As part of the route renumbering exercise on Saturday 11th February 1928, Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) Service 267 became Service 361.
This route had originally been established at an unknown date between late-1915 and mid-1921 as Service 50A, and by the time it was renumbered to Service 361 in 1928 ran on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday between Worcester (Angel Place), Callow End, and the Old Hills. Certain journeys continuing to Hanley Castle, Hanley Swan, and Welland on Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, and past Welland to Rye Cross on Wednesday and Saturday. One return journey on Wednesday and Saturday alternatively diverted at Hanley Castle and ran to Upton-upon-Severn, omitting Hanley Swan and Welland, etc.
In c. September 1929, Service 361 was rerouted to run via the new Bromwich Road in Worcester, omitting St John's and Malvern Road. The original Bromwich Road had linked Cripplegate House at the Bull Ring with Bromwich House, and followed the layout that is today the narrow one-way street called Bromwich Lane. From there it was nothing more than a track, known as Bromwich Lane, to Bromwich Farm, the sewage treatment works, and Lower Wick. Starting in c. 1926, a new housing development was built near Bromwich House, and the original Bromwich Lane/Road was widened and rerouted to follow the path we know today as Bromwich Road.
By the end of 1930, short-working return journeys between Worcester and Old Hills had been introduced on Tuesday and Thursday, and by Spring of the next year all short-working journeys between Worcester and Old Hills were renumbered to Service 362. At the same time, journeys that ran to Upton-upon-Severn on Wednesday and Saturday were renumbered to Service 363. Services 361, 362, and 363 continued to be shown together as a combined timetable. Around the same time, the Rye Cross journeys on Wednesday were cut back to only run as far as Welland for the morning journey or Cleve Lode in the afternoon. Saturday journeys to Rye Cross remained unchanged.
With further housing developments being built along the length of the new Bromwich Road during the early 1930s, BMMO initially provided extra capacity towards Worcester in the mornings by diverting a Service 144 bus along Bromwich Road. This practice was relatively short-lived, and by the end of 1932 short-working journeys between the City Centre (Angel Place) and the junction of Bromwich Road and Whites Road*1 had replaced this. These new journeys ran Monday to Friday and were shown as Service W15 in local timetables, but as “Additional 'Buses” for Service 361 in the main timetable books. By mid-1933 the route number W15 was consistent across all timetables, but times were shown as part of a combined 361, 362, 363 and W15 timetable, rather than as part of the “W”-prefix local Worcester network timetable.
In 1935, the short-working journeys between Worcester City Centre and Bromwich Road were renumbered from Service W15 to Service W16. This would have been to give the Rainbow Hill services a more logical sequence of route numbers, which then became W5, W15, and W25. From the same time, Services 361, 362, and 363 were shown with W16 in local Worcester area timetables as a combined service. It's also worth noting that the W15 and W16 Bromwich Road routes were the only “W”-prefix services to depart from Worcester (Angel Place) bus station, with all others departing form The Cross or nearby St Nicholas Street until July 1946.
*1 BMMO timetables from the period showed this as “White Road”, but Ordnance Survey maps showed “White's Road“. Today we all agree it's “Whites Road”.
1 Cleeve House was used as a timing point before the Second World War. It is located between Bromwich Road and Malvern Road, near Lower Wick roundabout.
2 Certain journeys continue to Welland on Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
3 Certain journeys continue to Rye Cross on Wednesday and Saturday.
| 3 | 6 | 1 |
| August | 1930 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Welland | |
| January | 1935 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Welland |
Almost immediately after the outbreak of the Second World War the government introduced fuel rationing, and a large number of “non-essential” bus services were withdrawn or cut-back, with services 361, 362, and 363 being among the routes effected by this. The exact date of the changes imposed by the national emergency is unclear, but it was probably on Saturday 23rd September 1939, at the same time as Service 364 (Great Malvern and Tewkesbury) is known to have been withdrawn.
The Service 361 route was shortened and timetable reduced to just two return journeys between Worcester and The Rhydd on Wednesday, plus three return journeys between Worcester and Hanley Swan on Saturday, with all other journeys withdrawn. Service 362 continued to run over the same route but at a reduced timetable, with some journeys shortened to terminate at Callow End, and Service 363 was withdrawn in it's entirety.
By the summer of 1944, the full Service 361 route to Rye Cross had been restored but only for two return journeys on Saturday. The route number 362 was retired and all journeys ran as Service 361, irrespective of the terminus location. There were five return journeys between Worcester and Old Hills, Monday to Saturday, plus two return journeys to The Rhydd on Wednesday and the aforementioned journeys to Rye Cross on Saturday. There were also addition evening journeys to Old Hills and Hanley Swan on Saturday. Two return journeys to Old Hills were provided on Sunday.
1 Journeys on Wednesday terminate at The Rhydd.
2 Journeys on Wednesday terminate at Hanley Swan.
| 3 | 6 | 1 |
| June | 1944 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills |