List of National Express West Midlands Bus Routes - Service Numbering Structure

Service Numbering Structure

Historically National Express West Midlands uses the following structure for numbering its bus services:

• 0 - 199 - Birmingham and Solihull area services.
• 200's - Dudley, Halesowen, Merry Hill and Stourbridge area services.
• 300's - Walsall area services.
• 400's - Sandwell area services.
• 500's - Wolverhampton area services.
• 600's - Generally subsidised or minibus routes anywhere in the West Midlands.
• 700's - Black Country area school & works services.
• 800's - Birmingham area school and works services.
• 900's & X's - Express/Limited Stop Services

Recent changes by Centro have led to exceptions to this numbering structure, particularly for bus services in the Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton areas.

Several bus routes operated by National Express West Midlands contain a letter added to the end or beginning of the number, these follow the following pattern:

• A - Either an Anti-clockwise version of a circular service (e.g. 11A), or, a variation (Alternative) of the original route (e.g. 47A).
• C - A Clockwise version of a circular service (e.g. 11C), or a variation of another route such as 159C (although the original 159 is withdrawn.)
• E - A shortened working (or "short Extra journey") of a normal service (e.g. 94E).

Shortened workings of routes, which are usually suffixed with an E, are only included in this list if they operate as additional workings of a certain part of the route. If the workings only operate so that the last bus or first bus starts closer to the bus garage, they are not included. For instance, service 28 operates between Heartlands Hospital and Scott Arms, but evening and Sunday 28E journeys begin from Small Heath and terminate in Old Oscott. Therefore, this is a separate route, rather than a shortened working, and is included in the list. Service 37 operates between Birmingham and Solihull, but some peak-time and evening journeys begin/terminate in Acocks Green close to the garage there. This journey is not listed below.

• H - Previously meaning part of the Sandwell General Hospital network of buses, but is now only used on the 4H, the 'H' referring to Halesowen. For the former 404H service, it referred to Merry Hill Centre. At the time, A, B & E variants already existed, and 'M' was still unofficially used on routes that served Metro tram stops. This service did however, also service Sandwell General Hospital.
• M - Currently used as a suffix to indicate that the 4M variant service serves Merry Hill
• S - When shown as a suffix indicates a school version of a normal service, which is either a duplicate or may follow a slightly different route (e.g. 59S) or as a prefix, to indicate the bus service is part of the 'Solihull Network' (e.g. S1).
• X - An Express version of a normal route (e.g. X51), or, to indicate a limited-stop service (e.g. X64).

Previously, many buses serving Midland Metro stops displayed M or The Midland Metro logo, before the route number. This was quickly phased out on most services.