National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is a bus operator in the
West Midlands that operates services in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
,
Dudley
Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...
,
Sandwell
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council ...
,
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
,
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...
, and
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...
, as well as limited routes outside of the general area of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
, such as th
X1to
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
, or th
144Ato
Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in th ...
. NXWM is a subsidiary of
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
.
History
On 26 October 1986 as part of the
deregulation of bus services, West Midlands Travel was formed. It was previously the bus operations of the
West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive
The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE) was the public body responsible for public transport in the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom from 1969 until 2016. The organisation operated under the name Centro f ...
, which ceased to be a bus operator, but successor organisation
Transport for West Midlands retains a co-ordinating role, funding infrastructure like bus stations, providing information, paying for socially necessary services, and concessionary fares. West Midlands Travel remained in public ownership under the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority until December 1991, when it was sold in an Employee Share Ownership Plan to its management and employees.
In April 1995 the company merged with
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
, and in September 1996 rebranded as ''Travel West Midlands''. In November 2002 the
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
services were rebranded
Travel Coventry.
The former
Travel Your Bus
Travel Your Bus was a bus operator in the West Midlands. It was a subsidiary of West Midlands Travel.
History
The Your Bus network of bus services started on 30 November 1987 when route 50Y was introduced by Smiths Coaches. This ran every 20 ...
and
Travel Merry Hill subsidiaries have been merged into the main fleet.
In February 2008 as part of a rebranding of all National Express subsidiaries, it was renamed National Express West Midlands. The Coventry service was rebranded as
National Express Coventry. The current red and white is the sixth livery to be used by the company. A seventh livery of crimson and maroon was introduced from 2015 starting with Birmingham routes 9 and 50. Following the announcement that National Express West Midlands will have an entirely electric bus fleet by 2030, a new grey livery, similar to that of the current livery used for platinum vehicles, was introduced for the incoming electric vehicles in 2022.
Previously garages in
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...
,
Dudley
Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...
,
Merry Hill (part of Travel Merry Hill), Harts Hill,
Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles sou ...
,
Hockley
Hockley is a large village and civil parish in Essex in the East of England located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea, or, more specifically, between Rayleigh and Rochford. It came to prominence during the coming of the railway in the 189 ...
,
Cotteridge
Cotteridge is an area of Birmingham, England and part of the Bournville ward. It is about miles south of Birmingham city centre. It has a shopping centre with a mixture of local shops, eateries and national brands.
Church
The Cotteridge Church i ...
,
Selly Oak
Selly Oak is an industrial and residential area in south-west Birmingham, England. The area gives its name to Selly Oak ward and includes the neighbourhoods of: Bournbrook, Selly Park, and Ten Acres. The adjoining wards of Edgbaston and Harbor ...
,
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...
(Cleveland Road),
Washwood Heath
Washwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England. Washwood Heath covers the areas of Birmingham that lie between Nechells, Bordesley Green, Stechfo ...
and
Quinton have been operated. The
Dudley
Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...
garage closed on 28 August 1993 to make way for the
Dudley Southern By-Pass (which opened in 1999) and was replaced, along with the former
Travel Merry Hill depot, by a depot at
Pensnett. In July 2010,
Lea Hall depot closed.
Bordesley Green
Bordesley Green is an inner-city area of Birmingham, England about two miles east of the city centre. It also contains a road of the same name. It is in the Bordesley Green Ward which also covers some of Small Heath.
Heartlands Hospital is lo ...
garage closed in 2022 following the sale of the land in and around the depot for redevelopment.
National Express West Midlands aimed for the whole fleet to be low floor by March 2010.
This was achieved in July that year, with the withdrawal of the final
MCW Metrobus in operation at
Acocks Green
Acocks Green is an area and ward of southeast Birmingham, England. It is named after the Acock family, who built a large house there in 1370. Acocks Green is one of four wards making up Yardley formal district. It is occasionally spelled "Aco ...
garage.
In February 2020, National Express announced its intention to operate a completely zero-emission bus fleet by 2030, pledging it would not buy another diesel-powered bus and only purchase zero-emissions vehicles for its West Midlands, Coventry and
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
operations from 2020 onwards. The company's first nine
Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2018, produced as an alternative to the standard Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC bodywork. The Enviro400 City is ...
battery electric buses began operation on 5 July 2020,
with 20
hydrogen fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...
-powered
Wright StreetDeck Hydroliner buses following in late 2021.
Further hydrogen-powered buses are set to enter the fleet following funding from the
Department for Transport
The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...
. A total of 124 hydrogen buses are due to enter service by 2024, including new
articulated vehicles
An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were someti ...
fo
Sprintcross-city services, initially linking Walsall and Solihull via Birmingham City Centre. The introduction of these new buses will give Birmingham the largest hydrogen bus fleet in Europe.
Network reviews
At the end of April 2008, NXWM in conjunction with
Centro
Centro may refer to:
Places Brazil
*Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
*Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Duq ...
