Re-introduce the 88

[danny]

This is the suggestion, bring back the original route as far as causeway green road/wolverhampton road thus reinstating the connection to the ressidents of causewaygreen road and upper langley with the city centre, then either divert the route along wolverhampton road to the m5 junction then terminate in oldbury or the original route to blackheath. And thoughts

[Nathan4775]

Were did the 88 go again

[John]

Were did the 88 go again

Birmingham to Blackheath.

[Stu]

Were did the 88 go again

Birmingham to Blackheath.

Originally operated between Birmingham and The Merrivale in Langley Green. Then it was extended to Dudley, then after a time curtailed at Blackheath. It was finally withdrawn last year, and party replaced by the new 89 service.

Birmingham > City Hospital > Dudley Road > Cape Hill > Londonderry > Langley Green (The Merrivale) > Causeway Green > Hurst Green > Blackheath > Portway > Oakham > Dudley

Was a godsend for me while I was at Rowley Regis College, as the 128 and 129 were always crowded, so I preferred to catch a near empty 88 from Dogkennel Lane to Blackheath, and then walk up to the college! But it suffered terribly from reliability issues, especially during peak-times, due to Dudley Road traffic, as well as traffic coming into Blackheath, and trying to cross the Wolverhampton Road at Causeway Green. The section between Blackheath and Dudley was replaced by the 205, which itself has since been revised to replace part of the old 129 route.

[danny]

the 88 did indeed go to merrivale but acording to a 1981 timetable i found certain journeys carried on via the 120 (station rd, old park lane, park lane, seven stars road) up to oldbury where was the original terminus, the only problem with the axing of the 88 was that a the 89 has to go out of its way in smethick in order to get to the queens head, then negotiate a rather tight network of roads to get back to the 88, then their is the section of route that has lost the connection, ie causeway green, and to my knoledge this was one of the busier loadng areas along the 88. Many times their would be a large cue oposite the royal oak.

i dont know who decides the network reviews but quite blatantly their was an oversight, the nearest routes are the 126 (wolverhampton road) 120(park lane) and the 128€merrivale) all a 10-15 minute walk depending on where on the section of road they live and mobility. The service was able to cater for elderly and young moms headed for blackheath, cape hill or brum.

[Stu]

the 88 did indeed go to merrivale but acording to a 1981 timetable i found certain journeys carried on via the 120 (station rd, old park lane, park lane, seven stars road) up to oldbury where was the original terminus

You may be correct about that, that was probably well before I can remember. My parents moved to Basons Lane in 1979, and my mum tells me at the time the 120 served all of Dog Kennel Lane, it was probably a couple of years after that when the 120 was revised to serve Basons Lane, as I can just about remember the bus stops being installed there! I do remember the 88 terminating at the Queens Head for a while, with certain journeys (maybe just the evenings) continuing to the Merrivale.

Oh and for a brief period while I was there, there was an 89 service also, which was the same as the 88, but from the Queens Head it ran via Warley Road direct to Rood End, and then followed the 128 and 129 to Oldbury down Tat Bank Road.

I can also faintly remember for a time that Yourbus operated an 89 service following its withdrawal, possibly the 89Y? I don't know where it went after the city centre, but it said on the front that it went to Shard End! I always found the concept of a cross-city service between the Merrivale and Shard End a bit bizarre!

[Gareth]

I think it was the 81y, renumbered to 92y.

Was great for me at Saltley. Some interesting verity to the usual buses we had!

[danny]

I remember the 81y with its deltas, dp lynxes and lkus buses, was a great route if not a little odd, Oldbuty-LAngley-smethick-cape hill-jewry quarter-city centre-saltley-alum rock-shard end, long but amazing route, and strangly quite reliable, nostalga over yourbus lol

[Stu]

Yes, 81Y was the one, but I'm sure it only went as far as Langley Green, as I always saw them parked up outside the Merrivale.

[danny]

I think we both right, i remember the route in the late 90s early nauties running to oldbury, used to catch it to school from old park lane, however, i also remember the 81/88 did short workings as far as merrivale, that might be what you remember or it got curtained, i remember being devastated when the orange buses disapeared from