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Service 363: Service History

Service 363 (1930–1939)

Operated by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited

By the late 1920s, Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) operated Service 361 daily between Worcester, Callow End, and the Old Hills. Certain journeys continuing to Hanley Castle, Hanley Swan, and Welland on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, or past Welland to Rye Cross on Wednesdays and Saturdays. One return journey on Wednesdays, and two return journeys on Saturdays, also ran to Hanley Castle and Upton-upon-Severn.

By 1930, journeys running to Upton-upon-Severn were numbered Service 363 in some timetables but continued to be listed as Service 361 in others. By 1935, these journeys were shown as Service 363 in all timetables and additional journeys were operated on Fridays.

Both Service 361 and Service 363 ran via Bromwich Road between Worcester and Lower Wick, and did not serve St. John’s or Malvern Road. This was probably the cause of some confusion as BMMO felt it necessary to highlight this in timetables with the phrase “It should be noted particularly that these ’Buses will not pass St. John’s Church”. St. John’s and Malvern Road were well catered for by Service 144 and local Worcester Service W4, which both ran at regular intervals throughout the day, seven days a week.

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the Second World War, the government introduced fuel rationing, and a large number of “non-essential” bus services were withdrawn or cut-back. Service 363 was one of the routes withdrawn during this period, probably on Saturday 23^rd September 1939, at the same time as Service 364 (Great Malvern–Tewkesbury) was withdrawn.

Route Summary

¹  Exact start date unknown.
²  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.

Service 363 (1946–1974)

Operated by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited

After the end of the Second World War, Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) reinstated many of the services that had been withdrawn in 1939 and 1940. The company was still struggling with vehicles shortages for a number of years so the process was not immediate, and Service 363 was no reinstated until Monday 11^th November 1946.

The new Service 363 operated over a different route which no longer ran to Upton-upon-Severn, but diverted from Hanley Castle to Hanley Swan, Welland and Malvern Wells. Journeys to Upton-upon-Severn were replaced by new Service 362 which ran over the same route as the pre-war Service 363 but continued past Upton-upon-Severn to Rye Cross. Both Service 362 and Service 363 ran as variations to Service 361, which operated between Worcester, Callow End and Old Hills, with certain journeys continuing to Welland. This group of services continued to operate via Bromwich Road and not St. John’s or Malvern Road, but certain peak-time Service 362 journeys did divert along Malvern Road on Mondays to Fridays.

Initially, the new Service 363 ran two return journeys on seven days a week, but by 1949 the Sunday journeys had been withdrawn and partly replaced by two Service 361 journeys to Old Hills. From Sunday 16^th July 1950, there was one short-working Service 363 return journey between Worcester and St. Wulstan’s Hospital, running direct between Hanley Swan and The Ryhdd on Sundays and Thursdays only. This was timed to connect with Service X91 at Worcester to provide links with Coventry and Leicester etc. These short-working journeys had been withdrawn by 1961.

Service 363 was originally worked by Worcester depot, but with the opening of Malvern depot on Monday 16^th August 1954, operation of the morning return journey transferred to the new depot. To save dead mileage from Malvern to Worcester, this journey now started at Hanley Swan, but otherwise the times remained unchanged. The afternoon journey and short-working journeys to St. Wulstan’s Hospital continued to be operated by Worcester depot.

By the early 1970s, one short-working return journey between Worcester and The Ryhdd ran on Thursday only, but further cuts saw the morning journey operated by Malvern depot withdrawn on Saturday 7^th October 1972, and partly replaced by a Service 361 journey operated by Worcester depot.

Route Summary

Service 363 (1974–1981)

Operated by Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited

On Monday 3^rd December 1973, Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) sold a number of depots and their operation in the Birmingham area to West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE), and to reflect this the company renamed to Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited (MROC) on Friday 29^th March 1974. Other than the name of the operator, this event did not directly impact operation of Service 363, and the service continued unchanged.

At the end of operations on Friday 1^st October 1976, Malvern depot was closed and most services in the Malvern area were withdrawn and replaced by a new network of services operated by Worcester depot. At this time, weekday Service 363 journeys were withdrawn leaving just one journey in each direction on Saturdays. These were re-routed to run to and from Upton-upon-Severn and were inter-worked with Service 362 to provide a circular route around Hanley Swan, Welland, Upton-upon-Severn and Hanley Castle.

Service 363 continued in operation until the company ceased trading as a bus and coach operator at the end of services on Saturday 5^th September 1981. The newly formed Midland Red (West) Limited took over operation of Service 363 from the following day.

Route Summary

Service 363 (2014— )

Operated by First Midland Red Buses Limited

From Sunday 31^st August 2014, bus services between Worcester, Upton-upon-Severn and Great Malvern are no longer supported by funding from Worcestershire County Council following heavy budget cuts. First Midland Red Buses Limited offer to continue running the Worcester, Upton-upon-Severn and Malvern group of services on a commercial basis with simpler routes that no longer change in Upton-upon-Severn, or loops around the housing estates in Malvern. As part of these changes, Service 363 is re-routed to Tewkesbury and a new Service 373 is introduced as a variation to Service 363 to serve the villages of Naunton and Ripple, with funding from Worcestershire County Council on that section of the route.

In September 2015 the funding from Worcestershire County Council for Service 373 ended. At this time, First Midland Red withdrew a number of Service 373 journeys and introduced a new timetable for Service 363 which gave an overall frequency of one journey every 90-minutes between Worcester and Tewkesbury when interworked with the remaining Service 373 journeys, which were now operated commercially.

From Sunday 10^th April 2016, First Midland Red withdraw the Upton to Tewkesbury section of Service 373 and a introduce another new timetable for Service 363, giving a two-hourly frequency between Tewkesbury and Upton, and an hourly frequency between Upton and Worcester when interworked with the shortened Service 373. From the same time Service 362 and Service 364 are withdrawn and Service 363 is re-routed to run via Welland, with Hanley Castle only being served by school variation journeys to Hanley Castle High School.

On Sunday 15^th October 2017, there were large changes to services in the Worcester area but Service 363 escaped relatively unharmed. The most notable change was the withdrawal of the Twyning Green variation so now all journeys run direct along the A38 between Upton-upon-Severn and Tewkesbury. There was also some minor timetable adjustments to accommodate this change.

More service cuts came on Sunday 16^th September 2018, and this time Service 363 did not escape. A new timetable was introduced with all Service 373 journeys withdrawn, and most Service 363 journeys only running as far as Ryall before returning to Worcester. With funding from various local authorities, two journeys between Worcester and Ryall were subsidised for a trial period of six months. On Saturdays, only two return journeys between Worcester and Tewkesbury were operated, with no short-working journeys, giving Upton-upon-Severn only two buses in each direction.