West Midlands Coventry Road bus corridor

The Coventry Road bus corridor is a group of services running along the Coventry Road (A45) in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The services operating along this corridor are numbered 58, 59, 60, 900, 957 and 703/A/C

Route descriptions
Service 58 links Birmingham to Solihull, service 59 links Birmingham to Lea Hall & Kinghurst, service 60 links Birmingham with Cranes Park and Service 957 links Birmingham with Solihull railway station. All services serve the Coventry Road with 58/59/60 travelling via Small Heath and service 957 using Small Heath Highway. These services are operated by National Express West Midlands, and have suffered very little competition from other operators.

The services all serve the areas of Small Heath (except 957), Hay Mills and Yardley, with the 60 & 957 also serving Sheldon. St. Andrews football ground (Birmingham City football club) in Bordesley is also served by services 58, 59 & 60.

History of the routes
The 60 route commenced in July 1951 when Birmingham City Transport replaced the Coventry Road trolleybuses with motor buses. For many years the service ran alternate with service 58 which ran through to the Coventry Road / Arden Oak Road junction.

The 957 was originally Midland Red service 176. The service commenced running in October 1955 and retained the number 176 through the PTE operated years until 'West Midlands Travel' renamed the route as 57, and latterly as service 957 bypassing Small Heath.

The current variancies of services 58 & 59 were introduced in 2011.

History of route
The route was originally operated by Midland Red as service number 159. In December 1973 all routes within the West Midlands were passed to the WMPTE, and this route was included.

In 1986 the service was extended by the newly formed West Midlands Travel from Birmingham via Halesowen to Hasbury, relaunched as a flagship Timesaver service and re-numbered 900. In 1988 the extension to the route was reverted presumably because of the unreliability of such routes which traverse through a large busy city centre (the Birmingham to Hasbury section became routes 19 & 19S which were subsequently withdrawn on 27 Apr 2008).

The 900 journey time was then 60 minutes end to end, in recent years however as a result of additional routing, more stopping places and congestion, the end to end journey time has increased by around 40% which has made the service less attractive for those travelling between the two cities. To add to this: The Timesaver brand has also been phased out.

The latest alteration was to reduce the service to every 30 minutes during the daytimes of Monday-Saturday. However a 15 minute frequency is maintained between Birmingham and Birmingham Airport by alternative buses running as 900E as far as the airport only.

Coventry Road routes
Service 58 runs every 30 minutes Monday - Saturday daytime.

Service 59 runs every 30 minutes Monday - Saturday daytime.

Service 60 runs every 15 minutes Monday - Saturday daytime and every 20 minutes evenings. On Sundays the service runs every 10 minutes between Birmingham and Yardley, Swan Island with alternate journeys (every 20 minutes) extending to Cranes Park.

Service 58, 59 & 60 together create a 7/8 minute Monday - Saturday frequency between Yardley, Swan Island & Birmingham, along the Coventry Road, a 10 minute frequency Sunday daytimes, and a 20 minute frequency during evenings.

Semi Express routes
Service 900 runs every 30 minutes between Birmingham & Coventry daily & hourly on evenings.

Service 900A runs infrequently early morning peak times between Birmingham and Birmingham Airport in this direction only.

Service 900E runs every 30 minutes between Birmingham and Birmingham Airport Monday - Saturday daytimes & hourly on evenings, giving Service 900 an every 15 minute frequency between Birmingham & Birmingham Airport during Monday - Saturday daytimes and a 30 minute frequency during evenings and Sundays.

Service 957 runs every 15 minutes between Birmingham & Solihull Monday - Saturday daytimes, a 20 minute frequency on Sundays & half hourly on evenings.

Services 900/E & 957 together create a frequency of every 7/8 minutes Monday - Saturday daytimes and every 15 minutes evenings between Birmingham, Hay Mills, Yardley (Swan) & Sheldon.

Photos

 * BCT service 58
 * WMPTE ex Midland Red service 159
 * WMPTE ex Midland Red service 176
 * WMPTE service 58
 * WMPTE service 60
 * WMPTE service 176
 * WMT ex WMPTE service 57
 * WMT service 60
 * WMT service 900 'Timesaver' livery
 * TWM service 57
 * TWM service 58
 * TWM service 59
 * NXWM service 60
 * NXWM service 900
 * NXWM service 957