adrock1976
Established Member
With the recent trend of moving away from three digit route numbers, the West Midlands metropolitan area still uses the 1-199 range for Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield, and Solihull areas. Also, this number range is duplicated in Coventry too.
I am unsure if anywhere else outside of London still uses 1-199 range, such as Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Tyne & Wear, West Yorks, and South Yorks PTE areas.
For the West Midlands PTE area, I have attached a file based on what numbers were used between 1988-1998 from my own memory when I used to reside in the West Midlands. My memory may be fuzzy with some of the route numbers, with one being the 87A/C and 89A/C which I recall they ran in 1993 and were short lived (Birmingham - Dudley - Cradley Heath/Timbertree), but unsure if they ran before the closure of both the garages at Dudley and Harts Hill, or whether those came into being when the 87 transferred to West Bromwich. The Dudley - Cradley Heath/Timbertree was the 243/244 that got incorporated with the 87 at some point, but the 243 got reinstated which interworked with some journeys on the 558 Wolverhampton - Sedgeley - Dudley and operated by the garage at Wolverhampton (as I remember this in 1995).
Some of the numbers in the 1-199 range were also used by Midland Red West, Midland Red North, and Stevensons of Uttoxeter as well as the main operator West Midlands Travel. There were some numbers I do not recall ever being used, and I do not think that every number in the range was in use at the one time. I do recall the 44 that ran Birmingham - Clay Lane eventually got withdrawn, then after a while was reused by Central Liner for the Birmingham - Cofton Hackett via Five Ways Station, Selly Oak, Lodge Hill Cemetery, Weoley Castle, Swarthmore Road, Northfield The Bell, Woodlands Road, Northfield Station, and Turves Green.
I do not know if any fellow West Midland residents (present and/or former) can confirm help fill in some missing blanks.
I am unsure if anywhere else outside of London still uses 1-199 range, such as Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Tyne & Wear, West Yorks, and South Yorks PTE areas.
For the West Midlands PTE area, I have attached a file based on what numbers were used between 1988-1998 from my own memory when I used to reside in the West Midlands. My memory may be fuzzy with some of the route numbers, with one being the 87A/C and 89A/C which I recall they ran in 1993 and were short lived (Birmingham - Dudley - Cradley Heath/Timbertree), but unsure if they ran before the closure of both the garages at Dudley and Harts Hill, or whether those came into being when the 87 transferred to West Bromwich. The Dudley - Cradley Heath/Timbertree was the 243/244 that got incorporated with the 87 at some point, but the 243 got reinstated which interworked with some journeys on the 558 Wolverhampton - Sedgeley - Dudley and operated by the garage at Wolverhampton (as I remember this in 1995).
Some of the numbers in the 1-199 range were also used by Midland Red West, Midland Red North, and Stevensons of Uttoxeter as well as the main operator West Midlands Travel. There were some numbers I do not recall ever being used, and I do not think that every number in the range was in use at the one time. I do recall the 44 that ran Birmingham - Clay Lane eventually got withdrawn, then after a while was reused by Central Liner for the Birmingham - Cofton Hackett via Five Ways Station, Selly Oak, Lodge Hill Cemetery, Weoley Castle, Swarthmore Road, Northfield The Bell, Woodlands Road, Northfield Station, and Turves Green.
I do not know if any fellow West Midland residents (present and/or former) can confirm help fill in some missing blanks.