National Express West Midlands route 900

Infobox West Midlands Buses
number=900


operator=National Express West Midlands
garage=Birmingham Central
vehicle=Alexander ALX400
pvr=9
start=Birmingham, Moor Street Queensway
via=Yardley
Sheldon
Birmingham Airport
Meriden
end=Coventry, (Pool Meadow)
length=22 miles
level=Daily
frequency=every 30 mins, every 15 minutes at peak times between Birmingham and Birmingham Airport.
time=up to 83 minutes
day=05:00 - 01:00 Mon - Sat
06:00 - 01:00 Sunday
night=No night service
N.B - Service 58 (see official timetable) also operates between Birmingham & Birmingham Airport, it follows similar routing but serves all stops, stops in Small Heath & has a longer journey time.

National Express West Midlands route 900 is a bus route running between Birmingham and Coventry.

History of route

Originally operated by Midland Red as service number 159, the service transferred to WMPTE on 3 December 1973. On 26 January 1986 the service was extended 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 back 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 (The Birmingham to Hasbury section became routes 19 & 19S which have since been withdrawn on 27 Apr 2008).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. Along with the withdrawal of the Hasbury section and the extended time on the 900 service, it has not shown good interest in the people who used them. The latest alteration was to reduce it to every 30 minutes during the daytimes of Monday - Saturday. A 15 minute Monday - Friday peak time frequency. Finally the extension from Sheldon of service 58 during Monday - Saturday daytime was to fill the 30 minute gap between Birmingham Airport and Birmingham City Centre, in effect still providing 4 buses per hour during the off peak. To add to this: The Timesaver brand has also been phased out.
National Express West Midlands currently has a maximum single fare of £1.50 on the route.

Current route

*Birmingham, Moor Street Queensway.
*Digbeth
*Small Heath Highway (non-stop)
*Yardley, Swan Centre
*Sheldon, Wheatsheaf
*Elmdon
*Birmingham International Railway Station
*Birmingham Airport
*Stonebridge
*Meriden
*Millisons Wood
*A45, Birmingham Road
*Parkhill Drive Turning Circle
*Allesley Village, Birmingham Road
*Holyhead Road (A4114)
*Coventry, Pool Meadow Bus Station

When necessary, service 900 is sometimes diverted down the Coventry Road, Small Heath following the route taken by services 57, 57A, 58 and 60. However, unlike these services it does not stop whilst on this diversion. This measure is only implemented in emergency situations.

There is proposals for re-numbering this route X58. This could cause confusion as the route operates via Small Heath Highway and continues from Birmingham Airport to Coventry. Another possibility for the route is for it to be split into two routes (Birmingham - Birmingham Airport and Coventry - Birmingham Airport).

External links

* [http://www.travelwm.co.uk/news/downloads/B900_10Feb08.pdf Official Timetable]
* [http://www.travelwm.co.uk Travel West Midlands website]
* [http://west-midlands-buses.fpic.co.uk West Midlands Buses (Photographs)]