Birmingham bus route 50 operates in Birmingham, England. It operates from

Central Birmingham Birmingham City Centre, also known as Central Birmingham and often known locally as town, is the central business district of Birmingham, England. Following the removal of the Inner Ring Road, the city centre is now defined as being the area w ...

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 estate ...

via Moseley, Kings Heath and Maypole along Alcester Road, it is one of the busiest bus routes in Europe. Route 50 was introduced in 1949 and is currently served by

National Express West Midlands National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is a bus operator in the West Midlands that operates services in Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and Solihull, as well as limited routes outside of the general area of Birmingham, su ...

and

Diamond West Midlands Diamond Bus Ltd.,Companies House extract company no 2531054

History

Route 50 was introduced by

Birmingham City Transport Birmingham City Transport was the local authority-owned undertaking that provided road-based public transport in Birmingham, England, between 1899 and 1969. It was locally known as the Corporation Buses. Initially, it was called Birmingham Cor ...

between the City Centre and

Maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at ...

in October 1949 to replace a withdrawn tram route. It was supplemented by route 49 which ran as far as

Moseley Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...

Kings Heath Kings Heath (historically, and still occasionally King's Heath) is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, four miles south of the city centre. Historically in Worcestershire, it is the next suburb south from Moseley on the A435, Alcester road. ...

(via Leopold Street rather than Bradford Street) and route 48 which ran Gooch Street, Clevedon Road and Salisbury Road to Moseley then Alcester Road to the Maypole. The latter was extended to the new

estate in July 1966. Route 49 ceased in May 1975 when

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 ...

linked it to route 35, the new service adopting the latter number whilst being also further extended to Pool Farm (the 35 previously ran Kings Heath to Brandwood only). In the 1980s, route 48 was also withdrawn with route 35 instead covering the Gooch St / Salisbury Rd section and route 50 extended to Druids Heath. Following

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

Your Bus additionally operated on the route numbered 50Y before they were taken over by the successor to WMPTE operations,

West Midlands Travel National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is a bus operator in the West Midlands that operates services in Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and Solihull, as well as limited routes outside of the general area of Birmingham, s ...

in 1993 who continued to run 50Y services until their Travel Your Bus subsidiary until as late as 2001. In 1998, route 50 became the first Travel West Midlands route to be operated using low-floor double-deck buses, however the first low-floor double-deck journey in the United Kingdom was operated a few hours prior by Abus. The

Optare Spectra The Optare Spectra was a double-decker bus body built on the VDL DB250, DAF (now VDL) DB250 chassis between 1991 and 2006. The vehicle was developed as a joint project between Optare and VDL Bus Chassis, DAF; it was based on the designs of th ...

buses bought specifically for the route were replaced by

Alexander ALX400 The Alexander ALX400 (later known as the TransBus ALX400 and the Alexander Dennis ALX400) was a 2-axle double-decker bus body built by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders (later by TransBus International/Alexander Dennis). It was one of the ALX-seri ...

bodied Volvo B7TLs in February 2001. It celebrated its 50th anniversary later in the same year. People's Express operated a rival service before being taken over by Diamond Bus; Diamond continue to operate on the route. In October 2006, Sunrise Travel commenced operating services on route 50, but withdrew the service a couple of months later. The Green Bus also competed on the route in 2013 and 2014, but withdrew their service on the route in December 2014.

commenced operating a 24-hour service on the route on 20 July 2014. New

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the United Kingdom, British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400, Dennis Trident 2, ...

were introduced on route 50 in February 2008, replacing

bodied

Dennis Trident 2 The Dennis Trident 2 is a 2-axle low-floor double-decker bus chassis originally manufactured by Dennis, which was unveiled in 1997 and replaced the Dennis Arrow. It was built by TransBus after Dennis was incorporated into the group in 2001, th ...

s. Route 50 is claimed by National Express to be one of the busiest routes in Europe. This, however has been disputed, with some claiming that the

Greater Manchester bus route 192 Greater Manchester bus route 192 runs between Hazel Grove in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport and Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre. It is operated by Stagecoach Manchester. History The history of route 192 dates back to the da ...

is more frequent. In early 2015, route 50 received new

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro400) is a low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2014, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro400. The Envi ...

buses. They were among the first buses in the company's new crimson livery with a concept bus named Julie (fleet number 6132, registration SN15 LHB) on 18 April that year. In late 2018, the route was upgraded to the platinum buses with a blue livery. It is proposed by Network West Midlands that the 50 is converted to a cross city service, to be merged with a Dudley - Birmingham via Cape Hill service.

References

External links

National Express West MidlandsDiamond West Midlands
{{Transport in the West Midlands Metropolitan County, state=collapsed 50 050