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Service 364: Service History

Service 364 (1928–1939)

Operated by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited

On Saturday 11^th February 1928, Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) renumbered their entire network, and at this time Service 268 became Service 364.

Before May 1926, Service 268 had operated between Great Malvern, Upton-upon-Severn, and Tewkesbury, with certain journeys continuing to Bredon and Overbury. The service can be traced back to the First World War when, on Saturday 30^th October 1915, Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) introduced Service 50, which was renumbered to Service 268 in 1925.

With the renumbering to Service 364 in 1928, the timetable and route remained unchanged with buses running between Great Malvern, Upton-upon-Severn and Tewkesbury, with three journeys on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and two journeys on Sundays. There was no service on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. By the end of 1930, the Monday journeys had been withdrawn.

On Sunday 20^th October 1929, Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company Limited introduced their Service 170, running between Great Malvern, Guarlford, Upton-upon-Severn, Tewkesbury, and Cheltenham Spa. This provided three return journeys (starting from Cheltenham Spa) on weekdays and two on Sundays, covering much of the same route as the BMMO service between Upton-upon-Severn and Great Malvern. The presence of this service, plus railway links provided by the Tewkesbury and Malvern Railway (part of LMS by this time), is most likely why BMMO chose to only provide Market Day journeys on their Service 364.

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the Second World War the government introduced fuel rationing, and a large number of “non-essential” bus services were withdrawn or cut-back, with Service 364 being withdrawn on Saturday 23^rd September 1939.

Throughout the wartime period, Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company Limited continued to operate Service 170 between Great Malvern, Upton-upon-Severn, Tewkesbury, and Cheltenham Spa, although this was at a reduced “emergency” timetable.

Route Summary

¹  Certain journeys connect at Long Green with “Bristol” bus to and from Gloucester.

Service 364 (1945–1976)

Operated by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited

Following the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, Service 364 was scheduled to be reinstated on Saturday 7^th July 1945, but due to a strike by BMMO staff operations did not restart until Wednesday 1^st August 1945. Initially the route was the same as that used before the war, and three return journeys ran on Wednesdays and Saturdays, plus an additional short-working on Saturdays, and two return journeys ran on Sundays.

Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company Limited continued to operate their Service 170 (renumbered to Service 546 on Sunday 25^th June 1967) during this period, with BMMO's Service 364 running along the same route between Great Malvern and Upton-upon-Severn. In addition to this, until the closure of the line in August 1961, London Midland and Scottish Railway operated train services between Tewkesbury, Ripple, and Upton-upon-Severn (continuing to Great Malvern until December 1952). Because of these competing services, BMMO's Service 364 was never destined to become a major route, but it did offer additional capacity during Market Days and on Sundays, plus links to Longdon, which was not served by Service 170.

On Saturday 18^th September 1948, the Service 364 route changed to run via Queenhill between Upton-upon-Severn and Longdon, and later the bus also ran around the Great Malvern Railway Station loop, but otherwise remained unchanged from the pre-war route.

On Saturday 1^st July 1950, local Malvern Service M44 was introduced between Great Malvern, Guarlford, Blackmore Park (No.2 Camp) and Hanley Swan. This was an extension to Service M34 and like that service followed the same route between Great Malvern and Guarlford as Service 364, so was often shown with Service 364 and Service M34 as a combined timetable.

Until 1954, all journeys on Service 364 were operated from Worcester depot, but on Friday 10^th September 1954, Malvern depot was opened. Most journeys on Service 364 transferred to Malvern depot at this time, but certain journeys such as the Wednesday afternoon full return journey between Great Malvern and Tewkesbury continued to be run from Worcester depot.

By the end of 1955, Service 364 ran between two and four return journeys, seven days a week, but most journeys ran only between Great Malvern and Upton-upon-Severn. Three journeys on Wednesdays and Saturdays only, plus two journeys on Sundays, continued past Upton-upon-Severn to Twekesbury. By 1966, the timetable had been reduced further to just two journeys a day during the week between Great Malvern and Upton-upon-Severn with one additional journey to Tewkesbury on Wednesdays. Two full journeys to Tewkesbury continued to run on Saturdays and Sundays, but at different times.

