Steapest hill climbs for buses within the west mids

[Ashley]

No its B7RLEs most evenings unless I'm wrong on that. Tridents operated it leading up to christmas and it was Spectras february half term, iv got a sound clip on my phone of 4004 on the 10 last august flying down the compton road and then negotiating the holloway. Have a video of 4166 on my youtube page from last day of the 510 making light work of the hill

[Trident 4609]

i watched that video before. it was a good vid.

[Ashley]

Thank you. Glad to know people enjoy them

[nitromatt1]

Technically it's just outside the West Midlands (just into Worcestershire) - but one amusing daily hill climb for the Green Buses school services going to Hagley and back, is the part of the A456 known as Hagley Hill or the Hagley Mile. It's a dual carriageway with a 50 speed limit, but getting steeper and steeper on the way up - the incline goes on for about 2/3 of a mile. What's more, there is a set of traffic lights at the bottom which stay red for ages, meaning buses often have a standing start. Due to the varying fleet of The Green Bus (some buses cruise up at about 30, others drop down to about 15), there is often a lot of overtaking between buses going uphill, causing queues of frustrated motorists behind! Although this isn't the slowest hill for buses in the Midlands, because of the high speed of the road (many cars go up at 60), it's quite fun to watch (or for me, be on) buses causing huge queues when overtaking each other up the hill.

The Citybuses are the fastest up the hill (although they've left the fleet now), followed by the Olympians, followed by the "Y32/38 HWB" Tridents, then the other Tridents. This just leaves the Metros, and you can guess what they're like.

[Ashley]

The Citybuses have gone?

[John]

The Citybuses have gone?

Yes, also, I think the single deckers and a few of the Metrobuses have been withdrawn as well, replaced by the new ex Travel London Trident's and the ex Oxford Trident's as well.

[Ashley]

The former Reading Metrobuses are horrid. I much prefer the WM ones and hopefully 2989 and 3013 will go into preservation

[Discodave]

The former Reading Metrobuses are horrid. I much prefer the WM ones and hopefully 2989 and 3013 will go into preservation

has anyone got a pic of 2989 in wolves corp colours I drove that a lot on the wombournes and warstones would ask whoever allocated to try and put it on them when I was on them usually it did anyway seemed to drive well too

[John]

has anyone got a pic of 2989 in wolves corp colours I drove that a lot on the wombournes and warstones would ask whoever allocated to try and put it on them when I was on them usually it did anyway seemed to drive well too

here is one of my flickr page, but there are a lot more on flickr as well. My one is in the second version, with the black roof.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/john-s-91/5933693321

[nitromatt1]

Apparently the single deckers AND some of the Metro's have also been withdrawn, not just the Citybuses...their fleet was on the small side already, they need to buy quite a lot of buses now to accommodate for the new school services as well as existing ones.

[sonic84]

I always think the Dunns Bank climb the 213/214 do near Cradley Heath is a pretty steep climb.

[tank90]

I can think of a few in Redditch; as Redditch has a Birmingham postcode. Station Way (26, 55/A, 57, 64, 70, 143, 247, 350), Unicorn Hill (58, 60, 61, X50, 50A, 350), Rough Hill Drive(55/A (comes onto Rough Hill Drive from Grangers Lane), Kingsley College School Buses, 247, 350), Littlewoods (56/A), Yvonne Road (S93 (leading to Evesham Rd)) and Windmill Drive ((Hunt End) S91, S93, S94, S77).
Tho some may not agree with these they are steep, and some are steeper than others. Although the 55 247 350 start at the bottom of Rough Hill the 55A enters just before it gets to its steepest from a standing start. As for Windmill Drive around Hunt End i can say that the S77 S91 S93 and S94 drivers have to hope no other road user wants to turn off at that bottom of the hills as it is a slow climb for a packed bus of school children to get up there even for a single decker (Leyland Lynx, Dennis Plaxton Lace/Pathfinder, Dennis Enviro 300) and it can be even worse if there is heavy traffic in the morning at the roundabout further along in Crabbs Cross (Ran Tan / Star and Garter). Tho the worset I would have said I have been up is Yvonne Road leading up to Evesham Road as it is very steep, even some cars can struggle with that if the driver doesnt find the right gear.

[windy miller]

For the benefit of people who travel around a bit like I did.. there was, (and still is) a couple of really steep examples for public transport..In England!. there's one heading out of sowerby bridge, yorkshire,(towards rochdale) ...absolute killer that is...And another heading north out of Matlock towards the high peak country. The worst, (Though not for public transport) is almost certainly the short 60° climb away from Boot (Cumbria) over the Hardknott pass and down to Derwentwater on the other side. Any car over 10 yrs old is  guarenteed to overheat at the top....Happy days.. :o :) :)

[sonic84]

Mucklows Hill is pretty tight.  I remember being on a Central Connect 292 route on a sunday a few years back.  The driver was having trouble with the bus anyway, but he got as far as B&Q and couldn't get enough power to get up the hill.  He literally stopped and had to call the depot for the relief bus to come.

[Ash]

Mucklows Hill is pretty tight.  I remember being on a Central Connect 292 route on a sunday a few years back.  The driver was having trouble with the bus anyway, but he got as far as B&Q and couldn't get enough power to get up the hill.  He literally stopped and had to call the depot for the relief bus to come.

If the darts or cadets are used on the 417 now theres a diversion they can be going at walking pace trying to go up Mucklows hill, in camparison to a centro that flies up there.