,
Dudley Council
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for Dudley metropolitan borough. It is more commonly known as Dudley Council or Dudley MBC.
The present authority was formed as a result of further reorganisation of local government ...
and other operators, re-routed, re-timed, and renumbered buses in the Dudley, Halesowen and Stourbridge areas.
Following this, a similar process took place in
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...
in January 2009, with one also taking place in October 2009 for South West Birmingham.
In April 2010 a network review for
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
North (
Bloxwich
Bloxwich is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It is located between the towns of Walsall, Cannock, Willenhall and Brownhills.
Early history
Bloxwich has its origins at least as early as ...
,
Brownhills
Brownhills is a town and former administrative centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. A few miles south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is northeast of Walsall, a similar dista ...
&
Aldridge) took place, with another taking place at the end of July 2010 for West
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
.
The first review of 2011 was in March for services in East
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
/North
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...
, followed by a review of services in
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...
and West
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
in July 2011.
In October 2012 there was a network review in
Sandwell
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council ...
, with the final review taking place in June 2013 for
North Birmingham, although this was heavily criticized for the small number of routes that were actually changed and those that were being mostly in the
Pheasey area.
A network review for areas around West
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
,
West Bromwich
West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area ...
,
Oldbury and
Blackheath was sought by passenger views in 2017. These changed in April 2017.
In 2016, a bus service review for east Birmingham, North
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...
and
Chelmsley Wood was made by allowing passengers to give their views on the routes. The services were changed in June 2017.
At the end of 2017, a network review took place for South Birmingham. The public were asked for their opinions on the changes. As of February 2018, the answers received were currently being looked at by the company. As of 22 July 2018 the network had been changed providing a much simpler network, more express buses and more direct links to the Queen Elizabeth hospital and The University of Birmingham.
A review of services in Dudley and Sandwell was launched in early 2019 with a planned introduction date of April 2019. However due to mostly negative feedback, changes were delayed until later in the year. The changes resulted in numerous route number changes with new routes such as service 8 from Wolverhampton to Wollaston Farm via Dudley and Stourbridge.
Garages and travel shops
NXWM operate nine garages:
Acocks Green
Acocks Green is an area and ward of southeast Birmingham, England. It is named after the Acock family, who built a large house there in 1370. Acocks Green is one of four wards making up Yardley formal district. It is occasionally spelled "Aco ...
, Birmingham Central (
Digbeth
Digbeth is an area of Central Birmingham, England. Following the destruction of the Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is undergoing a large redevelopmen ...
),
Perry Barr
Perry Barr is a suburban area in north Birmingham, England. It is also the name of a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Birmingham Perry Barr is also a parliamentary constituency; its Member of Parliament is Khalid Ma ...
,
Yardley Wood
Yardley may refer to:
People Surname
* Bruce Yardley (1947–2019), Australian cricketer
* David Yardley (1929–2014), British legal scholar and public servant
* Doyle Yardley (1913–1946), American military officer
* Eric Yardley (born 1990), ...
,
Pensnett,
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
,
West Bromwich
West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area ...
,
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...
and
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
, with the latter trading as
National Express Coventry. Perry Bar is the newest location, having opened in December 2022. The site, housing infrastructure for charging a fleet of electric buses and a bus driving simulator as well as featuring 150 solar panels, environmentally-friendly heating systems and water recycling for the three bus washes on site, replaces the 90-year-old original site, which was deemed unsuitable for modernisation and housing charging infrastructure.
Prior to the construction of the new Perry Bar garage,
Bordesley Green
Bordesley Green is an inner-city area of Birmingham, England about two miles east of the city centre. It also contains a road of the same name. It is in the Bordesley Green Ward which also covers some of Small Heath.
Heartlands Hospital is lo ...
garage was the newest location, having opened in 2005. Bordesley Green was also the head office for National Express West Midlands, which replaced the original
WMPTE offices in Summer Row, Birmingham. Following the closure of Bordesley Green garage, the head office has relocated to National Express Group head offices in Digbeth.
NXWM previously operated four travel shops located in
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
Pool Meadow bus station
Pool Meadow Bus Station is a bus station in the city of Coventry, England. It is managed by Transport for West Midlands. Local bus and national coach services operated by various companies serve the bus station which has 19 departure stands. ...
,
West Bromwich bus station
West Bromwich bus station is a bus interchange in the town of West Bromwich in the West Midlands of England.
It is managed by Transport for West Midlands. Local bus services operated by various bus companies serve the bus station which has 24 ...
, Birmingham, Corporation Street and
Walsall bus station
St Paul's Bus Station is one of two bus stations located in the town of Walsall in the West Midlands, England. The station is managed by Transport for West Midlands, and is the terminus for a large number of bus routes operated by National Expre ...
