National Express West Midland Route 66, 66A and 66E

The 66 and 66A are two of the most notable bus routes in the West Midlands, as they are the only Cross City bus routes, which are operated by National Express West Midlands in the West Midlands of England.

History

Pre 1990

WMPTE (formerly Birmingham City Transport) routes 43 (Old Square to Nechells) and 95 (Congreve Street to Ladywood), whose combined routes were similar to the present 66 and 66A for the section from Nechells to Soho.

Recent History

Around 1995 the route was operated with the last journey departing Sutton Coldfield at 18:30, the last journey into Sutton departed Ladywood at 1750 and ran into Sutton, arriving at 1845, however this returned to the garage empty. The route at the time was operated by twelve two-step entrance single decks, E F G and H registration plate 'Leyland DAF Lynx's' Around 2000 the 'Lynx's', were gradually phased out and National Express West Midlands invested in low-floored single decks, using around eighteen on the route at one stage. In the later years route 66 was simplified and now used just ten low-floor Mercedes-Benz O405 single decks.

Present

Currently National Express West Midlands (NXWM) operate the 66, Monday - Saturday at a 15 minute frequency during daytime hours (0700-1800). On weekdays, Saturday and Sunday evenings, NXWM operate the service at an hourly frequency (only to Starcity).

Service 66A operates Monday - Saturday evenings operate an hourly frequency, making a half hourly timetable with the 66E. Sunday daytime half-hourly, with the evening services from 1800 being every hour.

Service 111 was created in 2004 and is the extended vision of 66 (66A) via the 111/A route into Sutton Coldfield. Its worth noting however, that in Boldmere route 66A runs from Boldmere Road via Stonehouse Road, Monmouth Drive and Summerville Road, joining Jockey Road near The Horse & Jockey pub. Where as route 111 and 111A operate direct via Jockey Road into Sutton Coldfield.

Trivia

Route 111 was the full extension off route 66 before 2004, when National Express West Midlands (NXWM) split the route due to reliability problems. Route 111 was operated exactly the same as the present 66A is to-date. However due to Perry Barr picking up route 111, since then the 111 has gone though a number of changes. This means that it could even now be considered a route in its own right. However, as the 111A has just be introduced, it had brought the Daytime operations slightly back in-line with the 66A route.

111 operates from Goosemore Lane into Gravelly Lane and follows this into Summer Road to SixWays Erdington. 111A operates from Goosemore Lane into Gravelly Lane, then Station Road, Edwards Road, Orphanage Road, Sutton New Road to SixWays Erdington.

Routes

Service 66 (Monday to Saturday Daytime)

• Ladywood
• Birmingham City Centre
• Nechells
• Star City, Birmingham
• Erdington

Service 66A (Evenings and Sundays)

• Ladywood
• Birmingham City Centre
• Nechells
• Star City, Birmingham
• Erdington
• Boldmere
• Sutton Coldfield

Service 66E (Early Morning, Evenings and Sundays)

• Ladywood
• Birmingham City Centre
• Nechells
• Star City, Birmingham

Service 111/A (Monday to Saturday Daytime)

• Erdington
• Perry Common
• Boldmere
• Sutton Coldfield

, List of National Express West Midlands bus routes