National express

[JustinTyme]

I tried the 20 on Bank Holiday Monday 1st May, taking a morning trip from Selly Oak to Bromsgrove and back. I had two pleasant runs on an Enviro 400.

The southbound journey was quiet, but the 1038 from Bromsgrove was rather busier. Between Marlbrook and Rednal there were 14 passengers upstairs.

The only downside is that connections at Bromsgrove to and from the 144 are not good on Sundays (and Bank Holiday Mondays), but at least there is a Sunday service again.

[ANDREW]

Earlier this week , I caught the 09.37 20 service to the QE. We had 6 passengers on board on departure ,between Bromsgrove and Catshill we had a few get on and off and ended up with 10 on board heading towards Rubery. After that it was the usual stage service stopping one stop in three. At the QE we had 20 on board including myself and 2 others who travelled from Bromsgrove. There were plenty of other buses about with less passengers on .

[ANDREW]

Fast forward two years and yesterday I caught the 09.38 X20 to Birmingham. My main objective was to see how many passengers travelled between Bromsgrove and Rubery. Two passengers were joined by two more at the top of Broad Street , two more joined at each of two stops in Catshill giving eight through to Rubery. After that I was unable to check how many passengers as the bus then seemed to be just like any other service with people getting on and off at what seemed like every other stop. Can anyone can explain how this is a "X" service ?? Or am I dreaming of the extensive network back in the day of Midland Red's 'limited stop' services that travelled the Midlands and beyond. ? I got off by New Street Station after a journey time of one hour and twenty minutes. The return trip was of similar time in fact we were obviously on time at Rubery as we waited a few minutes before the New Road departure and actually dawdled down past Spring Pools - unless the bus would not go any faster. Ah , I forgot to say. We still had a decent load when we arrived in Rubery and some more passengers joined so I estimated up to twenty people got off at Bromsgrove.