At the moment, the British Bus Industry is at something of a crossroads! Lots of positive talk is being made by government with the National Bus Strategy, and the first funding for the Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP) spawned from this have recently been announced, with other funding (ZEBRA) also being issued for increasing emmisionless operation also being awarded. But on the ground, bus operators are facing up to a gradually declining government grant to maintain bus services following the damage to patronage caused by the Covid 19 pandemic, with most operators still recording patronage at around 80% of pre covid loadings, with, from my observations, some routes having suffered far more than others. Thus the past month or so has been marked by several service cutbacks and whole route withdrawals having been registered by various bus operators, and one of which to cause much public consternation in the West Midlands area is First’s withdrawal of the Catshill-Birmingham section of the 144 from Worcester.
The 144 has it’s origins from the very early days of the Birmingham Midland Motor Omnibus (BMMO) company, that became more commonly known as Midland Red. A service from Birmingham – Great Malvern was one of several inter urban services introduced by the company in 1914, at the same time as the company had handed over it’s Birmingham City services to Birmingham Corporation. Originally numbered 25, the service was extended to Malvern Wells in April 1916, a route that would basically continue unchanged until September 1976! Number wise, the service would be renumbered 125 in 1925, but a further renumbering in 1928 saw the introduction of the 144 number still in use today.
The 31st September 1976 would see the 144 split at Worcester, with the then 412 replacing onwards to Great Malvern, both sides also being one manned at this time, with single deck operation with Leyland Nationals increasingly becoming the norm. The 144 would briefly return to a Birmingham – Malvern through service with the introduction of the Severnlink Market Analysis Project (MAP ) revisions on 13th January 1979 and after deregulation, there would be various spells of Sunday running through to Malvern but the 144 has basically remained a Birmingham – Worcester service since then, operated by Midland Red’s Worcester garage, which would become part of Midland Red West on the company split in September 1981, with the privatised Midland Red West passing to Badgerline in 1988, becoming part of what was originally First Bus (today’s First) when Badgerline merged with the GRT Group in 1995.
I last rode the 144 in December 2019, when Saturday rail strikes on West Midlands Trains saw First put double deckers onto the route for extra capacity (see blog “Double Deckers On The 144” which also contains more details on the route’s history) but just after this, in early 2020, and quite significantly, just before the pandemic took away so many of the bus industry’s passengers, the Birmingham section of the route was reduced from half hourly to hourly. I feel it’s important to point out when this reduction took place, as the Birmingham side had obviously been in decline for sometime beforehand and, in fact, had the government not provided funding for all bus operations during this time, the Birmingham section may well have been cut sooner!
One Last Ride!
Of course, for such an iconic, former Midland Red route, I had to have one last ride, and today was the day, with just over a week to go before the Birmingham section’s withdrawal. So I repeated the move I’d made to get to Wythall two days previously (see blog “Bristols At Wythall”) and walked to my local bus stop for the short journey to West Bromwich Bus Station. I cursed slightly as a Wright Gemini bodied Volvo B7 passed on the 44 from Harvills Hawthorn before I could reach the stop but, seconds after reaching the stop, I saw that every cloud has a silver lining, as 4245, one of the six surviving “beloved” ALX400 bodied Volvo B7s at West Bromwich, turned up on the 47, so I boarded one of my current favourite National Express West Midlands (NXWM) buses, which took me to the bus station, where I quickly changed onto 4688, one of ten, 2005 delivered Wright Gemini bodied Volvo B7s originally allocated to Coventry but all now present at West Bromwich, on the 80, with me choosing this meandering route through Smethwick and Ladywood as opposed to the more direct 74 because it stops closer to the 144’s Smallbrook Queensway terminus.
