Worcester’s horse-drawn tramway network started operating on Monday 18th February 1884 with three routes, with one of these operating between Worcester City Centre (The Cross), Foregate Street, Barbourne, and Ombersley Road (Vine Inn). A fleet of new single-deck omnibuses operated by Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company Limited (BMMO—Midland “Red†Motor Services) replaced the entire tramway network from Friday 1st June 1928 with the first of these, new Service W1, directly replaced the Worcester City Centre to Ombersley Road tramway route, and continued past the tram terminus to Checkett’s Lane.
Buses ran between Worcester City Centre (The Cross) and Ombersley Road (Checkett’s Lane) every ten minutes on weekdays between 07:05 and 23:05. On Saturdays, buses ran during the same hours but the frequency was increased between 11:12 and 22:24 to run every eight minutes. Buses also ran on Sundays, starting at 10:00 running every twenty minutes, with the frequency increasing to every ten minutes between 13:55 and 22:25. The last journey on a Sunday departed The Cross at 22:45. Journey times were ten minutes in each direction throughout the day.
As this route directly replaced a former tramways route it was protected under the terms of the Worcester Agreement, and thus could not be changed or withdrawn without the consent of the Worcester Corporation (local authority). All ticket receipts from the service passed to the Corporation with BMMO keeping 3d. per mile to cover their operating cost.
By c.1967, the local Worcester bus network was no longer subject to the controls imposed under the terms of the Worcester Agreement, and BMMO had more freedom to change and upgrade the routes. Service W1 was converted to run with double-deck vehicles and merged with Service W6 to become a cross-city route.