Black Country routes axed as new National Express bus times revealed
Bus timetable changes in the Black Country are coming into place next week – with three services being dropped.
National Express has revealed updated service timetables which will begin on Sunday.
The 141, from Birmingham to Merry Hill, the 38, from Walsall to Darlaston, 28, from Wolverhampton to Willenhall, and the X56, from Birmingham to Brownhills, will cease.
But a new service, the X10 from Merry Hill to Birmingham, will replace the 141 and other services will be extended.
A new 37 service will replace the 40 between Willenhall and Walsall, while the 39 will have its timetable changed to serve Walsall Manor Hospital.
The 89 service will change to serve Bentley Bridge Retail Park, providing direct links from Wolverhampton, Walsall and Bloxwich.
The 75 service from Wednesbury to Birmingham will be extended to cover Darlaston, providing cover for the dropped 38 service.
The new X10 service will run every 20 minutes on a weekday and during Saturday daytime.
Other changes include more buses being introduced for the 4 service from Blackheath to Walsall and the 41 service from Willenhall to Walsall.
More buses will also be added to the X51 Walsall to Birmingham service.
National Express ran a consultation ahead of the changes.
On dropping the 28 service, the bus operator said: We had around 20 responses on this proposal. Understandably most of these didn't want the 28 to change.
"We did look at the proposals again but decided that the low usage of the 28 meant that the original proposal could not be changed, although we have changed the routes of the 41 and 69 at New Invention to make changing buses easier."
And on replacing the 141 service with the X10, the company said: "Most people were in favour of changing the service to a faster limited stop service.
"We will therefore reduce the number of stops as proposed."
The bus company also asked people in the consultation if they wanted the 10 and 10A service to serve Hatherton Road in Walsall town centre and miss the stop on Lichfield Street.
But the company said: "Very few people expressed a view on this and of those that did the response was mixed. At this stage we've decided not to change the route. The timetable will change to improve timekeeping during afternoon peak hours."
The changes come two months after another raft of amendments by the company to its timetables.
To see the full changes to bus services visit nxbus.co.uk/west-midlands/information.
