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Birmingham's only 24hr Bus
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Tomonthetrain
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Financed by the Airport as a trial
MK Tom
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I'm sure Birmingham must have several routes that run through the night? We have one here in MK... London has several dozen...
winston270twm
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Nope, the only have the one, and that was only recently introduced with support from Birmingham Airport to provide a bus service through the night for shift workers at the airport.
Birmingham used to have a few night routes from Broad Street, IIRC they ran hourly or thereabouts until about half 3. They were short lived; I moved to Birmingham Autumn 2008 and there was no trace of them then.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/late-night-buses-in-broad-street-63168
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/late-night-buses-in-broad-street-63168
dvboy
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It's the only one in the West Midlands, it does get some use from local people as well as airport users, particularly on weekends, but without the airport funding, it wouldn't run.
tbone
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Indigo and Nottingham skylink are the only commercial 24 hour bus routes in the East Midlands, Skylink Leicester Derby is the only other I can think of, but that is subsidised I believe.
WillPS
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There's also the N4 - which leaves only a 3 hour gap overnight...
Birmingham's got quite a few overnight coaches, some with other local stops (Wolverhampton/Luton etc).
London has over a hundred night buses plus a few with a gap of only a few hours overnight.
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It is rather surprising that Birmingham only has one night bus, and that only started recently. The city it mocks in the second city rivalry has a number of commercial night buses at the weekend, a few every night, and also some subsidised ones as well. Even relatively tiny Brighton does better with two 24 hour routes and many other night buses. Doesn't Birmingham have students?
If that's the only early morning bus for airport staff on Sunday morning for a 0500 shift start then that's pretty weak as well. Gatwick has several routes starting before 0400 on Sunday with one of them 24 hours a day.
If that's the only early morning bus for airport staff on Sunday morning for a 0500 shift start then that's pretty weak as well. Gatwick has several routes starting before 0400 on Sunday with one of them 24 hours a day.
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dvboy
Established Member
Since when was Luton local to Birmingham?
You can't really compare the coach service. While there are indeed some coaches running from Birmingham to Wolverhampton and vice versa, you can hardly turn up and go. #
They are significantly more expensive than the buses and trains are in the day, and without booking a seat in advance I wouldn't rely on there being one available as I've been on them in the past and they've mostly been fully booked.
They're also no good after a night out - NX are unlikely to carry you if they think you're drunk (the other passengers might not be best pleased either especially if they've been trying to sleep since London or one of its airports).
David Goddard
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This surprises me. I would have thought that the Birmingham 11a/11c would have enough overnight demand for a start, and maybe the 900 too.
winston270twm
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Even when there were N routes which ran until around 3am from Birmingham City Centre none of those routes featured
From memory it think there were the following night routes operated by WMT/MRW/Pete's Travel & Diamond Bus 5N, 7N, 9N, 14N, 16N, 22N, 37N, 50N, 51N, 63N, 74N, 104N, 916N generally on a Fri/Sat night only
WMT in Wolverhampton trialed around 5 night routes in partnership with the local night clubs who provided bouncers on board, they were pretty well used but they didn't survive either
MCR247
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Its not 24hrs anyway since it doesn't run on Sundays
anthony263
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Bristol currently has a few nightbus routes as well as the 75/76 which runs hourly overnight.
Cardiff had a few but the majority were not well used apart from on friday and Saturday nights although at least two routes to Pontprennau & St Mellons were well used as the night buses served some places such as the rover way retail park.
There is service 10 to Wentloog which is run by new adventure which is pretty eractic as it tends to operate in line with shift times at some of the depots in Wentloog.
Swansea I think could justify at least a nightbus service to Mumbles & Morriston and perhaps up to Ravenhill (Although I wouldnt go to Blaen-Y-Maes after 19:00)
Cardiff had a few but the majority were not well used apart from on friday and Saturday nights although at least two routes to Pontprennau & St Mellons were well used as the night buses served some places such as the rover way retail park.
There is service 10 to Wentloog which is run by new adventure which is pretty eractic as it tends to operate in line with shift times at some of the depots in Wentloog.
Swansea I think could justify at least a nightbus service to Mumbles & Morriston and perhaps up to Ravenhill (Although I wouldnt go to Blaen-Y-Maes after 19:00)
MK Tom
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My thoughts exactly. Birmingham has Aston uni, Birmingham Uni, City Uni... those three at least. Do some of the rail lines keep running into the early morning perhaps, catering for these markets?
Here in MK we have a completely 24 hour service in the form of the 5/5A/N5. Oxford has a number of night routes and Aylesbury's 280 runs into the mid-morning on Friday and Saturday nights. For a city the size of Birmingham, that really punches in the continental league, it's astonishing it only has this.
