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69
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| Overview | |
| Operator | National Express West Midlands |
| Vehicle | Volvo B6LE |
| Route | |
| Start | Walsall Bus Station |
| Via | Green Lane, Reedswood Retail Park, Beechdale, Lane Head, Short Heath, New Invention (The Square), Coppice Farm, Wednesfield, New Cross Hospital & Heath Town |
| End | Wolverhampton City Centre |
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70
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| Overview | |
| Operator | National Express West Midlands |
| Vehicle | Volvo B6LE |
| Route | |
| Start | Walsall Bus Station |
| Via | Green Lane, Reedswood Retail Park, Beechdale & Dudley Fields |
| End | Bloxwich Town Centre |
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70A
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| Overview | |
| Operator | National Express West Midlands |
| Vehicle | Volvo B6LE |
| Route | |
| Start | Walsall Bus Station |
| Via | Green Lane, Reedswood Retail Park, Beechdale, Reedswood Retail Park & Green Lane |
| End | Walsall Bus Station |
The 69, 70 and 70A are three National Express West Midlands bus services in the West Midlands, England. The services all link Walsall with the Beechdale Estate, with the 69 then extending to Wolverhampton via New Invention & Wednesfield and the 70 extending to Bloxwich via Dudley Fields.
Contents |
The Beechdale Estate was a new council housing development in the mid 1950's.
To serve this new estate Walsall Corporation Transport introduced a new Trolleybus service from Walsall (Town End Bank) which was numbered '40'.
Originally, and much to the disgrace of the residents of the estate, the destination was shown as "GYPSY LANE ESTATE" (Gypsy Lane referred to a road in the area, since renamed Leamore Lane). This was promptly changed to "BEECHDALE ESTATE" following numerous complaints.
The '40' service terminated just north of Stephenson Square, the main shopping and community area of the Beechdale Estate, where it turned around in a small clockwise loop.
In 1961 service '40' was withdrawn and replaced with a new circular trolleybus service the '33'. This service started off the same as the '40' but continued from Beechdale to serve the other nearby council estate of Dudley Fields before travelling through Bloxwich and Leamore before arriving back at Walsall.
In 1963 a small extension was added to the route along Bloxwich Lane in the Beechdale Estate. This was the last ever trolleybus route extension in the Walsall area.
In 1970 trolleybuses were replaced by motorbuses on this route by West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive which had taken over Walsall Corporation Transport on 1 October 1969.
The routes were also renumbered at this time, having all been numbered 33 previously:
After deregulation in 1986, all three services were rerouted to serve Stephenson Square, Cavendish Road and Bloxwich Lane, leaving the northern part of Stephenson Road unserved by buses with the exception of a short-lived Midland Red North service, the X1 between Cannock and Birmingham.
At the same time as the route change the 333 became the 371, the 334 the 370 and the 335 the 370A.
Service 364 is operated by Chase Bus Services and National Express West Midlands (then Travel West Midlands). Chase operate the service during Monday - Saturday daytime at a frequency of every 15 Minutes on weekdays and every 20 Minutes on Saturdays, whilst TWM operate the service during the same periods at a constant half hourly frequency. There is no evening or Sunday frequency. Service 369 meanwhile is operated solely by National Express West Midlands at a frequency of every 20 minutes during Monday - Saturday daytime. On schooldays service 369S is also operated between Willenhall and Walsall for pupils of Pool Hayes School who live in the Little London area of Willenhall in the morning. The return journey terminates at Noose Lane, Little London and only commences from Pool Hayes School. The 370 and 371 operate between Walsall and Bloxwich only during Monday - Saturday daytime, again operated by TWM, both travelling via Beechdale. The 370A also operates during Monday - Saturday daytime. All services operate to a 20 minute frequency. During the Evening and on Sundays, the 370 and 371 are operated to a half hourly frequency by Travel West Midlands following full circles.
Currently the 69, 70 and 70A all follow the same route up until Beechdale, travelling from Walsall Bus Station along Green Lane and then serving Reedswood Retail Park and the Sainsbury's branch there. From here the 370A circles through the estate to return back to Walsall via the reverse of the above, whilst the 370 drives through the estate to continue on to Bloxwich via Dudleys Fields and the 369 also drives through to continue to Wolverhampton via Lane Head, Short Heath, New Invention, Coppice Farm & Wednesfield, New Cross Hospital & Heath Town. Combined the three services, which are all operated by low-floor easy access Volvo B6LE buses give a combined peak time frequency of every 7–8 minutes to Beechdale.
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