West Midlands Warwick Road bus corridor

West Midlands bus route 37 (Service 37) is a bus route in Birmingham, United Kingdom

Service 37 links Birmingham with Solihull.

The Route
Service 37 runs direct between Birmingham City Centre and Solihull rail station, running mainly along the A41 Warwick Road, serving Digbeth (Birmingham Coach Station), Sparkbrook, Greet, Tyseley, Acocks Green, Olton and Solihull town centre. National Express West Midlands is the sole operator, running frequent 5 minute services Monday to Saturday daytimes, every 10 minutes Sunday daytimes, and every 20 minutes evenings.

Alternative services run between Birmingham and Solihull such as routes 6 and 957 however service 37 is the most direct route with an approximate journey time of 40 minutes.

History
Service 37 was introduced by WMPTE on 24 July 1977 with a 15 minute daytime frequency (matching the ex-Midland Red services it was replacing) running alternate with ex-Birmingham City Transport service 44 to give a 7/8 minute headway as far as Acocks Green (Lincoln Road).

In 1990 service 37 faced competition from Your Bus who ran a 'South Birmingham Circular' service from Birmingham down the Warwick road to Solihull as service C6Y (then following the current 76 route to Kings Heath before serving Cotteridge, Northfield and the Bristol Road back to the city centre) with reverse journeys running as A6Y. In response, from June 1990 West Midlands Travel doubled the frequency of service 37 whilst service 44 was renamed as service 37A and reduced to peak times only with Lincoln Road North area instead served by minibus services R (later 32, now replaced by service 99) and A (now 30). In counter response Your Bus ran additional journeys down the Warwick road as service 37Y. In 1993 West Midlands Travel took over Your Bus and a few years later ceased running the 37Y. Instead, under the subsequent Travel Your Bus branding, service 38Y was introduced running Birmingham to Olton then to the airport via Sheldon. In the late 1990s services C6Y/A6Y were combined into service 6Y with the Warwick Road section dropped but for a while supplemented by service 39Y which did retain the Warwick Road link. In 2001 the Y was dropped from service 38 and the following year the service was curtailed to run Acocks Green to the airport only. In 2003 service 38 was replaced by an extension of service 37A (i.e., same route except from Birmingham once again then additionally via Lincoln Road North) running as an hourly all day service. In 2006 this service was renumbered back to service 38.

In January 2009, as part of the Solihull Bus Network Review, the frequency of service 37 was increased to every 5 minutes, whilst service 38 was withdrawn.

The most recent competitor on the route, Central Connect / Blue Diamond, withdrew their service 37 operation in October 2012.

Over the years the buses used by National Express West Midlands to provide the service have been upgraded. The service was first upgraded with Volvo double deckers (which have since been cascaded to West Bromwich Bus Garage), then in 2004 the route got single decker Volvo B10L (which in turn got cascaded to use on route 28 and 28A when Perry Barr garage withdrew the MCW vehicles in 2007).

In January 2007 service 37 got another new set of vehicles, the Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban vehicles which, by replacing the step entrance Volvo B10L's, meant the route once again became low-floored after the withdrawal of the Volvo double deckers. Many of these buses also featured 'Your 37' route branded livery.

Following the arrival of new buses at Acocks Green garage in May 2010, the route is now entirely operated using brand-new Scania OmniLink buses. As of the end of 2012 a number of these buses had started to receive window based 37 route branding.

Knowle and Dorridge
At the time of the Midland Red transfer the regular bus service on the Warwick Road to Solihull was provided by the half hourly service 184 to Damsonwood and the hourly services 182 to Dorridge via Knowle and 187 to Dorridge via Widney Manor. There were also additional peak time services 155 (a shortened working of the 182 running as far as Knowle) and 152 (an extension of the 187 to Knowle missing out Mill Lane and Poplar Road). Commencing from Solihull, 'local' circular service S55 provided additional service provision to Knowle and Dorridge (one clockwise journey and one anticlockwise journey each hour), whilst occasional services ran to Leamington as the 557 (direct) and 547 (via Temple Balsall and Honiley).

WMPTE's first change was to curtail service 184 at Acocks Green, renumbering it 188, from November 1975. This service was further curtailed to run Damsonwood to Solihull only upon commencement of service 37. At the same time services 187 and S55 (latterly renumbered 155 clockwise / 156 anticlockwise) were withdrawn and service 182 curtailed to run Acocks Green to Knowle only with Widney Manor and Dorridge instead served by new cross Solihull service 151 from Yardley Wood, both services running twice an hour and supplemented by the introduction of the Knowle and Dorridge dial-a-bus service. In 1978 a fixed service within the dial-a-bus area was also trialed. This reintroduced a service 184 to the area and was the first fixed route service to use Longdon Road and Purnells Way on route between Solihull and Dorridge via Knowle (with some shortened workings running as service 183 between Knowle and Dorridge only). The service was not continued beyond 1979(?).