. All offices sold all types of Travelcards,
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
coach tickets and assist customers with information and route planning. The travel shop at Wolverhampton bus station is unique in that it is the only travelshop within a bus station not operated by NXWM, instead being operated by
Transport for West Midlands (previously
Centro
Centro may refer to:
Places Brazil
*Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
*Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Duq ...
then
Network West Midlands
Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) is the public body responsible for co-ordinating transport services in the West Midlands metropolitan county in England. It is an executive body of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), with bus franc ...
), a division of the West Midlands Combined Authority. In October 2021, National Express West Midlands announced that they were closing all of their travel shops; this was apparently due to people preferring to buy their tickets online and fewer people visiting their shops.
Anti-social behaviour and ticket inspections
Crime (such as robbery and assault) and vandalism were, for a period an persistent problem on NXWM buses, with travel on the upstairs deck sometimes being particularly challenging. The installation of CCTV on buses was part of the failed attempt to stabilise the level of crime. In the 2009–10 accounting period, 3,341 incidents were recorded on West Midlands buses, including theft, property damage, and drug possession.
National Express West Midlands is part of the Safer Travel Partnership, created in 2005 its members also include Centro (responsible for bus, train and tram transport in the West Midlands) and
West Midlands Police
West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England.
The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, ...
. The partnership is committed to reducing crime and
anti-social behaviour across the West Midlands bus network whilst providing reassurance to the travelling public. The partnership achieves this through a variety of tactics including Gateway Operations. These operations are intelligence led and are based on the established link between those who evade paying their fare and those responsible for crime, disorder and anti social behaviour. The operation involves partners including NX Revenue Inspectors and Police Officers and Police Community Support Officers from the dedicated Safer Travel Police Team. The activities of the partnership have resulted in very significant reductions in recorded crime across the West Midlands bus network.
Most of the cost of 'Safer Travel' is met from public funds, rather than those of NXWM. This contrasts with most commercial enterprises, such as football clubs, which have to pay a substantial amount for policing.
The 'Safer Travel' name is also used for presentations for schools 'educating children about how to respect their buses'.
The 'See Something, Say Something' campaign, where passengers are encouraged to anonymously send information about nuisance behaviour on buses by
text message
Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible comput ...
, has led to 134 arrests and a cut in crime of 15% since April 2010. Crime on the West Midlands bus network has fallen to its lowest level in the last five years.
Platinum
In 2015, National Express West Midlands launched the Platinum brand. The Platinum range of buses is a premium brand which offers passengers extra legroom, high backed seats, next stop announcements (on supported services), free Wi-Fi and USB charging on a select series of routes in the West Midlands. The Platinum brand uses
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro400) is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2014, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro400. The Enviro400 MMC is pr ...
s,
Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2018, produced as an alternative to the standard Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC bodywork. The Enviro400 City is ...
s and
Wright StreetDeck Hydroliners, which are painted in a grey and red colour scheme, and drivers on the service are issued suit-style uniforms.
Deliveries of the first Platinum buses began in 2015, with 58 Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMCs from a larger order of 171 buses delivered with Platinum branding. These were initially deployed on services 900 and 957, since renumbered X1 and X2,
before being rolled out onto services 934, 935, 936, 997 and X51 later in the year. The Platinum brand would be extended out into the
Black Country
The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ...
in 2016 with the delivery of a further 96 Platinum Enviro400 MMCs resulting in Platinum buses being cascaded from Birmingham Central garage to Pensnett for the Merry Hill to Birmingham X10 service, and then would expand to
Harborne
Harborne is an area of south-west Birmingham, England. It is one of the most affluent areas of the Midlands, southwest from Birmingham city centre. It is a Birmingham City Council ward in the formal district and in the parliamentary constitu ...
in December 2017 with the delivery of 38 new buses. The Platinum brand would further expand again in 2018 with the delivery of 72 more Enviro400 MMCs, some of which would be delivered to National Express Coventry for the city's first Platinum services, and the West Midlands buses operating on routes connecting
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...
,
Druids Heath
Druids Heath is a large housing estate in southern Birmingham, England covering the south-west quadrant of the B14 postcode (west of the Maypole). Primarily known for the large council estate in the Brandwood ward of south Birmingham. The estat ...
and
Chelmsley Wood with central Birmingham.
National Express West Midlands' first zero-emissions Enviro400EV buses were built to Platinum specification, and entered service in July 2020 on route 6 from Birmingham to Solihull via
Shirley
Shirley may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Shirley'' (novel), an 1849 novel by Charlotte Brontë
* ''Shirley'' (1922 film), a British silent film
* ''Shirley'' (2020 film), an American film
* ''Shirley'' (album), a 1961 album by Shirley Bas ...
.
The fuel cell electric Wright StreetDeck Hydroliners that followed entered service on route 51 from Birmignham to Wallsall via Perry Bar.
References
External links
*
{{NEXG
Bus transport in the West Midlands (county)
Former PTE bus operators
National Express companies
Transport companies established in 1986
1986 establishments in England