Historically Service 363 was operated by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) between Worcester, Callow End, Old Hills, Hanley Swan, Welland and Malvern Wells. In this form the service had been introduced after the end of the Second World War, but before the war the route number 363 had been used for a service between Worcester and Upton-upon-Severn.
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 Churchâ€. 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the Second World War, the government introduced fuel rationing, and a large number of “non-essential†bus services were withdrawn or cut-back. Service 363 was one of the routes withdrawn during this period, probably on Saturday 23rd September 1939, at the same time as Service 364 (Great Malvern–Tewkesbury) was withdrawn.
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.
| 3 | 6 | 3 |
| December | 1930 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Upton-upon-Severn | |
| January | 1935 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Upton-upon-Severn |
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 11th 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 16th 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 16th 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 7th October 1972, and partly replaced by a Service 361 journey operated by Worcester depot.
| 3 | 6 | 3 |
| May | 1948 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Welland ↔ Malvern Wells | |
| October | 1955 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Welland ↔ Malvern Wells | |
| June | 1957 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Welland ↔ Malvern Wells | |
| May | 1960 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Welland ↔ Malvern Wells | |
| May | 1963 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Welland ↔ Malvern Wells | |
| February | 1971 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Welland ↔ Malvern Wells | |
| March | 1972 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Welland ↔ Malvern Wells |
On Monday 3rd 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 29th 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 1st 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 5th September 1981. The newly formed Midland Red (West) Limited took over operation of Service 363 from the following day.
| 3 | 6 | 3 |
| October | 1976 | Worcester ↔ Old Hills ↔ Welland ↔ Upton-upon-Severn |