National Express West Midlands Bristol Road Lines 61, 62 and 63

The 61, 62 and 63 are bus routes in the West Midlands, United Kingdom.

Service 61 links Birmingham with Gannow, service 62 links Birmingham to Rednal and service 63 links Birmingham with Rubery. All services serve the Bristol Road/A38.

History

 * 18th May 2008 - A Line start operating service 63 and reduce their frequency on service 61. S T Buses withdraw service 63.


 * 27th April 2008 - Diamond Bus withdrawn night service 63N. The service was operated commercially.


 * 10th November 2007 - Diamond Bus withdraw service 63.


 * 28th October 2007 - Travel Express introduce a Sunday service on service 63


 * 14th October 2007 - Bull Ring Travel withdraw from service 61 due to termination of their license by VOSA.


 * 02nd September 2007 - Diamond Bus re-introduce night service 63N with service 64 experiencing a amended timetable. National Express West Midlands service 61 has a slight reduction in frequency, service 62 has timetable change with service 63 having an improved frequency.


 * 22nd July 2007 - Diamond Bus start operating service 63.


 * 25th February 2007 - National Express West Midlands increase the frequency of service 61, and reduce the frequencies of both service 62 & 63. Express service 964 is withdrawn.

Present
The 61, 62 and 63 (also known as the Bristol Road services) offer a combined daytime frequency of every 2-5 minutes along this corridor. In 2002, the service was given Dennis Tridents which were branded for this route, naming it the Jubilee line. However since then all these vehicles have transferred to Yardley Wood Depot. As a result, it is very common to see any type of vehicle that Birmingham Central has on the route, usually consisting of Volvo B7TL Plaxton President's/ Alexander ALX400, Optare Spectra's and Dennis Trident 2's.

All services all serve the areas of Lee Bank, Edgbaston, Selly Oak and Northfield before service 61 goes off to Gannow with service 62 and 63 serving Longbridge before going to their respective termini.

National Express West Midlands experiences a mix of competition on services 61 and 63 by operators Midland Rider, Travel Express, A Line and Golden Line all charging various fares. Diamond Bus service 64 and First Midland Red service 144 also provide competition with service 63 up to Rubery, however both services carry on out of the Centro area.

National Express West Midlands maximum fare is £1.50 on these services.

Future
From 13th July 2008, Travel Express will start operations on the 62 (Birmingham - Rednal) with Travel Express service 63 seeing a reduction in frequency.

Current route

 * Service 61
 * Birmingham
 * Lee Bank
 * Priory Road Interchange
 * Selly Oak Interchange
 * Northfield
 * Gannow


 * Service 62
 * Birmingham
 * Lee Bank
 * Priory Road Interchange
 * Selly Oak Interchange
 * Northfield
 * Longbridge
 * Rednal


 * Service 63
 * Birmingham
 * Lee Bank
 * Priory Road Interchange
 * Selly Oak Interchange
 * Northfield
 * Longbridge
 * Rubery