Well Aston University is in the city centre, as is part of BCU. Birmingham Uni accommodation is not that much of a walk from the top of Broad Street.
I don't actually think nightbuses, or indeed any form of low-frequency transport (which by and large most nightbus routes (even many within London) are) service caters well for the student markets, as people typically leave a discotheque when they get thrown out, it closes, or get fed up. And at 3 in the morning the last thing on people's minds is going to be thinking "hmm, I wonder where the bus goes from" let alone being happy to wait an age for a service with only an hourly frequency!
One other thing to add is that private hire Taxis in Birmingham are fairly reasonably priced; and with a large group of you it would probably come in at a similar price to a nightbus given the premium fares charged in some locations!
Rich McLean
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Most people in Birmingham that I know of prefer to catch a taxi, rather than use a bus when coming back from a night out.
This is also the same where I live in Carterton/Witney. I once suggested using the NS2 and got shouted down in favour of a taxi, but on nights out, people tend to prefer taxi's over a bus, cost is no object
This is also the same where I live in Carterton/Witney. I once suggested using the NS2 and got shouted down in favour of a taxi, but on nights out, people tend to prefer taxi's over a bus, cost is no object
I was the one who mentioned students, but I don't think they are the be all and end all regarding night buses. Students certainly make a big difference. The most frequent night buses in Manchester are the ones going to the student areas and one of the 24 hour routes in Brighton is the one to the universities.
But Manchester route 192 isn't really a student route yet has night buses every 15 minutes on Friday morning and at least every 10 minutes on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Night buses on the 17 and 135 routes run every 30 minutes, commercially, on Saturday and Sunday morning. Not many students on those routes.
But Manchester route 192 isn't really a student route yet has night buses every 15 minutes on Friday morning and at least every 10 minutes on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Night buses on the 17 and 135 routes run every 30 minutes, commercially, on Saturday and Sunday morning. Not many students on those routes.
Depends what you mean by short lived. I used night buses in Birmingham frequently during a 20+ year period from 1970 to the early 90s.
I was more talking about in the modern era.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/late-night-buses-in-broad-street-63168 says that the services only lasted 8 Months before they were axed.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/late-night-buses-in-broad-street-63168 says that the services only lasted 8 Months before they were axed.
Daz28
Member
The London Night Buses are hardly low-frequency. With a couple of exceptions they are all half-hourly or better. Many are better than daytime Sunday services, with some routes every 4 minutes at weekends!
I am amazed at how much the London Night bus service has improved in the last five years.
What I said needs to be read in context with the rest of that paragraph. In any case, I said "many," not "all." Whilst there are a number of routes with a very good frequency, a not-insignificant number of night buses and 24 Hr routes operate halfhourly (and some less frequent during the week), which is well within the official definition of 'low frequency route' used by TfL. The fact is, I doubt Birmingham could sustain the operation of a good frequency night-bus route to satisfy the demands of students.
Smethwickian
Member
Some funding for the 97's 24-hour operation is also being contributed by the National Exhibition Centre, according to the original publicity when launched, presumably as it, too, has workers arriving/leaving very late at night and early in the morning.
Apologies, for Luton, read Coventy. I was tired.
I've regularly caught NX services after a night out. I've had no problem after a few drinks - I suspect it depends if you're lairy or look ill.
Services to Coventry are not as good as they used to be but the 0001 service is £3.80.
Prices of 7 or 8 pounds to Wolverhampton may not compare well with day services but probably do with taxis unless there's a big group of you.
I got used to planning my nights out carefully to enable me to go out every Friday and Saturday when I was on a very low wage - including trips to other parts of the country to see bands, coming back after the band or a later club night. I know some people just burn whatever money they have.
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Which seems odd given how many night buses there are in Nottingham and Derby - though these were helped by a time when taxis were scarce and you could be longer queuing for one of those than just randomly going to a bus stop and waiting for a bus on a Friday or Saturday night.
Though half-hourly is low frequency by London bus definitions, many people would regard that as the minimum standard for catching a bus when they didn't know the times it ran. In Central London many nights parallel one another so it's possible to have a much higher effective frequency (I was going from St Pauls to Stratford around 0300 last Thursday night - there were 5 buses due in the 20 minutes after I arrived).
And of course London no longer has the premium night fares that used to put me off them in the 90s.
dvboy
Established Member
11a/c doesn't go into the city centre, which is where the majority of late night journeys would start/end.
The 97a effectively does what the 900 does as far as the airport, albeit a less direct route. Perhaps the airport has a large number of people living on the 97a route. There wouldn't be the demand for it through to Coventry.
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