Rude driver at 11am the morning of Tue 26th October heading towards Walsall from cannock bue…read moreStation. The driver wouldn't accept my husbands card payment for us both, and made us pay once for him and go back to cash point then pay again! What a rip off. He was extremely rude and I will not recommend nor use this service again. Never heard of such a thing. Go with another bus service one where you get treated with respect. Not recommended at all.

The 51 is a major bus route and for those who travel from Walsall to Birmingham and vice versa via…read morePerry Barr and BCU campus, this is your main route ... unless of course you travel by train. The 51 is the standard daily option including on Sundays, which offers regular services throughout the day. At peak hours, one can come every 5-7 minutes, typically taking 35-40 minutes traffic depending. The 51 runs during weekdays between 4:30am and midnight and is a usually efficient service providing no crimes or misdemeanours take place on the bus. It is definitely a bus of cultural experiences - weed smokers, preachers, drunks, smelly people - and for those who love that, go for it! ;). In all seriousness, the X51 is the faster cousin of the 51, often with higher more comfortable seating, quicker - cutting out the side routes around Birchfield and Perry Barr stopping less and being a more efficient option. The X51 runs Monday to Saturday from around 7am and the last bus leaves usually Walsall and Brum shortly after 7pm. If you live in Walsall, you are not spoilt by choice and options of getting to Brum and I would like to see a nightbus return to the 51 such as the 51N which did run once, to allow people to return home to Walsall throughout the night, especially Thursday through Saturday. The need for nightbuses is an issue though for many of the major bus routes into Brum.

A bus route that runs regularly from Birmingham to Dudley via City Hospital, Smethwick and Oldbury…read more Whilst those in Dudley know bus services to Brum are on the slow side, as bus services go, this is an okay route and tends to keep moving rather than gridlock during busy periods as well.

Currently have to use this bus route to commute to work (and have had to use it extensively over…read morethe past decade). It takes about an hour to get from Oldbury to City hospital (and vice versa). 87 buses aren't frequent enough. A lot of people use this particular service and during peak time its just awful as there are hardly any seats available. It also stops at Sainsburys Oldbury for 10-20 minutes on most journeys which is just silly when you need to get somewhere on time. In this summer heat, the buses aren't comfortable to sit in for the majority of routes (it seems only a few routes have buses with air conditioning). If you want more people to use your buses, make them more comfortable and add a few more buses to the timetable during peak times - it would make a massive difference.

I recently stayed here for a few nights, and appreciated the generously-sized room with ensuite…read moreshower/bath and separate toilet. Everything was modern, clean and comfortable. Breakfast was a generous buffet of continental and full English foods. Staff on reception, in the bar and in the restaurant were pleasant and helpful. The only negatives were the high price of broadband and the absolutely ridiculous minibar prices. Overall, while this hotel has a rather corporate feel and the location is convenient rather than attractive, it is a pleasant place to stay in Wolverhampton with good facilities.

I don't know if the hotel has been renovated recently, but I thought it was fine. Everything in the…read moreroom and public areas looked clean and fairly new, room was big and comfortable and bed was fine. Check in was simple, and it was no problem shortening our stay by a day. ("Sure, just check out by 14:00"). Lots of business types while we were there, plus a hen party in the bar our first night. No noise in the room though. Our wifi was free, too. As I remember, they had a free basic option (which was a fine speed for web surfing) and a paid faster internet ( which you'd really only need to stream movies, do lots of up/downloading, etc...) The reason I probably wouldn't return is that it's not the best area. The hotel is near the police station and sirens were frequent. Walking from the train station (about an 8 min walk) watched a guy launch his newspaper into the bushes on the side of the walking path. Not an area I would want to walk around at night. On the plus side, the tram to Birmingham stops very close to the hotel. Not very many restaurants around if you don't have a car to get around.

The new West Bromwich Bus Station is ten times better than the old station. The old station was…read morepretty embarrassing and was one of the worst bus stations I have ever seen. The station was run down and it was obvious it needed improving. Now West Bromwich Bus Station is a vast improvement from the old one. The new station has an information centre where you can get information on the different bus routes that operate within the Black Country and the West Midlands area. You can also get information on travelcards and fares. The buses that stop at West Bromwich Bus Station travel to various towns and cities in the West Midlands. There are buses that go to Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley etc. The Bus Station is also opposite the West Bromwich Central Tram Station. National Express and Diamond buses operate at West Bromwich Bus Station. Waiting for buses can be a real nightmare and I have experienced times where I have waited half an hour for a bus during the daytime when they should be coming at least every ten minutes.

As a public transport user many stations are super cold and drafty despite new builds (see Walsall…read morebus station for a concrete nightmare). West Brom bus station is perfectly located with the central tram stop across the road and it's accessibility and connection to the central shopping area through Kings Square indoor shopping centre. For a change it s a station with great signage, an information centre and really usable display boards for all the buses. With buses to Walsall running regularly and it only taking 20/30mins it is one of the better transport connections. At least with all the glass corridor designs it is much warmer and weather resistant than more open plan stations and much easier to navigate between the stops even if you are down the one end as it's such an accessible bus station. If you find your self stuck here then there could be much worse places to end up.

