National Express West Midlands routes 50 and 50A

The 50 and 50A are bus routes in the West Midlands, United Kingdom.

Service 50 links Birmingham with Druids Heath and service 50A links Birmingham to Wythall.

History

 * 07th May 2008 - Diamond Bus has a slight decrease in overall frequency, from every 4 to 6 minutes off-peak and every 10 minutes peak. Weekday evening service runs every 24 minutes with the Saturday evening service withdrawn.


 * 27th April 2008 - Diamond Bus withdraw the nights service 50N. This service was run commercially.


 * February 2008 - The National Express West Midlands Enviro 400's make an appearance on the 50/ 50A. These will slowly displace the Dennis Trident 2 Alexander ALX400's found on the route.


 * 02nd September 2007 - Diamond Bus introduce night service 50N. National Express West Midlands increased their off-peak frequency slightly between Maypole and Birmingham - creation of the unofficial '50E'.


 * 15th October 2006 - Sunrise Travel start operating the 50 running every 30+ minutes. They withdrew the service a couple of months later.

Travel Your Bus used to operate on the same route under the heading 50Y before they were taken over by Travel West Midlands, now known as National Express West Midlands and renumbered to 50. Equally of note is that People's Express used to operate a rival service before being taken over by Diamond Bus.

Present
Service 50 currently serves Birmingham, the edges of Sparkbrook, Moseley, Kings Heath, Maypole before ending at Druids Heath however Service 50A does not serve Druids Heath but ends in Wythall. National Express West Midlands operates the service every 2-5 minutes Monday - Saturday, every 12 minutes evenings and 9 minutes on Sundays. Service 50A runs two trips in the evening from Birmingham to Wythall, Monday - Saturday and three trips in the mornings from Wythall. The service is usually run by Enviro 400's, many of which are branded specifically for the 50, however Dennis Trident 2 Alexander ALX400's are know to appear from time to time. Both services are run very frequently.

Service 50 also experiences competition from Diamond Bus who run every 6 minutes during the day, 24 minutes during weekday evenings and 8 minutes on Sundays with later starting and earlier finishing times. There is no longer a Saturday evening service.

National Express West Midlands currently charge a maximum fare of £1.50 on both services.

Future
From the 20th July 2008, Diamond Bus will be further reducing their frequency on service 50 to every 10 minutes or more. The weekday evening service will also be ending early.

Current route

 * Service 50
 * Birmingham
 * Sparkbrook
 * Moseley Interchange
 * Kings Heath Interchange
 * Maypole
 * Druids Heath


 * Service 50A, NXWM
 * Birmingham
 * Sparkbrook
 * Moseley Interchange
 * Kings Heath Interchange
 * Maypole
 * Wythall