West Midlands Soho Road bus corridor
The Soho Road bus corridor is a collection of bus routes operating along Soho Road in Birmingham. The 74 links Birmingham and Dudley and the 79 links Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
History
- Pre-deregulation - Service 79 was created by West Midlands PTE in 1971 by combining several separate routes (principally the jointly-operated Birmingham City Transport/West Bromwich Corporation Transport Service 75 between Birmingham and Wednesbury and Wolverhampton Corporation Transport's Service 90 between Wolverhampton and Wednesbury).
- 3 August 2008 - Cityspeed start operations on the 74.
- 29 June 2008 - Sandwell Travel introduce a morning service between Great Bridge and Birmingham in this direction only.
- 7 May 2008 - Diamond Bus extended their service back to Dudley, from West Bromwich/ Dudley Port.
- 25 November 2007 - Diamond Bus curb their service to run from West Bromwich/ Dudley Port as opposed to running from Dudley. Evening and Sunday service are all withdrawn.
- 22 July 2007 - Diamond Bus increase their frequency introduce a evening service. Sunday service is re-timed.
Present
74 Birmingham - Dudley
The service currently serves Birmingham, Soho Road, West Bromwich, Great Bridge, Dudley Portand then Dudley. National Express West Midlands service 74 runs every 9 minutes during the day, with 74E's (short workings between Birmingham and West Bromwich) running every 9 minutes too. Service is then reduced to every 20 minutes in the evening and 15 minutes Sundays on both 74 and 74E's creating a service every 7–8 minutes between Birmingham and West Bromwich. The service is usually run with Mercedes-Benz O405N however Volvo B7TL Alexander ALX400 and Plaxton President's are known for making an appearance. The service is run commercially.
The major competitor on this service is Diamond Bus who run every 12 minutes during the day, Monday - Saturday. There is no longer a evening and Sunday service run by Diamond Bus with the night service 74N, also ran by Diamond Bus, being withdrawn in 2006.
As of 29 June 2008, Sandwell Travel commenced operations on the 74 between Great Bridge and Birmingham, in this direction only.
79 Birmingham - Wolverhampton
Service 79 is one of two bus routes linking Wolverhampton with Birmingham, along with the Midland Metro and local rail services.
The route primarily follows the A41 road between the two cities, and serves over five different town centres en route.
It is known that whenever the Midland Metro service is terminated (due to various reasons), that National Express West Midlands service 79 accepts tickets and passes between Birmingham and Wolverhampton as well as service 74.
The full length route is operated by only National Express West Midlands, whilst shortened workings are operated by Joe's Travel between Carters Green & Birmingham. National Express West Midlands also operate the 79E, which runs between Wolverhampton and West Bromwich on the last few buses of the night (originally WB used to operate the route).