I alighted in Station Street, then had enough time to use the toilets in the Bull Ring before boarding Wright bodied Volvo B7 69455:
I boarded and paid £7.50 to the driver for a First Worcestershire Network ticket. As can be seen, 69455 is painted in the green based Salt Road livery introduced in 2015, and a typical example of how First have relaxed their former very corporate image in recent years. These buses were originally allocated to Bristol before being exchanged with Leicester for double deckers, only to then take the road to Worcester to upgrade the 144. The interior was suitably upgraded too, featuring remoquetted high back seating, WiFi and power points. Not overwhelmingly luxurious but comfortable enough for the ninety odd minute journey ahead :
Also fitted was a poster explaining the significance of the Salt Road branding, basically evolving from the Salt deposits around Droitwich Spa:
Another two passengers boarded with me, one a fare payer, the other an elderly gentleman with a concessionary pass, who got into the a conversation with the driver. He mentioned that he used to be able to get a bus to his daughter’s in Alvechurch but this, Diamond’s 146 to Redditch, had been taken off during the pandemic, forcing him to use the train, which he has to pay on, as well as take a longer walk to his daughter’s house! This left just the 144 and Johnson’s 150 to Redditch via Wythall as the only surviving former Midland Red West service from Birmingham out into Worcestershire but from May, this will be down to just the 150 (which was originally Midland Red West’s X8/178. And now, after Johnsons takeover by Diamond, the 150 terminates at Kings Heath.)
And so we set off, picking up another passenger at Priory Road. The 144 has been Limited Stop within the city for a number of years and beforehand, like most Midland Red services within the city, it used to serve separate stops to the ex Birmingham City Transport (BCT) Bristol Road services 61, 62 and 63 (the 62 has now gone), with BCT style circular stops featuring the Midland Red name on them (in fact, the final Midland Red BCT style roundal was on the Bristol Road, by the now demolished for the Northfield By Pass, Travellers Companion pub) with several minor stops missed out. And with the double BCT fares charged by Midland Red on sections alongside BCT routes, the 144 would have got through the city much faster than parallel BCT services (the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive – WMPTE – who took over BCT in October 1969, would harmonise the fares in 1974).
Nevertheless, the day the M5 Motorway opened, the 20th July 1962, Midland Red introduced the X44 from Birmingham – Worcester using the M5, calling at just Selly Oak and Northfield, offering a faster alternative to the 144, and using BMMO CM5 and later CM6 Motorway coaches, with an X43 via Hagley Road and Bearwood variant being added when the M5 was extended further north. The two services had long, successful lives, with the CM6s ultimately being replaced by dual purpose (coach seated) Leyland Leopards, from 1976 mainly with Plaxton bodywork. 1979 would see the routes replace the short lived reivived 144 to Great Malvern, restoring a through Birmingham – Malvern service until 1987, when the routes were revised as the X73 and X74 to Upton On Severn & Gloucester (many years previously, Midland Red had run Minimum Fare services X72, X73 & X74 from Birmingham – Gloucester and Cheltenham, following the 144 between Birmingham and Worcester) but this ceased in 1988, with a very much reduced X43 and X44 remaining between Birmingham and Worcester, a victim of an improving train service, with 1987 seeing the 1983 introduced hourly service via Kidderminster increased to half hourly, with new Class 150 Sprinter Diesel Multiple Units. I would travel an X44 for the last time on a Plaxton bodied Leopard on a Saturday afternoon in 1992. I was quite on my own and both routes would be withdrawn soon after, a victim of the ever improving railway!
I remember some fast runs on those Plaxton Leopards down the Bristol Road, warming up for a sprint down the M5, and even some good, clattering runs on Leyland Nationals on the 144 and 143 (more on that route later) down the Bristol Road. Today, though, the speed limit along here has been reduced from 40 to 30 mph, and today’s journey on 69455 was much more sluggish in comparison. Yes, I can understand and appreciate the safety benefits of such a speed reduction on a busy road in a heavily built up area but unfortunately, it makes the 144 less attractive for long distance passengers, and may have had a slight part in the route’s Birmingham section’s decline. Certainly, trains heading to Worcester, nor the recently electfied Cross City extension to Bromsgrove, have no such speed limiting obstruction on leaving the city, not to mention those car drivers who seem to believe that speed limits don’t apply to them! Indeed, BCT themselves once began the peak Limited Stop 99 to Rubury in 1967, which would ultimately become the WMPTE 963, have a spell as an all day service at deregulation (extended to Gannow) but returned to peak only as the 64 in 1992 and be eventually withdrawn in 2006 (by which time, it was the 964.) A successful long life, particularly compared with the recent attempts to provide an all day Limited Stop service along the Bristol Road, with, at different times, the X61, X62 and X64, all having been a bit of a flop! Could the low road speed (obviously aggravated by increasing congestion) be a contributing factor to their demise?
