Councillors have stepped in to provide a transport lifeline for people in Dudley and Sandwell after a bus company pulled the plug on local services with just a few days notice.

West Bromwich-based People’s Express announced this week it was axing services on the 74a route between Dudley and Great Bridge and its daytime services between Stourbridge and Kingswinford (route 267).  The distinctive yellow buses will also stop running on most daytime journeys on service 445 between Quinton and Smethwick from Monday (26 Sept).

Centro, the public transport body funded by local councils, is hastily organising replacement buses.  It already subsidises more than 200 bus services in the West Midlands at times where there are gaps in the commercial network.  These are usually at off-peak times or on routes not considered profitable enough for private bus companies.

“We think that everybody in the West Midlands should have reasonable access to public transport, so where there are gaps we have to use public money to provide a more complete network,” says Cllr Gary Clarke, chairman of the Passenger Transport Authority, which sets policy for Centro.

The changes threatened to leave some people in Mount Pleasant (Kingswinford), Marine Crescent (Wordsley) and Morrison Road (Great Bridge) stranded without a bus service at certain times of the day.

Bus operators normally have to give the Traffic Commissioner, a Government agency, 56 days notice before making changes to routes or timetables.  In this case, People’s Express gave only a few days warning.

“This means there could be some disruption to passengers while we organise a replacement service, but we are doing all we can at such short notice,” adds Cllr Clarke.  “I am pleased to say we have already organised cover for most of the routes.”

Link:  bus companies