Arriva Midlands route 9 and National Express West Midlands route 333

The Arriva Midlands route 9 and National Express West Midlands route 333 are bus routes in the West Midlands, United Kingdom.

Current

The 333 is one of two Walsall bus routes linking the town with Wolverhampton. It is considered the long route between the two major areas, compared to service 529, as it travels through Pleck, Darlaston, Bentley, Lodge Farm, Willenhall and Portobello on route. Despite this, it is only 13 minutes longer in timetabled journey times to service 529, which is regarded the quickest link. An additional method of transport between the two areas is by London Midland train, this option takes just 15 minutes, but is due to be withdrawn in December 2008.

The number 9 is virtually a shortened working of the 333 up until the Lodge Farm estate, where it loops the estate and returns back to Walsall.

The only difference between the 9 & the 333 is that the 333 does a little one minute loop around local estate roads in Bentley.

During evenings only the 333 operates at an hourly frequency up until midnight. On a Sunday the first three hourly 333's terminate at Lodge Farm (in effect making them number 9's). It is only in the afternoon that journeys continue all the way to Wolverhampton and continue to do so until midnight. Many early morning weekday journeys also terminate at Lodge Farm.

Fleet

The 9 has no set allocation of buses, but more often than not is operated using Dennis Darts. The 333 uses a mixture of Volvo B6LEs with Wright Crusader bodywork, and Volvo B10Ls with Wright Liberator bodywork. Occasionally a Leyland Lynx will appear on the route.

Terminating Point

Many residents of the Lodge Farm estate have complained that service 9 shows its destination as Bentley when it continues further into the Lodge Farm estate. National Express West Midlands services 331, 332 & 333 all showed Lodge Farm as the terminus when they terminated in the same place. Many leaflets about the route do now state the terminating point as Lodge Farm.

History/Incidents

* 2006 - A2Z Travel start operating the Saturday service 9, replacing Chase Bus Services.
* "Up until" April 2007 - Chase Bus Services of Cannock operated the 9 using Leyland National buses. However in April 2007 they were taken over by Arriva Midlands who took over the route.
* May 2007 - A2Z Travel stop operating the Saturday service 9, being replaced by Arriva Midlands.
* November 2007 - National Express West Midlands alter the route of service 333. The route now misses out the Bentley Road North, Bentley Road South & Queen Elizabeth Avenue area, instead going via Owen Road, Bilston Lane and Wolverhampton Road West to serve a recently opened Tesco supermarket. Additionally the route is altered to miss out the Deans Road area of Wolverhampton instead following the main Willenhall Road.
* July 2008 - Following complaints from people in both the Bentley and Deans Road areas National Express West Midlands revert the route to nearly its original route, despite the fact the new areas served were popular. The minor change is that the route now does a somewhat pointless loop from the bottom of Attlee Road along Churchill Road, Morris Avenue and Slim Road back to Churchill Road opposite Attlee Road. This loop takes no more than a minute.
* "Late" July 2008 - Angry residents in the Slim Road area form a human chain in the road blocking a 333 bus, claiming the narrow roads in the area are not suitable for buses and their children can no longer play in the street. Residents give a lift back home to an elderly lady on the bus, whilst other passengers choose to walk. As of September 2008 the route has not been changed.

Routes

9
*Walsall
*Pleck
*Darlaston
*Bentley
*Lodge Farm

333
*Walsall
*Pleck
*Darlaston
*Bentley
*Lodge Farm
*Willenhall
*Portobello
*Wolverhampton

External links

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