• Service 144

• Overview
• Timetables
• Routes
• Maps
• Fares
• History
• Miscellaneous

Service 144 — Service Overview

Introduction

Before Service 144 (1913 — 1928)

Service 144 was not introduced until 11^th February 1928, but its origins can be traced as far back as Saturday 7^th June 1913, when the Worcester Electric Traction Company Limited started operating motor omnibuses between Droitwich Spa and Worcester, with certain journeys continuing to Great Malvern (Beauchamp Hotel).  This service proved to be very popular and on 27^th October 1913 the service was extended to Bromsgrove, then on 20^th December 1913 to Rubery.

On 29^th August 1914, the service was again extended, running to Birmingham City Centre.  From this time it was operated by both the Worcester Motor Transport Company Limited and the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO — Midland “Red”) as a joint operation, running as BMMO Service 25.

During September and October 1914, all of the buses operated by the Worcester Motor Transport Co Ltd were commandeered by the War Office following the outbreak of the First World War.  At this time, BMMO took over total operation of Service 25 and other Worcester Motor Transport routes.  The additional required vehicles were housed at Worcester at the Worcester Motor Transport depot, which became BMMO's first Worcester depot.

Despite wartime shortages, BMMO extended the service again on 22^nd April 1916 to run to Malvern Wells, and also introduced their first local services in Malvern.  However, within six weeks the company was forced to reduce the number of journeys operated.  In 1917, the Ministry of Munitions warned all bus companies that they should abandon all services that were not of national importance, so because of this and general fuel restrictions, the service was shortened to run only between Worcester and Malvern Wells.  Eight vehicles per day were used, and all were converted to run on coal gas.

Normal services resumed after the war ended and the service then remained largely unchanged, other than being renumbered to Service 125 in summer of 1925.

Service 144 (1928 — To Date)

On 11^th February 1928, BMMO renumbered many of their services, and at this time the Birmingham to Malvern Wells service number 125 became Service 144.

The route followed what is today the A38 from Birmingham to Worcester then the A449 through Malvern to Malvern Wells, and it has remained largely unchanged to this day, except that cutbacks by the NBC in 1976 saw the Worcester to Malvern section abandoned.

With the introduction of the Severnlink MAP scheme in January 1979, the Worcester to Malvern section of the route was re-introduced but did not run direct between Malvern Link and Great Malvern, and now served Pound Bank and Barnards Green.  This was not successful as delays on the Birmingham to Worcester section of the route caused reliability problems on the Worcester to Malvern section and, after only 5 months, the Worcester to Malvern section was again abandoned.

With the brake up of Midland Red in September 1981, operation of the 144 passed to Midland Red (West) Limited who continue to operate the route to this day, although they are now part of FirstGroup and have the name First Midland Red Buses Limited.

[ Page Top ]

Route Summary

*¹ Certain journeys continued to Great Malvern or British Camp on Sundays only.

[ Page Top ]

Time summary

• Historically operated every 30-minutes in each direction during the week and on Sundays, and every 20-minutes on Saturdays.
• Frequency increased to operated every 20-minutes in each direction during the week and on Sundays, and every 15-minutes on Saturdays after the Second World War.
• Frequency reduced to operate every 30-minutes in each direction with the introduction of the Severnlink MAP network on 13^th January 1979.
• Additional short-working journeys introduced between Worcester and Droitwich in November 1985, to give a 15-minute frequency on this section of the route, with 30-minute frequency remaining between Droitwich and Birmingham.
• Service frequency returns to every 30-minutes in each direction for the whole route when short-working journeys are replaced by Worcester “Citibus” service 22 in October 1987.
• Service frequecny increased to run every 20-minutes in each direction in September 2005.

[ Page Top ]

Operators

• Service started in April 1913 by Worcester Electric Traction Company Limited between Malvern and Worcester, extended to Droitwich in June 1913, then Bromsgrove in October 1913, then Rubery in December 1913.
• Company renamed to Worcestershire Motor Transport Company Limited in July 1914.
• Service extended to Birmingham, operated jointly by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO – Midland “Red”) and Worcestershire Motor Transport Company Limited from 29^th August 1914.
• Full operation of the service passed to Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO – Midland “Red”) on 1^st November 1914.
• Company renamed to Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited (MROC) on 29^th March 1974.
• Operation of service passed to Midland Red (West) Limited on 6^th September 1981.
• Company privatised as Midland Red West Limited on 22^nd December 1986.
• Company renamed to First Midland Red Buses Limited on 26^th March 1999, as a subsidiary of FirstGroup plc.

[ Page Top ]

Operating depots

• Bromsgrove depot.
  Operated certain journeys until its closure in 1983
• Digbeth depot.
  Operated certain journeys until February 1979
• Kidderminster depot.
  Temporally used during 2004/5 to cover staff shortages at Worcester depot
• Malvern depot.
  Operated certain journeys until its closure on 1^st October 1976
• Redditch depot
  Operated certain Saturday journeys during the early 1950s
• Worcester depot

[ Page Top ]

Vehicles used

• Historically operated using BMMO built double-deck buses.
• BMMO D9 or Daimler Fleetline until 1976.
• Leyland National from 1970s — one-man operation introduced.
• Leyland Leopard dual-purpose buses used during the 1980s and early 1990s, mostly on off-peak journeys interworked with the X43 and X44 motorway services.
• Mercedes-Benz L608D and later Mercedes-Benz 0.814 Vario used for Sunday and Evening journeys only during 1990s.
• Dennis Lance from August 1995.
• Alexander-Dennis Enviro 300 from June 2005.
• Volvo B7 used in 2006 and early 2007.
• Dennis Trident used on certain journeys from September 2008.

[ Page Top ]

Other Services operating along the 144 Route

1. Services 22, 22A, 142 & X91 are now withdrawn.
2. Service 143 now operates between Catshill and Redditch only.

 

[ Page Top ]