At Northfield, another five people got on. Obviously the link to Bromsgrove and Worcester is more useful to those in the outer suburbs, where access to the railway is less easy. Then, heading through the new development around Longbridge, we crossed over the city boundary at Rubery, passing into the county of Worcestershire and Bromsgrove District. Here, NXWM’s 63 left us to head into the Frankley Estate (more details of the 61 & 63 feature in the blog “A Saunter Through South Birmingham”) and we picked up more passengers, giving us a load of around twelve. Not an economic load for First but that’s eleven people (with me not included!) who will have to make alternative travel plans in future. And the problem is, it leaves a gap, as they’ll be no direct service between Rubery and Bromsgrove. If the curtailed service had been terminating at Rubery, then those passengers could have changed from a 63 (admittedly at greater cost, as this involves an operator change, the fact that this would also be a cross boundary journey also mean that neither Travel for West Midlands N Bus nor the Worcestershire Connecta all operator tickets would be valid for the whole journey, such is the challenge with cross boundary journeys.)
There are two less direct Rubery – Bromsgrove services, Diamond’s 202 via Lickey and 145 via Barnt Green, which is probably the reason why Worcestershire County Council are unwilling to fund a direct replacement, but such a roundabout journey is hardly likely to be attractive to the public. But discussions have taken place, with even Bromsgrove MP, Health Minister Sajid Javid, getting involved. At the time of writing, though, no way to save the direct link has been found. Certainly, the County Council has stepped in to save some Worcester City services that First say are no longer viable but, like all councils, they only have limited funds available to spend on such services, so are unable to save everything. And the 145 and 202 mean that a Rubery – Bromsgrove service is available to those in need, no matter how inconvenient. (Update: A replacement has been made with NXWM’s 144A-See blog “NXWM’s 144A & Other Stuff!”)
And so we made our way onto the dual carriageway A38 for what will probably be my final time on a bus, joining the by pass that had avoided Rubery, heading into open country (hence no potential passengers) picking up a little speed as we did so, heading down to Junction Four of the M5, where the X44 had joined the Motorway for so many years, then we headed towards Bromsgrove.
It was also on this stretch that the Salt Road bus stop flags began to appear, like this example in Worcester :
Catshill
As we entered a built up area again, by the Marlbrook pub, we turned right, leaving the traditional route of the 144, which had headed straight into Bromsgrove via Lickey End, into the early years of this century. But the introduction of the Severnlink network in 1979 had given the reduced 144 (the frequency then being reduced from every twenty minutes to half hourly) a sister service in the form of the 143. This provided a quarter hourly service from Birmingham – Bromsgrove but left the 144 route at the Marlbrook to serve the sprawling, suburban area of Catshill. Meeting up with the 144 again at Bromsgrove Bus Station, the two routes split up again just outside the Town Centre, with the 143 terminating at the town’s Charford Estate. The two services would operate side by side for many years, indeed, during the eighties, I vividly remember seeing Leyland Nationals on both routes leave Birmingham’s former Bull Ring Bus Station (ohh place of hallowed memory!) full to the rafters (Ohhh, what a pity Midland Red Manager John Hargreaves chose to pursue a pro single deck policy and cancel the 1975 order for Park Royal bodied Leyland Atlanteans, which would have been ideal to replace BMMO D9s on the 144!) Of course, this would have been partly down to the then very poor train service to Bromsgrove, which would gradually improve from the early nineties onwards, with the improved, electrified Cross City Line service, to a brand new Bromsgrove station (see blogs “Bromsgrove Electric And Other Stories” and “West Midlands Day Ranger 2-Part Two”) very probably giving the 144’s Birmingham section the final nail in the coffin!
Deregulation would see one journey on the 144, leaving Worcester at 18.30, become a 142, running via Catshill, covering a gap in the reduced evening service on the 143. 1987 would see the 143 rerouted to head to Redditch (transferring from Kidderminster to Redditch garage), the Charford section being replaced by new minibus service 93. A gradual decline in passengers would see First cut the 143’s Birmingham section, with the 144 rerouted via Catshill in replacement. Birmingham Coach Company ran a replacement 64 from Birmingham – Bromsgrove via Lickey End for a while, though when this was withdrawn, First would extend the now hourly 143 (a faster X33 through from Kidderminster also provided a Bromsgrove – Redditch link) back to Birmingham via Lickey End, though again, this would be gone by 2005. Today, Lickey End is served only by the 145 as it comes in from Barnt Green.
