CHANGES to bus routes around Kingshurst and Chelmsley Wood are set to come into force next month.
Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), and National Express West Midlands have made changes to services.
The bus service providers say there will be new links for Cooks Lane, Chelmsley Road, Over Green Drive, Gilson Way and Marston Drive when the changes come into force on September 1.
Some of the changes include extending the 58 service from its existing terminal at the Swan Island in Yardley to Fordbridge.
The X12 will also be re-routed to serve Cooks Lane, restoring a direct link to Birmingham.
The 99 service will be withdrawn.
The move comes after residents asking the bus companies to look at ways of improving services in their area, according to TfWM.
A TfWM spokesman said: “We have listened carefully to their views and by working alongside National Express West Midlands we are pleased to be able to make some significant improvements.
“We will continue to monitor the situation in the months ahead and would encourage people to take advantage of these new services so they are well used.”
Following a public meeting in Kingshurt hosted by Councillor David Cole Meriden MP Dame Caroline Spelman said: “My constituency straddles the Meriden gap, which brings significant challenges in providing public transport.
“Bus services in the rural parts of my constituency are a struggle to maintain as they are not well used.
“One bus operator told me each of their buses between villages averaged 1.5 passengers. Therefore these rural services have to be subsidised.
“In built up areas the buses are used more extensively, but we suffer from being at the end of the line of route.
“So as buses cross the West Midlands, or work their way out of the city centres, they often accumulate delays.
“At a packed public meeting in Kingshurst, some customers complained of waiting up to an hour and forty minutes for their bus. Some buses just sail by with “Not in Service” posted across the windscreen because the driver has to comply with the legal limit of the number of hours worked.
“David Cole convened this meeting and, after a long campaign, a number of routes will be amended to improve the service. Despite this, bus transport in rural areas remains a challenging issue.”
For more visit www.nxbus.co.uk/west-midlands