On Saturday 6^th January 1968, cutbacks saw almost all Sunday services operated from Malvern depot, including Sunday journeys of Service 364, withdrawn. At the same time the Upton-upon-Severn to Tewkesbury section of the Service 364 route was withdrawn and replaced in part by a new Service 374 operated on Wednesdays only by Worcester depot. These cuts also saw the withdrawal of all Service M44 journeys, except on Thursdays.

There were further cuts to the timetable on Saturday 3^rd April 1971, when a large number of rural services were withdrawn, with Service 364 loosing most journeys to the point where by March 1972, only one morning return journey on week days remained. The remains of Service 364 were finally withdrawn with the closure of Malvern depot on Friday 1^st October 1976.

Route Summary

Service 364 (1993–1994)

Operated by Midland Red West Limited

For a short period starting from Wednesday 1^st September 1993, Midland Red West Limited operated Service 364 between Great Malvern and Upton-upon-Severn, running via Guarlford, Hanley Swan, Gilberts End and Hanley Castle. The service ran on Wednesdays only under contract from Hereford & Worcester County Council, with one journey from Great Malvern to Upton-upon-Severn at 0920 in the morning, and the return journey to Great Malvern at 1115.

This service was withdrawn after only eight months, with the last journey being operated on Wednesday 11^th May 1994.

Route Summary

Service 364 (1998–2001)

Operated by Midland Red West Limited

On Monday 26^th October 1998, Midland Red West Limited (soon to be renamed First Midland Red Buses Limited) resurrected the 364 route number for a variation of Service 363 between Worcester and Great Malvern. This service was interworked with Service 363 as part of a Worcestershire County Council contract, with two journeys run as a Service 364 per day towards Great Malvern, and three journeys towards Worcester. The route was almost the same as Service 363 but ran via Three Counties Showground rather than Welland and Malvern Wells.

On Sunday 1^st April 2001, the bulk of the contract passed to Astons Coaches without being contested by First Midland Red due to staff shortages. All journeys on Service 364 and nearly all journeys on Service 363 are withdrawn by First Midland Red and passed to Astons Coaches.

Service 364 (2004–2005)

Operated by First Midland Red Buses Limited

From Tuesday 1^st June 2004 First Midland Red regained the contract for the Service 363 and Service 364 group, running between Worcester, Upton-upon-Severn and Great Malvern. By this time Worcestershire County Council were keen to promote these routes and the service frequency had increased from just a handful of journeys to one return journey every two hours, interworked with Service 363 to give an hourly frequency on key parts of the route.

The services were promoted using the Worcestershire County Council “easyLINK” brand name and were operated by First Midland Red using Optare Solo buses purchased by the Council.

In c. June 2005 the contract again past to Astons Coaches, who later lost the contract to Diamond Bus.

Route Summary

Service 364 (2012–2016)

Operated by First Midland Red Buses Limited

After only about a year of operation, Diamond Bus decided to surrender their contract to operate the Upton-upon-Severn group of services. The contract was put out for tender and First Midland Red won. Service 364 was part of a group of services that included Service 362 and Service 363, which were interworked to provide a 30-minute frequency between Worcester and Upton-upon-Severn. All journeys terminated at Upton-upon-Severn, but the vehicle usually continued to Malvern Retail Park as one of the services from the 41, 42, 42F, 42G, 43 or 43F group, with passengers being able to buy through-tickets.

In September 2014, the contract for these services came to an end, and with large budget cuts planned by Worcestershire County Council, the future of the route was unclear. First Midland Red offered to operate the group of services on a commercial basis at a reduced frequency. A new simplified timetable was introduced which had most services extended to Great Malvern (Link Top), and the 42, 43 etc services were withdrawn. Service 364 was part of a group of services that also include Service 362 and Service 365, and operates one journey every two hours in each direction, interworked with other services in the group to provide an hourly frequency at the major points on the route.

Service 364 and Service 362 were withdrawn from the end of operations on Saturday 9^th April 2016, with the Worcester to Upton-upon-Severn section of the 364 route being replaced by new Service 333 during peak times only, and the Upton-upon-Severn, The Graftons and Welland section of the journey being replaced by a route change to Service 373. The Welland to Malvern Wells and Great Malvern section of the route is not replaced, but a small number of Service 365 journeys continue to operate along this part of the route.

Route Summary