Service 142 was operated by Midland Red West Limited, later First Midland Red Buses Limited, until April 2004, as a variation to their long-standing and well established Service 144. The large majority of the route was the same as the service 144 route at that time, but between Bromsgrove Bus Station and The Malbrook Hotel it ran via Broad Street, Stourbridge Road, Meadow Road and Golden Cross Lane, with Birmingham Road and Lickey End not being served.
During the late 1980s there were two early-evening journeys in each direction, but this was reduced to one journey in each direction in the early-1990s. On Sunday 18th April 2004, Service 144 was rerouted via Stourbridge Road, Meadow Road and Golden Cross Lane. This change to Service 144 saw it running on all but the Broad Street section of the Service 142 route, and therefore the 142 became redundant and was withdrawn.
| 1 | 4 | 2 |
| August | 1986 | Birmingham ↔ Bromsgrove ↔ Worcester | |
| September | 1991 | Birmingham ↔ Bromsgrove ↔ Worcester |