Local councillors are to take control of thousands of bus stops across the West Midlands – and are promising passengers much more up-to-date timetable information at every single one of them.

The stops are currently owned by bus companies and most of them have little or no information attached to them.  Now public body Centro-PTA is to take over ownership of approximately 7,000 stops in addition to the 5,000 bus shelters it already takes care of.

Each stop will be fitted with an information display to help passengers find their way around the combined bus, rail and Metro services. 

Bus passengers in Walsall town centre and Coventry city centre have already started to see new look ‘Network West Midlands’ bus stops and more, easier-to-read timetable information at interchanges.

“This is a major piece of work to get many more people using public transport,” says Centro-PTA chairman Cllr Gary Clarke.  “It will add to our campaign to cut congestion in the West Midlands and make it so much easier for everyone to get about.  Our goal is for passengers to be offered a truly integrated transport system, with simpler ticketing and easy to use information to make finding your way about the network as easy as possible.”

Eventually Centro-PTA councillors want all bus, train and Metro services to become part of the comprehensive Network West Midlands to rival similar networks in Paris and London.

Under the previous arrangements it was left to bus operators to decide what information was displayed at bus stops – and most locations had no timetable or route information at all.

Now Centro-PTA is undertaking a £7m programme to roll out the new range of improved passenger information over a two year period.  The finished project also involves a recognisable ‘n’ logo to show that services are part of the network.  This is appearing at bus and rail stations, Midland Metro stops and on tickets, signs and vehicles.  The cost of on-going maintenance of the information will be shared amongst operators.

Research showed that currently people didn’t perceive there to be a real network of public transport services, even though there is comprehensive coverage of the West Midlands by a range of bus and train companies.  It also showed that the lack of passenger information meant both users and non-users of public transport often lacked the confidence or knowledge to use more routes.