Letters To Omnibus
To The End Of The World
May I, a retired full-time professional busman, come back to John Berry (a retired full-time professional driver) with an answer to his query in "Omnibus" 152 on the 201 to Worlds End? I am indebted to my friend Peter Jaques of the Birmingham Transport Historical Group for the following information.
Service 200 between Smethwick and Warley (Pottery Road) was started in the 1930s by Bearwood Garage. Whether from the start or later some journeys (probably hourly) were extended to Stanley Road where initially they turned at the junction of Forest Road. The operation of the route was transferred to Oldbury Garage when it was opened in 1937. From 30 June 1951 these extended journeys were allocated their own service number 201.
From 7 November 1953 the 201 was extended across Hagley Road West via Clive Road and Worlds End Lane to its junction with Higgins Lane. This would have taken many months of negotiation with B.C.T. as this extension was within the city boundary, and the "1914 Agreement" was still very much alive. Indeed along the extension all the bus stops were standard B.C.T. cast-metal columns bearing the usual large disc sign, but worded for Midland Red.
From 6 October 1956 the Worlds End terminus was moved a few yards just round the corner into Faraday Avenue (at that time the traffic officer responsible for that move would have been me, but for the life of me I can't remember doing it!).
At some time in the late 1960s staff shortages at Oldbury Garage were so acute that some work had to be transferred away. Because geographically the 200/201 (and by then the 203 to the new Brandhall Estate) were more conveniently placed for Bearwood Garage, the move was made there. It was not until Bearwood was closed on the occasion of the WMPTE takeover in December 1973 that the work went back to Oldbury again.
A couple of personal memories, if I may. Firstly I remember as a small child just before the War being taken by mom to visit her sister who had just moved to one of the new houses behind the "Holly Bush". We rode on a Midland Red single-decker on the 200 to Stanley Road and walked the rest. What I do remember, though, was the fact that the conductor wrote the ticket out on a big black box and flipped a lever to issue it. It is recorded that Oldbury was one of several garages to have tried the Automaticket system from 1937 until the experiment was withdrawn around October 1939.
Secondly, because I did most of my bus driving from Bearwood (only later did I drive from Dudley Garage), I would naturally have done many stints on the 201 etc. As it was routed past my house, my conductor would wonder why I sometimes chose to stop in Stanley Road, nowhere near a bus stop. His curiosity was satisfied when two small girls would trot down the driveway toting a large jug and two mugs!
It is a salutary reflection on how traffic patterns have changed to compare the 201 with a double-decker every half-hour during the day, and hourly till 11 pm evenings and Sundays, with the present Centro-supported 630 run by Pete's Travel, operated by little Darts (or an occasional Vario) just five times a day in each direction between 10 and 3 o'clock on Monday to Saturday, more often than not with a very lonely driver.
Stan Letts
Oldbury.
GHA323 is still going…
Hi. Saw on your site about the former BMMO bus now operating in Malta. Well, just to let you know that I'm writing this from an internet cafe in Paceville and that I travelled on the vehicle on 9 July and then I saw it in service yesterday, 14 July, on the 62 - the main route from Valletta to Paceville!
Hope you find this interesting.
Mike ???
via e-mail
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