And so we wandered around suburban Catshill, passing the neighbouring garages of Harris Coaches and Clearway Buses, this undertaking having took over the 93 to Charford when First deregistered it, though the large group also rerouted the hourly 143 back via the estate. Today’s Diamond 52A to Redditch still runs this way. We oddly picked up less than we had picked up on the Birmingham section, but then, it was now approaching lunchtime and most of the Bromsgrove shoppers would have caught an earlier bus. Plus, from here to Worcester, the 144 makes up a twenty minute service with the 144A, which starts in Catshill and diverts via the Webbs of Wychbold Garden Centre. Notices on the bus stops state that, from May, all journeys will be 144s from Catshill – Worcester. I always thought that garden centre rerouting was odd, as you’re hardly likely to use the bus when buying large potted plants! Plus the centre is right on the main road anyhow!
The 144 has thus emerged very much as a route in two halves, with the dying Birmingham section contrasting with a much stronger Catshill – Worcester side, which is one of Worcestershire’s main trunk routes. At Bromsgrove Bus Station, we passed a parked ambulance, it’s crew desperately trying to save the life of a man who had collapsed on the grass verge alongside, one of the Paramedics performing CPR on the guy. I hope and pray that he pulled through.
We dropped off most of the passengers here, and picked up more, heading for the county city. And we then headed out along the main road, countryside returning until we reached Droitwich, serving the small town centre here, where more passenger exchange took place. Then, it was out into more countryside, passing through the village of Fernhill Heath before we entered the City of Worcester, entering the City Centre and terminating at the Crowngate Bus Station :
The 44
But I’d decided that I wanted to travel over as much of the original 144 as I possibly could, making my last bus journey from Birmingham – Malvern all on one ticket! Luckily, 35157, one of four Wright Streetdeck double deckers delivered in 2015 for the 44 Worcester – Malvern service, was waiting to depart :
Since the splitting of the 144 in 1976, the Malvern side has had a much more complex life. As already stated, the 412 was replaced by the re-extension of the 144 with Severnlink in 1979 which, as also already stated, was soon replaced by the hourly extension of the X43/X44 (from 1979-1982, numbered M43/M44), with services 343/344/345 maintaining a half hourly service and replacing various town services in Malvern (the original, M prefixed Town services went at the same time as the original 144 split in 1976, when Malvern garage, which also had a share in the 144, also closed.) 1989 saw the corridor converted to minibus operation, when the number 44 would first be used, but over the years, there would be various complex variations, with big buses returning in the early years of this century. By the time of the Streetdeck’s arrival, the route consisted of 44 and 44A variations, with an X43 and peak X44 subsequently added but now, there is just the twenty minute 44.
The route leaves Worcester on the bridge over the River Severn, passing the Worcestershire Cricket Ground and heading through an area called the Bull Ring before taking the Malvern Road, which heads out into the Worcestershire countryside. Although I’d enjoyed the rural sections of the 144, the fact that I was now upstairs on a double decker improved the views considerably! Spring was seen in all it’s elements, blossom on the trees making this bright, sunny day even brighter, added to by the bright yellow rape seed growing in the fields. It’s runs like this which I really like having my hobby!
We dived off the main road to serve the village of Powick, following the route originally followed by the 144 until we reached Malvern Link, the beginnings of the town of Malvern. We served a retail park that obviously wasn’t around in the 144’s day, and whereas the 144 then used to head directly to the main Town Centre at Great Malvern, the 44 heads to the area of Barnards Green, a pleasant little village in it’s own right, but I suspect the main reason the 44 serves here is because it passes through a council estate to reach it, with a fair number of Malvern’s bus passengers coming from this estate. As I’ve said before, council estates, with their lower than average car ownership, and the bus industry are mutually dependent on one another! And cuts to services like what’s happening with the 144 particularly effect the poorest in society who have no other alternative, severely reducing social mobility.
