End of the Birmingham 11 Outer Circle.

[Typhoon]

Regarding the 11 Outer Circle, I recall that when I used to reside in the West Midlands, anti-clockwise journeys displayed 11A and were operated by Acocks Green garage, with the 11C clockwise journeys operated by Perry Barr garage.

Is this still the case today?

Display of 11A and 11C - yes

I was given a mild rebuke on this Forum some time ago making that garage claim. I was corrected, in that both routes were operated by Acocks Green, a quick (online) check seems to indicate that this is still the case.

 

[adrock1976]

Display of 11A and 11C - yes

I was given a mild rebuke on this Forum some time ago making that garage claim. I was corrected, in that both routes were operated by Acocks Green, a quick (online) check seems to indicate that this is still the case.

Many thanks for that.

Did the clockwise 11C transfer to Acocks Green around the time the garage at Hockley closed, as most of the routes transferred to Perry Barr (82/87/88/128/129 went to West Bromwich I believe)?

 

[Typhoon]

Many thanks for that.

Did the clockwise 11C transfer to Acocks Green around the time the garage at Hockley closed, as most of the routes transferred to Perry Barr (82/87/88/128/129 went to West Bromwich I believe)?

Sorry, can't say. Hockley closed in 2005, at the same time as Bordesley Green opened. There would have needed to be a redistribution of routes as you suggest. Hopefully someone else can be more helpful.

 

[WM Bus]

Display of 11A and 11C - yes

They display.
11C Outer Circle.
CLOCKWISE.

and
11A Outer Circle.
ANTI-CLOCKWISE.

Discount Travel Solutions will still run a limited small number of journeys a day 11C (Clockwise service only) full trips of the circle, as they don't seem to be changing their service yet. Normally see KV03ZFW and NK54NUB in use.

A lot of Birmingham routes are radial so, if you are in town, there is no point going half way home as the bus you will have to wait for will have come from town in any case. There are some routes which aren't but they tend to be less frequent so the next one may not arrive within the hour. Also, there are a number of different operators - one main one and several others, including those that compete and those that travel in from adjacent counties - would the scheme involve them?

Some people take 11 and change onto various routes, X1, X2, etc, not everyone travels into the City Centre. Most would have passes and buy NX daysavers. The Birmingham area is predominantly served by NX so most people would only use them already I guess.

 

[WM Bus]

The Bromford Lane 11A side traffic was stretching back from the Bromford Motorway Bridge to Ward End, St Margarets Road junction this evening, this might be part of the reason the 11 has been split i'm suspecting, as the buses get stuck so it must be making the service very unreliable.
And probably why the 11 has been split at Erdington. With the Bromford Bridge, Ward End & Yardley section has its own service.

Needs to be some sort of bus priority measures/bus lanes through the East of the city so services can run reliably I think.

 

[40129]

By single I mean a fare for single journey as quoted in #20. If the fare is kept the same, the bus company loses revenue (as people will only need one single ticket instead of two, one for each leg of the journey. or a day ticket), otherwise they increase the price of a single ticket to compensate, in which case you will have passengers complaining that they are only travelling four stops so why has their fare gone up for a service they don't use. You can't please everybody.

A lot of Birmingham routes are radial so, if you are in town, there is no point going half way home as the bus you will have to wait for will have come from town in any case. There are some routes which aren't but they tend to be less frequent so the next one may not arrive within the hour. Also, there are a number of different operators - one main one and several others, including those that compete and those that travel in from adjacent counties - would the scheme involve them? All of this makes it more difficult to administer. I seem to remember there might have been such a scheme at one time (probably pre-NEx) but, if so, there must be a reason why it isn't about now, and I suggest that is simplicity.

When I lived in Birmingham (early-1990s) there was a "thrufare" ticket priced at 80p* which allowed unlimited journeys within one hour of issue. IIRC it was only available in the daytime off-peak period and only on West Midlands Travel buses.

* The maximum off peak fare was 52p and, I think, a day ticket was £1.25.