Woodgate – Harborne – Five Ways – Birmingham

Buses run up to every 8-10 minutes

X22  Woodgate – Kitwell – Bartley Green – University / QE Hospital – Birmingham

Buses run up to every 20 minutes

+ More buses in Bartley Green, Woodgate & Woodgate Valley South areas (23)

+ Harborne to Birmingham buses will now simply be numbered 23 / 24

+ New and direct links to University / QE Hospital from Kitwell, Bartley Green, Jiggins Lane and Quinton Road

+ New Platinum buses on routes 23 / X22, offering premium comfort with extra legroom, wifi and USB points

- Kitwell and Jiggins Lane will no longer have direct buses to Harborne; passengers can connect to 23 / X22 services along Stonehouse Road or California Way

- Buses will run less often during the day to Kitwell and Jiggins Lane, running every 20 minutes instead of every 15 minutes

The current 22 / 23 services will be combined into one, simpler, more frequent route; the new 23. This will run from Newman University via Bartley Green, Romsley Road, Woodgate, Woodgate Valley South, Harborne and Five Ways to Birmingham.

Kitwell and Jiggins Lane, currently served by the 22, will be served by the new X22. This will run from Woodgate via Kitwell, Romsley Road, Bartley Green, Jiggins Lane, California, Quinton Road and University / QE Hospital to Birmingham.

To help improve reliability, bus stops on Stonehouse Lane and Stonehouse Hill will be moved onto California Way and Northfield Road."

[MW]

Ok,

Logically, the 4/4A make sense. It definitely simplified things, but I'm annoyed. My local routes are getting tampered with.

I have to walk further to get a route into town now. I suspect Spring Road Station will be getting busier around here then...

[winston]

It's not of the NXWM website now, plus there's a number of services changes we know have been registered missing off that list

[markcf83]

Presumably branding for the Platinums will commence in the not too distant future then.....

[Jack]

Ok,

Logically, the 4/4A make sense. It definitely simplified things, but I'm annoyed. My local routes are getting tampered with.

I have to walk further to get a route into town now. I suspect Spring Road Station will be getting busier around here then...

Why does the 37 need to be pointlessly renumbered? The 31 being pointlessly renumbered really winds me up, let alone it means Shaftmoor Lane no longer has a bus to the City. But it does mean the Gospel Oak users will be happier with a faster bus to City. The 1 no longer serving Gospel Oak is a shock considering the 1 and 31 currently do slightly different routes around the estate.
I am happy the 5 is staying as it is, love the route. The new 4 and 4A will no doubt be E200 MMC's. I'm just superised the 37 is being renumbered. Will all the MMC's be getting debranded?

Also, you'd think they'd spell Moseley right! They've put Mosley!

[MasterPlan]

Still doesn't say where exactly the X22 will be Limited Stop.

[MW]

Why does the 37 need to be pointlessly renumbered? . The 31 being pointlessly renumbered really winds me up, let alone it means Shaftmoor Lane no longer has a bus to the City.
I am happy the 5 is staying as it is, love the route. The new 4 and 4A will no doubt be E200 MMC's. I'm just superised the 37 is being renumbered. Will all the MMC's be getting debranded?

You can see why they're being renumbered. Routes 2/3/4/4A/5/6 will all be Stratford Road routes. And the 1 is a route that crosses all of the above routes at some point.

So as far as I can tell, Acocks Green to Solihull is going from 10 buses an hour to 6.

The new 4's PVR will be around 12.
The 4A will be around 10

Currently, the 31/37 is about 28.

I reckon 4A will be all MMCs, although there are some tight turns around Gospel. And then the 4 being a mixture of MMC and Gemini, considering Acocks Green to Solihull is getting a frequency cut.

The 1/1A will probably be ran with whatever's left over, although some branding would be nice. I'm sssuming the terminus for the 1 will be the layby on Olton Boulevard East, at the roundabout with Fox Hollies Road.

[Mike K]

It appears the page has been removed - if you Google bus X22 Birmingham one of the hits that comes up is a nxbus.co.uk page and you can see some of the text in the earlier post, but when you click on the link it says unable to load the requested page.

Not that it affects me but I'm surprised at how Jiggins Lane and Kitwell have been shafted by these changes. In years gone by, Jiggins Lane had a more frequent service than South Woodgate, at one stage served by the 12 and 22. Now it has a 20 minute service and no link to Harborne.

I'm also intrigued as to how and where the X22 will be 'express'. It will sit in endless traffic like everything else in West Birmingham.

I predict it will be every bit as successful as the X64 - a soon to be gone route that was changed more often than most people change their underwear.

[Sh4318]

I'm more interested to hear what's going to be happening with my locals (48/48A). Presumably the changes were taken down because some routes weren't mentioned

[MasterPlan]

"To help improve reliability, bus stops on Stonehouse Lane and Stonehouse Hill will be moved onto California Way and Northfield Road."

That bit is quite amusing. As I've said before it doesn't make much difference and in fact going along Stonehouse Hill can skip past some cars stuck in the Northfield Road/California Way traffic. But whatever floats their boat.

[sonic84]

This seems to suggest that the 23 and x22 will towards Birmingham will load from opposite sides of the road... unless the 23 runs from Newman College via Field Road and then Romsley Road and Adams Hill towards Woodgate Valley South.

Think these will be interesting changes. Surprised to see the 37 route number go but makes sense I guess.

[Mike K]

This seems to suggest that the 23 and x22 will towards Birmingham will load from opposite sides of the road... unless the 23 runs from Newman College via Field Road and then Romsley Road and Adams Hill towards Woodgate Valley South.

Think these will be interesting changes. Surprised to see the 37 route number go but makes sense I guess.

My reading of it was that the 23 will run from Newman College via Field Lane to Romsley Road - so won't serve the current Wood Lane terminus - which will go from 11 buses an hour (22, 23, X64) to 3 (X22) by the looks of it!

[2206]

Why does the 37 need to be pointlessly renumbered? The 31 being pointlessly renumbered really winds me up, let alone it means Shaftmoor Lane no longer has a bus to the City. But it does mean the Gospel Oak users will be happier with a faster bus to City. The 1 no longer serving Gospel Oak is a shock considering the 1 and 31 currently do slightly different routes around the estate.
I am happy the 5 is staying as it is, love the route. The new 4 and 4A will no doubt be E200 MMC's. I'm just superised the 37 is being renumbered. Will all the MMC's be getting debranded?

Also, you'd think they'd spell Moseley right! They've put Mosley!

Not that much of a surprise, they're always very empty between Acocks Green and Gospel Oak, nobody uses the 1 round there, perhaps that is the reason its being withdrawn, though the 31 doesn't serve Pool Farm Road.