After Barnards Green, we headed along leafy, tree lined streets, with views of the Malvern hills behind :
…….. before reaching Great Malvern, where I decided to get off, leaving 35157 to continue into it’s terminal loop around the northern part of the town :
It would have been nice to have been able to get a bus to the old 144 terminus at Malvern Wells, carved out of the side of hill at Malvern Wells, a terminus perfect for those wandering off into the Malvern Hills (how enterprising of Midland Red’s renowned Traffic Manager O. C Power to introduce such a tourist oriented extension as early as 1916!) but I couldn’t find any evidence of a bus service heading that way. In 2014, I had travelled on a Malvern – Worcester via Upton service that had passed the old terminus but this corridor has virtually disappeared since. Much earlier, in 1986, I had ridden the X44’s summer Sunday extension to British Camp, which also passed the terminus, but again, this is long gone.
Local independent LMS, who have filled in several gaps that First have left in the Worcester area, run the 42 Malvern Town Service, which may serve Malvern Wells, but I’m not sure.
But I’d found another bus to ride on! As we had gone around the council estate in Barnards Green, we had overtaken the late running 44 in front, Wright Gemini bodied Volvo B7 32644, one of several of these buses transferred from Leicester a couple of years ago :
I decided that it would be nice to get this 2004 vintage bus back to Worcester, so I hung around in Great Malvern, reminiscing at one street corner about the time in 1991 when I’d performed Street Theatre there, as part of the Malvern Festival! I also visited a bakers for a sausage roll to go with my cheese sandwich. One rather large sausage roll was 80p, the lady at the counter asking if I’d like two for £1. I, of course, said “yes please!”
After around ten minutes, 35157 reappeared, with 32644 still behind. Would the older bus have the opportunity to overtake the newer here, thwarting my attempts to bash it? Luckily, whilst 35157 was loading at the stop, 32644 got stuck at the traffic lights, coming through just as the Streetdeck was pulling off. A lady with a pushchair had, I thought, eschewed the charms of the newer bus and put her hand out for 32644 to stop, which it’s lady driver did. It turns out that the lady passenger had left her cardigan on the bus and had stopped it to retrieve it! Whilst she did this, I boarded, scanned my Day Ticket on the ticket machine and went upstairs! And so I returned to Worcester, with the two buses leapfrogging each other, sharing the burden of picking up the passengers waiting, how bus driving should be done.
And it was a chance to enjoy the countryside from a top deck all over again!
A Double Decker On The 144!
My original intention was to get a bit more use out of my Day Ticket by sampling a few of First’s City Services but on the 144 stand was Wright Streetdeck 35158, destinated for Birmingham. Now, I’d spotted two Streetdecks on the 144 as I’d travelled out, including the bus after my departure from Birmingham, but the through journeys interwork at Worcester with the 144As to Catshill so, although I was mindful of the possibility of returning to Birmingham on a double decker, I knew the chances of me doing so were pretty slim! So the appearance of 35158 was a godsend that I simply couldn’t turn down!
And so I boarded and headed back out of Worcester and along the Salt Road, this time enjoying the countryside views from the top deck! In Fernhill Heath, we followed a Kevs Coaches E200 on the 355, a route that you may recall that I rode on last year, as featured in the blog “Worcestershire Connecta 3”.
Easy to imagine the days of BMMO D9s bouncing their way on this long route back in the day, or perhaps even earlier Midland Red types, like the FEDD, D5, D5B or D7 making their way filled in the summer with loads of Brummies eager to escape the city grime for days out at Droitwich, Worcester or amongst the Malvern Hills. Alas, the days of the 144 carrying such large amounts of leisure traffic have long gone, Brummies still heading to these pleasure spots usually doing so in their cars, adding to the congestion in these places. Is it too hopeful to wish for the plans proposed in the National Bus Strategy to help to achieve some reversal of this trend? Sadly, I suspect it probably is, given how dependent we have become on our cars, to the point of addiction! Still, despite the money involved being considered quite short in what’s considered necessary, the recently announced Bus Service Improvement Plans grants must help the bus survive and hopefully return to some prosperity. But I fear this has come too late for the Birmingham section of the 144. Possibly the best we can hope for now is for someone to sponsor an extension of one journey an hour to Rubery or, at best, Longbridge, allowing the remaining passengers to at least be able to change onto the NXWM 63. But as I write this in the Birmingham extension’s last week, this is beginning to look very unlikely (though again, it did happen! See blog “NXWM’s 144A & Other Stories”) .
So I was very glad that I took today’s opportunity to ride the 144 throughout for one last time, with my return on a double decker being particular icing on the cake!
