Stagecoach in Birmingham

[Stu]

Looks like the 169 is changing again from Monday 2nd September.

No longer serving Westridge Road in Billesley, will go via Yardley Wood Road and Trittiford Road same as the 3.

Looking closer at the new route on BusTimes, I'm a bit puzzled by the stopping arrangements on Yardley Wood Road and Trittiford Road.

The Oakcroft Road stop is not listed for journeys towards Kings Heath. For the journeys towards Shirley and Solihull, it will use both the Billesley Common and Mayford Grove stops, which makes no sense as they are round the corner from each other.

[Stu]

I do occasionally use the 169, mainly on a Saturday, it is handy for me as its actually the closest stop to my house, so is handy for trips to Kings Heath, Shirley and Solihull.

Westridge Road isn't too bad to get along for buses, and as well as myself I do see other people boarding and alighting along there. With regards to parking issues, there can be more of a squeeze on the section through Hall Green, between Highfield Road and Haslucks Green Road.

To be honest, its the kind of route that would probably be better suited having Mercedes minibuses, like Kevs and Diamond have, as they'd be a bit more manoeuvrable round those parts than the midlength E200s currently used.

I contacted TfWM mainly to query the new stopping arrangement on Yardley Wood Road and Trittiford Road, and got the following reply today:

"I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with these changes but unfortunately the change in stops is a consequence of the service no longer serving Westridge road.
We are re-routing away from Westridge road due to buses getting stuck due to badly parked cars on Westridge and also Colebourne road."

Didn't really answer my question, but does explain the route change.

[Jack D]

A9 does two school journeys now up to and from big johns in chelmsley wood twice a day 

[Jack D]

A9 does two school journeys now up to and from big johns in chelmsley wood twice a day

A9 now runs every half an hour all day now instead of only every hour after 2