• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Birmingham buses

mw0njm. said:

Birmingham Corporation Transport The Buses 1913-1969 - Local Transport History

On the 19th July 1913, Birmingham Corporation exercised its limited powers under the Birmingham Corporation Act of 1903 (which provided for the running of omnibuses only during the construction or repair of, or as an extension to, a tramway route) to operate motorbuses as an extension to the...
petergould.co.uk petergould.co.uk
Click to expand...
The oldest bus at Wythall Museum is this Tilling Stevens of 1913, one of the 30 taken over by the corporation from the Midland Red company shown as now alongside a colourised picture of it as new.

O 9926 26 Harborne Colour copy.jpg

26 O 9926 Wythall.jpg
 
Bob Davis said:
I have just acqùired thè late David Harvey's last booķ?,Birmingham s Crossley Buses, although a lot of the photos are dark,a lot are of interest, because of the background behind the buses, of Birmingham in the fifties and sixties. I questioned whether it is his last book, because in mid 2021, Amazon were advertising this for March and a similar title for Daimler for April. If you liked the Crossley, we'll worth looking at.
Bob
Click to expand...
The Daimler book was apparently not completed and the project is on hold. That came from Amberley publishing.
Bob
 
I loved the old buses, jumping off the platform at the back before it stopped was the best part of the journey, plus having
a crafty after school fag upstairs on the way home. I don't ever remember riding on a Midland Red bus though, weren't
they for the longer routes out of town?
 
RRJ said:
I don't ever remember riding on a Midland Red bus though, weren't
they for the longer routes out of town?
Click to expand...
Mainly, yes. They had to charge a higher 'protective' fare for journeys wholly within the city boundary, some of which was forwarded to the corporation in lieu of lost revenue as a result of a famous agreement in 1914 between the Corporation and Midland Red. For details, refer to Post https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...ham-corporation-bus-history.13584/#post-98540 "1914 - Birmingham Corporation takes over Midland Red city routes"
 
Lloyd said:
Mainly, yes. They had to charge a higher 'protective' fare for journeys wholly within the city boundary, some of which was forwarded to the corporation in lieu of lost revenue as a result of a famous agreement in 1914 between the Corporation and Midland Red. For details, refer to Post https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...ham-corporation-bus-history.13584/#post-98540 "1914 - Birmingham Corporation takes over Midland Red city routes"
Click to expand...
Thanks for that confirmation Lloyd. I knew nothing of the 'agreement' with the Corporation.
 
RRJ said:
Thanks for that confirmation Lloyd. I knew nothing of the 'agreement' with the Corporation.
Click to expand...
In 1960's lived on A41 Warwick Rd. On occasions if we were in a hurry to get into Brum and feeling affluent we would "request" the Solihull midland red to pick us up. Often however the drivers would fail to stop and we would need to use the regular BCT bus.
 
Last edited:
The nearest bus route to my home was Midland Red 179 but was an hourly service, so inconvenient. Stratford Road services were farther away - 150/154/181. Consequently we crossed the Birmingham boundary and caught the famous 29A at Baldwins Lane which had a regular service.
 
Last edited:
devonjim said:
In 1960's lived on A41 Warwick Rd. On occasions if we were in a hurry to get into Brum and feeling affluent we would "request" the Solihull midland red to pick us up. Often however the drivers would fail to stop and we would need to use the regular BCT bus.
Click to expand...
When I joined the Midland Red as a driver in 1973, I was told by some of the older conductors, on inward bound services "Don't stop for 'Corpo' passengers inside the boundary". It was their laziness not to have to go round the bus again collecting fares. I didn't agree to this, and often would pick them up if hands went out in request, my excuse being that I didn't want to be hauled up 'in front of the gaffer' if a letter of complaint came in, quoting the registration of the bus I was driving at the time. It wasn't long before the conductors went, replaced by 'one man operated' buses to save the extra wage.
 
