National Express West Midlands Birmingham Cross City 66 and 66A

Infobox West Midlands Buses
number=66/66A, Cross-city


operator=National Express West Midlands
garage=Bordesley Depot
vehicle=Mercedes-Benz O405N
pvr=
start=Erdington (66), Sutton Coldfield 66A
via=Birmingham
end=Ladywood
length=
level= 66: 05:20 - 18:00 Monday to Saturday, 66A: 18:30 - 23:15 Monday to Saturday, 09:20 - 23:15 Sundays
frequency=Service 66 runs every 15 minutes during the day with no evening service. Service 66A runs every 30 minutes during the evenings and hourly on Sundays.
time=approx 45-50 minutes for 66, approx 50-60 minutes for 66A
day=Various
night=Ends 23:15

The 66 and 66A are bus routes in the West Midlands, United Kingdom.

Service 66 links Erdington with Ladywood in the daytime, whilst 66A links Sutton Coldfield and Ladywood in the evenings. This service is the ONLY cross-city service in Birmingham.

History

* Summer 2007 - Service 66A is re-routed down Corporation Street in the city centre in the direction of Ladywood

Present

Service 66 currently operates every 15 minutes during the daytime, Monday - Saturday. This service does not run a evening service; As a result, service 66A takes over and provides cover on the route every 30 minutes during the evenings and on Sundays. The 'A' denotes the service going to Sutton Coldfield under contract to Centro, providing cover for National Express West Midlands daytime service 111 (Sutton Coldfield to Erdington). Another deviation to service 66A is that vehicles going towards Ladywood have to go via Corporation Street in the city centre, yet going back to Sutton Coldfield uses the same route as the 66.

Service usually uses Mercedes-Benz O405N with no other types of vehicles used on it due to this type of vehicle being the only one at Bordesley depot. Service 66/A is the only cross-city service in Birmingham seeing as the last cross city service 46/X was withdrawn in 2007 and split into two different routes. A possible reason behind this was due to congestion in Birmingham city centre affecting the punctuality of the service.

For this service only two Mercedes-Benz O405N were branded for the X-City, despite the PVR requiring more vehicles.

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

Current route

;Service 66
*Erdington
*Starcity
*Nechells
*Birmingham
*Five Ways
*Ladywood;Service 66A
*Sutton Coldfield
*Erdington
*Starcity
*Nechells
*Birmingham
*Five Ways
*Ladywood

External links

* [http://www.travelwm.co.uk Travel West Midlands website]
* [http://west-midlands-buses.fpic.co.uk West Midlands Buses (Photographs)]