Old Bullring bus station services in the 1990s

[j789]

Does anyone have a list of services that called at the Bullring bus station in the mid 1990s, around 93/94? I used to catch the express route to Shrewsbury a lot (x95???) but was wondering where the other services went.

Also, although it was mainly Midland Red routes, I'm sure the WMT 120/126/140 also stopped in the bus station as I remember seeing Metrobuses in there. Was there a reason for these routes stopping there, eg dating back to when those routes were Midland Red routes?

[D10]

Can't find one from 93 or 94 but I have the December 1995 Centro Birmingham City Centre map and the following services served the Bus Station then:

83/84 (not Sundays)
85/85A
142/143/144/145/146
176/177/178/179
192/193
292
443
445
X64
X66
X76
X93
X96

Perhaps someone else has an guide?

With regard to WMT I am sure that the routes you mentioned had already been pulled out by the very late 80's. The sole remaining route I can recall was the 136/137 but this had gone from there by the end of 95 as according to my map it terminated at Colmore Row then.

[karl724223]

Hartshills136/7

[old50niner]

If my old brain is correct, the 114 to Sutton Coldfield, which was based at Miller St after Sutton garage closed, terminated at the Bull Ring bus station.

[SO6597]

WMT withdrew all of their commercially registered services from the Bull Ring Bus Station at the point of deregulation in October 1986.

[sryan188]

If my old brain is correct, the 114 to Sutton Coldfield, which was based at Miller St after Sutton garage closed, terminated at the Bull Ring bus station.

MRW operated the Sunday service on the 114 from Bull Ring bus station along with the 65 to Short Heath again from Bull Ring Bus Station

https://www.flickr.com/photos/59615439@N03/13509533654 A photo of the 114 from bull ring bus station from Flickr

[monkeyjoe]

Didn't the midland red journeys on the 59 evening service and 99 use the bus station

[Westy]

Didn't quite a few of the MRW journeys on tendered services run to & from the BS, for no apparent reason, when the WMT equivalent journeys stayed in the streets?

Wasn't the BS used as additional garage space?

[SO6597]

It was definitely used for overnight parking for MRW buses allocated to the Digbeth garage. I used to work the odd night shift in the area in the early 1990s and would often wander down during a tea break   to see what was parked up there - seemed to be buses which had been doing evening tenders in Bham and the Black Country in the main.

It was a fascinating place looking back - I can still smell the fumes and hear the roar of Leyland National engines, Fleetlines and the odd Ailsa (I think the old WMPTE 42 used to terminate there) whenever I walk past today.

[Westy]

Remember the old Midland Red office down there.

Didn't that move 'upstairs' at some point?

Wonder why MRW continued with the timetable books for a few years, rather than the more cost effective leaflets?

[Justin Tyme]

There was an enquiry point in the bus station itself, and a travel centre up the escalator (in what was West Mall) which provided bus information and sold coach tickets and holidays.  West Mall was a good place for picking up timetables from the outer edges of the Midland Red empire in the 1970s.

Although not immediately after Deregulation in 1986, Midland Red West did extend most of its tendered Birmingham area bus services to the Bus Station, which I presume was for driver changes etc.  And bus parking there was extended to daytimes when Midland Red West stopped using Digbeth as a bus garage in the 1990s.  IIRC Worcester then maintained the Birmingham fleet until the outstation was closed.

It certainly was a fascinating place, with in earlier years buses from almost all over the Midland Red system calling, and in later years quite some variety as Oxford-South Midland, WMPTE, then later United Counties, Alder Valley and (I think) Eastern Counties running in.  Post Deregulation some independents came in too, such as Burman and Frontline.

[Westy]

Ah. I only knew about West Mall, after the Bull Ring office shut.

Didn't realise it had been there for years before.

[markcf83]

Does anyone have a list of services that called at the Bullring bus station in the mid 1990s, around 93/94? I used to catch the express route to Shrewsbury a lot (x95???) but was wondering where the other services went.

Also, although it was mainly Midland Red routes, I'm sure the WMT 120/126/140 also stopped in the bus station as I remember seeing Metrobuses in there. Was there a reason for these routes stopping there, eg dating back to when those routes were Midland Red routes?

I remember seeing a 137 emerging from there,which at the time was a Hartshill route.

[Bob]

Midland Red Norths services to Cannock and Tamworth used the bus station in the 90s. X31 ( later renumbered 31) and 156 ( pretty much todays 937 only extending further to Hednesford and Cannock

[karl724223]

I remember seeing a 137 emerging from there,which at the time was a Hartshill route.

drove it