In 1957 when I became a driver we were told never to pick-up inside the city boundary as it contravened licensing regulations and disiplinary action would follow. In my time things were very strict, I still have some disiplinary 'hearing' notes for 'running early', and uniform 'misdemenours'. Memories of walking along Robin Hood Lane to the Island for the 5am Staff pick-up for Digbeth still linger . . . . . ! DD37463
 
Comments , both here and in the transport press, about the enormous cost of restoring 486. Lloyd, modest as he is, outlines some of the obsticles without mentioning the pivotal part he played in both the original rescue of this bus and subsequent hands-on participation in its magnificent restoration. Just look at the mammoth task confronting all those involved and the end result!Then & NOW (1).jpg
 
Last edited:
devonjim said:
If such "clean" technology is available now. Why are they still persisting with the Digbeth metro extension with the utter chaos it is currently creating during it's construction and the metro will only ever be able to travel where tracks have been laid. The metro technology seems to me to be a quarter of century out of date. Am I so wrong?
Click to expand...
No, you aren't. The problem is, public transport is 'run' by politicians now, who have no understanding of its requirements. 'Clean' buses, hydrogen, electric (trolleybus, rechargeable battery or even bi-mode where engines are only run out of urban areas) have long been available technologies, but without commitment from operators to fund design and purchase, no development will be made. 'Metro' (Tram to those of us who remember them) is a continental thing, so got EU funding. That isn't there now, but will 'those in power' see the way to changing their minds? No, because that would mean saying they were wrong in the first place. The only way to succesfully promote public transport is to make it free (i.e. funded from taxation - nothing is 'free'!) which is about the only incentive to get people out of their cars and onto the bus. And for those who will wail "It can't be done!" - read this: https://www.mobiliteit.lu/en/tickets/free-transport/
 
devonjim said:
If such "clean" technology is available now. Why are they still persisting with the Digbeth metro extension with the utter chaos it is currently creating during it's construction and the metro will only ever be able to travel where tracks have been laid. The metro technology seems to me to be a quarter of century out of date. Am I so wrong?
Click to expand...
No…Yor are correc!
Many large engined vehicles are being converted to green hydrogen particularly in Austrian railways et Al.
 
The hydrogen technology is still very experimental, and when the Digbeth extension was planned not in existence. Although the defence industry seems to be able to get vast amounts of money for new ideas which do not turn out, it is not practicable for public authorities (or should not be) to do the same . I might suggest one other advantage . With railed vehicles there is the eventual possibility of fully automated control , which would largely solve labour problems (including strikes) . Indeed that is practiced on the Docklands light railway, although I gather at present a driver has to actually be there also in case of problems. I do not personally believe that this would be possible in the near future for individual buses
 
Quite a proportion of bus revenues must come from pensioners passes. Quite a proportion of bus revenues must come from our ancient codgers passes. Of course they are not useable in early rush times., which probably must cover a lot of the passenger's journeys
 
mikejee said:
Quite a proportion of bus revenues must come from pensioners passes. Quite a proportion of bus revenues must come from our ancient codgers passes. Of course they are not useable in early rush times., which probably must cover a lot of the passenger's journeys
Click to expand...
The pensioner pass is of little use if there are no buses. The only way to make buses viable in rural areas is to subsidise them. That used to be achieved by cross subsidy from well used routes. Cross subsidy was stopped in order to deliver contracted out services and destroy local authority control.
 
mikejee said:
Quite a proportion of bus revenues must come from pensioners passes. Quite a proportion of bus revenues must come from our ancient codgers passes. Of course they are not useable in early rush times., which probably must cover a lot of the passenger's journeys
Click to expand...
Pensioners passes can be used at anytime, however, when used "out of hours" a £1 charge is made for any journey. John.
 
My mom tried to get tokens for me, too. They said my journey was not ten miles ( I was traveling from Ash Road, Saltley to Hodge Hill Grammar) so, my Uncle took the journey with me and measured the miles in his car, it was just over ten miles. So, my Uncle or Mom, can’t remember, queried this and they said it was just the length of the bus journey not the whole journey.
castalla said:
My mom tried to get tokens for me to go from St Wilfreds Hodge Hill to St Wilfred Martineau 3 buses 56 Castle Brom to Fox then the 11 then the 14 , but she could not get them as journey was not long enough as they calculated as the Crow flys, so had to go to Hodge Hill Comp, and to this day never seen or met any of my class mates since i left 52 years ago
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top