West Midlands bus routes 340, 341 and 342

National Express West Midlands Routes 340 and 341 and Diamond Bus route 342 are bus routes operating in the Walsall area of the West Midlands, England.

History

• Pre-Deregulation - 341 operated by West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive at a half hourly Monday - Friday frequency and twenty minute Saturday frequency between Walsall and Willenhall.
• 1986 - Following deregulation, Midland Red North (Now Arriva Midlands), start operating an additional service between New Invention and Walsall in competition with then West Midlands Travel giving a combined twenty minute frequency.
• 1987 - In retaliation to the above move West Midlands Travel doubled their frequency on the 341, giving a ten minute combined link between New Invention and Walsall. As a result the Midland Red North service is withdrawn. It is known that by this stage West Midlands Travel are using branded MCW Metrobus on the route.
• 1988 - This move allowed West Midlands Travel to reduce its frequency to every 30 minutes once again. This did not prove successful as this frequency was unable to cope with passenger demand, often leaving passengers in the Short Heath area at bus stops. As a result the frequency was increased to every 20 minutes.
• 1990 - Chase Bus Services began operating an additional service from New Invention to Walsall at a half hourly frequency, the 364 (latterly 64). This service operated from slightly past New Invention to Coppice Farm and travelled via Beechdale instead of Lodge Farm,Bentley and Reedswood. This service remained in operation until mid-2008.
• 1991 - Chase Bus Services increases the frequency of its service 364 to every twenty minutes and introduced an additional service, the 365 travelling from Ashmore Park to Walsall via New Invention, Lodge Farm, Bentley and Reedswood.
• 1992 - West Midlands Travel begin operating on the two routes. Again this causes a reduction in frequency by Chase Bus Services and then by West Midlands Travel.
• Mid 1990s - West Midlands Travel introduce service 340, a quicker working of the 341.
• Early 2000s - Centro, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive launches a new subsidised service the 342, between Willenhall and Walsall. This is operated by Choice Travel.
• 2003 - Pete's Travel take over Choice Travel as operators on the 342.
• 2006 - A2Z Travel start operating on the 340 and 341 between Walsall and Willenhall at half hourly frequencies each. At the same time, Pete's Travel is merged with Diamond Bus.
• 2007 - A2Z Travel shorten their 341 workings to between Walsall and New Invention only.
• 2008 - A2Z Travel ended their operations on the 340 and reduced the frequency of the 341E to hourly. At the same time they are subsidised by Centro to extend the route to the Coppice Farm Estate to serve the area following the withdrawal of service 64.
• March 2009 - Centro announce plans to end the subsidy the 341E receives from the end of April. This prompts A2Z Travel to deregister the service from this date.
• 31st March 2009 - A2Z Travels licence is revoked. As such the 341E is withdrawn one month earlier than anticipated.
• 15th June 2009 - Due to changes to service allocations in the Walsall area, one duty on the 340/1, now follows on to a Evening Duty on another route and is therefore operated using a Volvo B10L Low Floor Bus everyday, introducing for the first time ever a low floor vehicle constantly allocated to the 340/1.

Present

Currently the 340 & 341 follow the same route from Walsall through Reedswood, Bentley and Lodge Farm up until Lane Head Bridge, Short Heath.

Here the 340 cuts through Straight Road to join the Coppice Lane, which indirectly leads a straight road into Willenhall.

The 341 meanwhile travels along Bloxwich Road North and Pooles Lane to join the Lichfield Road. Once on this road the 341 deviates off to serve The New Invention estate.

The 341 comes back out New Invention, travels back along the Lichfield Road to New Invention The Square, before going back on itself to join the Cannock Road which leads onto Coppice Lane and the straight road into Willenhall.

The start of the 342 route is completely different. Firstly buses leave Walsall via Reedswood but then travel through the Beechdale estate. They then travel through Leamore until they join Pooles Lane. Here the 342 travels up to New Invention and follows the same route as the 342 up until Coppice Lane. Quite bizzarely the route turns off along Straight Road as if a 340 heading back to Walsall, but at Lane Head Bridge travels along High Road before [...] through Short Heath and coming out a little bit further up Coppice Lane. From here it follows the same route as the 340 and 341 up until very near Willenhall where it travels around the edge of the town and serves the front end, rather than the back. This could be due to the isolation of the 340/1 terminus at night time.

Currently routes 340 and 341 are interlinked so once at Willenhall, buses switch services so that the bus which has just arrived as the 340 will depart as a 341 and vice versa for services arriving as 341's.

Despite buses leaving Walsall at a combined fifteen minute frequency, a 340 leaves Willenhall two minutes before a 341, giving a 28 minute wait for the next bus.

The 341 has been operated by National Express West Midlands for at least 22 years using the same type of bus, the MCW Metrobus and will continue to do so until the late 2009. However from early Summer 2009, one Volvo B10L low floor single deck is now allocated to the routes each day.

Future

No known changes are due.

Current route

Service 340, NXWM

• Walsall
• Bentley
• Lodge Farm
• Pool Hayes
• Ashmore Lake
• Willenhall

Service 341 - NXWM

• Walsall
• Bentley
• Lodge Farm
• New Invention
• Ashmore Lake
• Willenhall

Service 342 - Diamond Bus

• Walsall
• Beechdale
• New Invention
• Pool Hayes
• Ashmore Lake
• Willenhall

External links

• Official site (Only for National Express West Midlands)
• Network West Midlands
• West Midlands Buses (Only for National Express West Midlands)