At close of trading on Saturday 30th September 1939, Black Country tram operations along the Dudley Road in to Birmingham were withdrawn. Replacement bus Service B87 was introduced from the following day, being operated as a join service by Birmingham City Transport (BCT), and Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services).
Service B87 operated between Birmingham City Centre (Edmund Street) and Dudley (Birmingham Road), via Oldbury, with a frequency of up to every 5-minutes during the peak-time period. A number of short-working variations were also operated, bringing the frequency to every 2 to 3-minutes on certain parts of the routes.
Short-working journeys used route numbers in the range B80–B86, plus B88 and later B89, depending on which part of the former tram route covered. As part of the “Dudley Road agreementâ€, routes that operated wholly within the Birmingham Corporation boundary, Services B80–B83, were operated by BCT, while those outside the boundary, Services B84–B89, were operated by BMMO. *1
*1 Although the division of routes shown above were generally correct, BMMO also operated occasional journeys on Service B82, during peak-times and Saturdays, and BCT operated occasional journeys on Service B85.
Service B82 was introduced on Sunday 1st October 1939, as a short-working variation to new tram replacement Service B87. While Service B87 operated between Birmingham City Centre and Dudley, from 1904 the tram route had a branch line from Cape Hill to Bearwood, and Service B82 followed that route to terminate at the end of Bearwood Road.
The majority of journeys on Service B82 were operated by Birmingham City Transport (BCT), but a small number of journeys were operated by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red” Motor Services) during the peak-time period, and on Saturdays.
In 1952, the terminus for Service B82 was moved to the new Bearwood Bus Station. Otherwise, the route for this service remained unchanged throughout it's history.
On Saturday 29th June 1968, BCT closed their Rosebery Street depot, which had been responsible for their share of working on the Dudley Road group of routes. The work as moved to other depots, and for simplicity the “Bâ€-prefix was dropped from the route numbers, therefore Service B82 was renumbered to Service 82 at this time.
See Service B87 for more information on this group of services.