A Meditative Pint!
Being back in Birmingham rather earlier than I’d intended, I decided to do something on my to do list! First though, I popped into New Street Station to pick up from the ticket machine some tickets that I’d booked the previous night as part of the Great British Rail Sale, another government initiative to get us back onto public transport, which I’ll doubtless talk more of in subsequent blogs!
After this, I caught NXWM Platinum standard MMC E400 6857 on the 23, which took me around the City Centre and onto Cambridge Street, where a bus stop currently stands conveniently outside the Prince of Wales, a pub recently reopened and refurbished by the Black Country Ales chain, which offers a good selection of real ales! This pub reminds me of another part of my short lived theatrical career, when I worked as an extra at the nearby Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1992 and 1993, when we all used to rush out after the performance had finished to get last orders in! I last went in there around 2005, with me old mate Jordan Batchelor on a Sunday afternoon, just before we went to see former Spandau Ballet lead singer Tony Hadley and ABC front man Martin Fry perform at the nearby International Convention Centre (ICC).
Since then, the pub has been totally refurbished, with the formerly separate bar and lounge knocked into one spacious and tasteful bar. I chose a pint of Pennine Brewing Company’s Scapegoat, which went down so smoothly that another two followed on, washing down a selection of snacks, my old favourite dry roasted peanuts, a bag of mini cheddars and that traditional Black Country icon, pork scratchings! Sitting opposite me were two guys who’s conversation gave away that they were roadies working either at the ICC or the nearby National Indoor Arena. They talked animatedly about the bands they had worked for and the acts they’d seen. I liked them! They seemed to be of the lucky breed who work with something that they loved. And thinking about it, so do I! I may not be as cool as them, but I don’t really care!
After the third pint of this sublime, 4% gravity ale, I decided to head home. The bus stop outside the pub is technically long term temporary, and should cease to be used once Broad Street reopens when the tram extension to Hagley Road is operational. I hope, though, that NXWM decide to keep at least some buses running along here to serve the back end of Brindley Place and all the flats that have been built here in the last twenty years.
I planned to get the first bus in the Bearwood direction, then get a 48, 48A or 49 home but the first bus to arrive was actually the 13 (once the 128, the 144 being yet another example of Midland Red’s former Birmingham area 1xx number series to leave the city. Why, only the weekend before the 144’s cutback, Clarabels tendered 167 & 168 from Sutton Coldfield – Erdington are replaced by NXWM’s extended 77 & 77A, which leaves just the long established Arriva ex Midland Red 110 to Tamworth, the NXWM ex Midland Red 126 to Dudley and the 101 – derived from the Birmingham Centrebus-to Oxhill Road, that survive of the series in Birmingham!) to Oldbury, meaning I could change there onto the 3 and 4 group to West Bromwich. The bus was 4693, another of the batch of ten 2005 Wright Gemini bodied Volvo B7s originally allocated to Coventry and now at West Bromwich, like 4688 that I’d rode on the 80 that morning.
I was rather tipsy as the bus made it’s way up to Five Ways, passing the hopefully soon to open Hagley Road tram terminus and along the Hagley Road to Portland Road, then City Road and Sandon Road into Bearwood and on through Warley. I couldn’t help thinking, in my alcoholic stupor, that I’m rather glad that I’m me! I love doing what I do on days like today, enjoying the countryside from a bus, watching and recording the changing scene. Sometimes, I’m covering sad events, like riding the Birmingham section of the 144 for the last time, sometimes I’m looking with cautious optimism of what’s promised ahead, like the fact that it’s looking likely that the diesel bus is in it’s final years, with emmisionless buses beginning to become more common. But basically, I’m just having fun, exploring this great country of ours, warts and all! I like buses! And trains and trams! I really enjoy getting out and riding on them and, to be honest, I feel quite sorry for people who don’t! But that’s me! I’m quite laid back about it! Always pursue whatever makes you happy! Well, as long as it doesn’t harm anyone else!
4693 arrived in Oldbury just in time for me to jump on Scania 1940 on the 3A from Blackheath – West Bromwich, which took me to West Bromwich Bus Station, where I walked straight onto yet another of those 2005 ex Coventry Geminis, 4696, on the 47 home. What a shame public transport isn’t always this good!
Tram, Train & Buscapades! 