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Service 37: Service History

Introduction

Service 37

On Saturday 23^rd November 1985 Midland Red (West) Limited launched a new network of local Worcester City services, named “Citibus”, using a fleet of yellow, blue and orange Mercedes-Benz L608D minibuses. New Service 37 was introduced running with a circular route between Worcester City Centre and Warndon.

In the late 1980s Service 37 had variations Service 37A and Service 37B which partly ran over the same route, but in 1991 these were withdrawn and Service 37 was shortened and no longer ran as a circular route, although the original route continued on Sundays only as Service 37C.

Service 37 was withdrawn in 1994, but later made a brief return as part of a Worcestershire County Council contract, running over part of the same route as the original “Citibus” service. In 2016, long after the contract had ended, the route number 37 was reused by First Midland Red for their service along Ombersley Road to Bevere.

Service 37 (1985–1994)

Operated by Midland Red (West) Limited

At the introduction of new “Citibus” minibus network on Saturday 23^rd November 1985, Service 37 ran every 8-minutes during the daytime and every 30-minutes during the evening, Mondays to Saturday, with an hourly service on Sunday. Buses departed from Angel Place in Worcester City Centre and ran via Broad Steet, The Cross, Sansome Street and Lowesmoor to Tolladine Road. The route then ran via Hollymount Road over Tunnel Hill and to Warndon via Ambleside Drive and Langdale Drive. The service operated over a circular route and returned to the City Centre via Blackpole, Astwood Road, Rainbow Hill, Lowesmoor and St. Nicholas Street. Buses running in the opposite direction ran as Service 34.

For a short period from Saturday 31^st October 1987, the Sunday journeys of these routes were renumbered to Service 47 and Service 44 respectively, but had been renumbered back to their original route numbers by April 1989.

Service 37A and Service 37B were introduced on Sunday 27^th August 1989 as variations to Service 37. Both the variations ran over the same route as Service 37 between Worcester City Centre, Tunnel Hill and Warndon, but each variation went their own way returning to the City Centre. Service 37A run via Perdiswell and Blanquettes Estate, while Service 37B ran via Tolladine Road. Each of the three services ran with a 20-minute frequency during the daytime, interworked to give nine buses each hour over the City Centre, Tunnel Hill, and Warndon section of the route. Buses in the opposite direction ran as Service 34, Service 38A, and Service 36B, which must have made for a very confusing network.

On Saturday 9^th February 1991 a group of new circular routes was introduced to service the new housing development at Warndon Villages. The new group of services were numbered in the range 39–41 & 43, and ran between the City Centre and Warndon via Tunnel Hill, so at this time Service 37A and Service 37B were withdrawn and replaced in part by Service 40 and Service 41 (towards City Centre), or Service 39 and Service 43 (towards Warndon for Warndon Villages). At the same time, Service 37 was reduced to run only between the City Centre and Warndon and was no longer a circular route with buses running in both directions via Tolladine Road and Tunnel Hill, and with the changes the overall frequency of buses running over Tunnel Hill was reduced to every 10-minutes.

The original Service 37 circular route, running towards the City Centre via Rainbow Hill, survived on Sundays only with funding from Hereford and Worcester County Council as Service 37C, or Service 34C for the opposite direction.

Service 37 was withdrawn on Friday 13^th May 1994 and replaced with additional journeys on Service 41 and Service 43.

Route Summary

¹  Before 8th February 1991, Service 37 ran in one direction only with Service 34 operating over the same route in the opposite direction.
²  The Terminus for Service 37 was moved to Crowngate Bus Station when the new site opened in mid-1991.

Service 37 (2016— )

Operated by First Midland Red Buses Limited

On Sunday 10^th April 2016, First Midland Red Buses Limited made a number of significant changes to their local Worcester City network. This included splitting the cross-city Service 32 into two separate routes, with the City Centre to St. Peter’s section keeping the route number 32 and the City Centre to Ombersley Road section becoming a new Service 37.

Service 37 took a slightly different route around the housing estate to the former Service 32, with buses now running along Bevere Drive and terminating at the old bus turning point at the junction of Green Lane and Ombersley Road. This change has been made to serve the new housing development at Bevere, and the route is expected to change again when the housing estate opens. Developers have indicated there will be a bus-only gated entrance to the new estate with an automatic bollard system similar to those found at Saxon Gate in Hereford on Service 88.

One journey in each direction continues to run as Service 32 on schooldays to take school children to Bath Road for Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College. This journey replaces a journey of Service 37 and is run using a double-deck vehicle.

Buses running along Bevere Drive met with objections from local residents from the very beginning, and just over a year after the changes were made the company gave into pressure and from Monday 24^th April 2017 changed the route to omit Bevere Drive and run via Ombersley Road to and from the Green Lane Terminus. Journey times were not changed.

Route Summary