Full of commuters, single moms, shoppers and weed smoking kids…read more Also the odd bus. Connecting to birmingham, Dudley and Stourbridge among other local spots the Merry Hill Bus Station serves only to transport people in with money and out again with less money. The navigation is easy with 2 rows of stops all with a letter corresponding to what bus goes to it. Because the local areas and the nature of chain stores and malls in general you can get the odd rough encounter here, though because the place is so public nothing much can really happen.

I used to catch Diamond buses all the time, mainly because they were a much cheaper option to get…read moreto and from town when compared to West Midlands travel. But now, for 10p dearer, and the option to buy a day saver, West Midlands travel beats Diamond's (£1.80* single) service hands down; Unless you're only making one journey that is. If this bus service was more regular, I would probably use it more often, and buy a return/day saver. But at the moment, it's likely that you'll be waiting quite sometime for a return bus with Diamond, so it makes more sense to purchase a day saver ticket (£3.80*) with the consistent and reliable West Midlands service. However, particularly regarding the 17 route, there does seem to be an increase in this service, so maybe I will switch over to using them if they become more constant in other areas (such as the 50 route). Nevertheless, the only truly great fact about Diamond is the super fast time it takes to get to the city centre (mainly because nobody really catches it, so it doesn't stop very often!)

My first impressions of the Diamond buses were completely positive. I mean, eliminate flooring,…read moreleather seats, what's not to like. It's only been since I've began to buy a day-saver with the Travel West Midland buses, that Diamond have started to arrive at the completely wrong time, becoming more and more frustrating due to the fact that I'd have to spend another £1.80 just to use the bus. If all Birmingham based buses were tied to the same company this would not be an issue, but sadly, it is. These specific buses aren't as regular as Travel West Midland, so based on that fact and their ability to arrive at the worst possible points; I'm not a fan.

Sunny Travel is a small, independent bus company about which information is hard to come by. From…read morewhat I can gather the company is registered out in Willenhall but their garage is in Smethwick and they own a handful of small buses. My own experience with them is their 120 service which runs from Birmingham Corporation Street to Oldbury (the same route as the National Express 120E) and I have always been very pleased. For a start, their fare is a lot cheaper - from Bearwood to mine would usually cost £1.70 on an NWM bus but is a mere quid on these buses. Okay, the buses are smaller and less modern but they're no less comfortable or bumpy than a usual bus. The drivers are always friendly and, on one occasion, the driver asked everyone if they were okay if he took a shortcut because he was running behind which meant we all got to our destination a lot quicker! I rather wish this company ran more bus routes more frequently (I know round here they also run a 128 service), because this 120 is a damn sight better than the main one.

Blackheath represent. Did you see the photo I added of the train station? Do you wish you were…read morethere? Well you should. Rowley Regis is my local train station so it's a good job it's so nice to be in. I judge a train station on how quickly my server can get those tickets out the machine, under that little window and into my hand. Rowley staff are insanely fast, they know I'm already late and the trains pulling off and BAM like a magician it's in my hands! and because of this I sometimes make the train.. Thanks guys. In terms of other things, no toilet, no shop. But if you need to pee remember where you are and the grass is always an option. Another good thing is that no matter what time you get there, there's always a metro waiting. No one in Blackheath reads so your always sorted for a bit of metro action.

Rowley Regis is my local station. Trains every 10 minutes to Birmingham and Warwickshire and in the…read moreother direction to Stourbridge with some trains going on to Kidderminster and Worcester. And Surprise Surprise for such a station to the west of Birmingham there are three trains each morning to London with return trains in the evening.

Called in advance to arrange taxi for New Year's Day 2015, requesting an 8:45am pick up to…read moreWolverhampton Train Station. No idea what time the driver arrived - he didn't knock at the door. He was just sitting in the drive when I walked outside at 9am. He didn't greet me & helped with my bags by opening the boot. No meter seen. Taxi permit not displayed. If it was I didn't see it. METERS ARE LARGE & can't be missed. On the way to Station driver was flagged down by a couple on the street & he proceeds to pull over to speak with them. Unacceptable. I was not paying him for this. When I arrived at the train station he told me my fare was £15. My fare should have been NO MORE than £8. When I asked him why the price gouge he said EVERYONE in England knows fares on NY day are fare + half. Then why didn't his dispatch advise me of this when I called? And WHY when I asked other taxi's in the cab line about higher fares on NY day tell me that was a lie & I'd just been taken? I gave this driver the last £10 I had & told him to bugger off. I told him I work for a cab company in Vegas & while I wasn't in Vegas, taxi's are regulated in both locations and the appropriate office would be notified. Whether or not fares & permits are to be displayed in England I don't know, but I do know the meter should be visible & ON? THERE WAS NO METER. Oh, and he helped me unload the boot by popping the door. AND the couple that stopped him? He told them their fare would be £15 too.