By the end of the 1970s dial-a-bus had been withdrawn, service 182 re-extended to Dorridge (and re-routed to run to Acocks Green via Danford Lane, Prospect Lane, St Bernard's Road and Kineton Green Road [replacing service 186]) and most 151's extended to Knowle as now hourly service 152 (remaining 151 services being additionally extended to Hockley Heath). Sunday services to Dorridge were provided by a new service 186 via Knowle and by service 187 via Widney Manor.

In 1986 West Midlands Travel withdrew the Solihull to Dorridge & Knowle section of service 152 and truncated service 182 to operate north of Solihull only, renaming the route south of Solihull as service 184. During 1987 these services then became minibus service A north of Solihull (and additionally diverted via Pierce Avenue between Olton and Acocks Green from 1990) and minibus service K (additionally via Purnells Way) south of Solihull (although some evening, Sunday and other occasional workings variously retained service numbers 182 & 184 as well as 181), then from 1991 the two routes were reconnected as service 38 (initially running once again direct from Olton to Acocks Green before reverting to the Pierce Avenue route from 1992), before finally service 41 from Birmingham was diverted away from Damsonwood in 1998 to instead serve Dorridge via Knowle. Throughout this period service 151 was retained as a tendered service running Solihull to Hockley Heath but now via Knowle and Purnells Way. Another tendered service was the evening and Sunday service 39 (Olton/Solihull to Dorridge/Hockley Heath via Knowle). Meanwhile Widney Manor Road was served first by minibus services B to Dorridge and W to Knowle via Longdon Road before the latter was discontinued and the former extended over the withdrawn route, then from the early 1990s by service 40 which replaced minibus service B (around this time Caves Buses also operated a service 149 which initially ran from Solihull to Birmingham via Knowle, Dorridge, Widney Manor, Monkspath and Stratford Road before being diverted to Kings Heath then finally becoming a circular service by turning at Robin Hood Island to return to Solihull via Streetsbrook Road, with anticlockwise services running as 148). When service 38 was withdrawn in the mid-late 1990s, firstly service 71 (Sutton - Solihull) was extended to take over the northern half of that service, before service 40 was instead extended to Acocks Green.

In 2001 services 41 and 40 were curtailed at Solihull (with the 40 also renumbered to 30) whilst new circular services 40A and 40C were reminisant of Midland Red's S55.

In January 2009 services 30, 40A/40C and 151 were withdrawn and as if to demonstrate that not every change made as part of bus network reviews is a new idea, the half hourly replacement service S3 was a near reincarnation of the 182 service of the 1980s whilst taking an 'S' (for Solihull) service number as originally used by Midland Red's S55. Additionally, every other S3 plus all evening and weekend services, ran through to Hockley Heath. Dorridge was also served by half hourly service S2 via Widney Manor, a service that commenced at Olton Station and served the full length of St Bernard's Road (with every other service running as S2A or S2C beyond Dorridge to Knowle via Station Road, then the Warwick Road to the county boundary at Chadwick End and hence on to a loop of Balsall Common and Temple Balsall), however the northern half of this service did not gain sufficient patronage so June 2010 again saw Dorridge and Knowle services terminating at Solihull (along with the revival of service 30). In addition National Express West Midlands withdrew from Knowle and Dorridge for the first time with Central Connect/Blue Diamond (Signature) instead taking on services S2 and S3 (followed by service 30 from March 2011).

In June 2013 the S2A and S2C services were withdrawn. In their place service 88 ran hourly direct from Solihull to Chadwick End then on to Balsall Common. Meanwhile service S3 was diverted off Poplar Road to instead serve Purnells Way and Station Road, whilst also becoming a cross Solihull service once again, this time to Shirley and beyond.

Photos
---
 * WMPTE ex Midland Red service 187
 * WMPTE ex Midland Red service 184
 * WMPTE ex BCT service 44
 * WMPTE service 184
 * WMPTE service 37
 * WMPTE service 44 (inbound)
 * WMPTE service 44 (outbound)
 * WMT service 37
 * WMT service 44
 * Your Bus service 37Y
 * WMT YB service C6Y
 * TWM service 37
 * TWM service 37
 * TWM (original) service 37A
 * TYB service 38Y
 * TWM (latter) service 37A
 * TWM 'Your 37' livery
 * NXWM service 37
 * WMPTE service 151
 * WMPTE Dial-a-Bus
 * WMT ex WMPTE service 184
 * WMT services K & B
 * WMT service 38
 * Tendered service 151 (Caves)
 * Tendered service 151 (Peoples Express)
 * TWM service 40A
 * TWM service S3
 * Blue Diamond/Central Connect ('Signature') service S3