In a move that will let many people breathe a sigh of relief, the strike affecting National Express bus services in the West Midlands and Coventry is ending after the drivers agreed to a new pay deal.
The new pay deal will result in a 16.2% pay rise for drivers who work for both the National Express operations in the West Midlands (Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall, Stourbridge and Solihull) and Coventry.
It will also offer improvements to the drivers’ accident pay and hourly rates for working over the Christmas holidays. National Express has also guaranteed to implement new terms and conditions that were agreed upon with Unite in November last year.
The move comes after a crippling week of transport in the region, with National Express Buses operating over 90% of buses in the West Midlands Region.
In Quotes
In a statement, National Express said:
“We are pleased that the drivers have voted in favour of accepting the offer.
“We apologise to our customers and the communities we serve for the significant disruption and inconvenience this has caused over the last few weeks. We are pleased to be able to put this behind us and focus on delivering a bus service that customers can rely on.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:
“This is an important win for Unite members. By standing together our members at National Express secured an above inflation pay offer.
“Unite will leave no stone unturned to defend workers’ pay. This is yet another example of how Unite’s relentless focus on improving jobs, pay and conditions results in real ‘money in the pockets’ of our members.
Resumption of operations
According to National Express Bus, there will be a reduced service on Sunday and as close to normal as possible on Monday. National Express Coach services will continue to operate as normal.
As usual, check the usual feeds from Transport for West Midlands and Google Maps
The reduced service on Sunday includes the following:
Birmingham
- 4 | Birmingham – Solihull (via Sparkbrook, Tyseley, Acocks Green & Olton)
- 6 | Birmingham – Solihull (via Sparkbrook, Sparkhill, Hall Green & Shirley)
- 28 | Heartlands Hospital – Great Barr (via Ward End, Castle Bromwich, Erdington, Old Oscott & Perry Beeches)
- 51 | Birmingham – Walsall (via Great Barr & Perry Barr)
- 87 | Birmingham – Oldbury (via City Hospital & Smethwick)
- 97 | Birmingham – Chelmsley Wood (via Bordesley Green, Heartlands Hospital & Meadway)
- X4 | Birmingham – Falcon Lodge (via Aston Expressway, Erdington, Sutton Coldfield & Good Hope Hospital)
- X21| Birmingham – Weoley Castle (via Birmingham University & Selly Oak
Black Country
- 5 | West Bromwich – Sutton Coldfield (via Great Barr, Kingstanding & New Oscott)
- 6 | Dudley – Stourbridge (via Russells Hall Hospital, Brierley Hill & Amblecote)
Wolverhampton
- 59 | Wolverhampton – Ashmore Park (via New Cross Hospital & Wednesfield)
- 529 | Wolverhampton – Walsall (via Willenhall)
Coventry’s service update can be found here.
Well – that was a painful week
Even though I’ve been out of town for a few days, this strike underlies how critical the bus system is to a big city such as Birmingham. It’s resulted in people telecommuting, paying awful surge fares, hunting taxis, and missing school – to name a few things.
The city does have some additional transit options – including local railways and a single metro (light rail) line, however, for those going short distances or to those locations that are not rail-connected – it has been awful.
Hopefully, these actions might spur Transport for West Midlands and the West Midlands Combined Authority to examine further connectivity options with other transit options – other than buses.
And maybe a bit of peace on the buses over the next few months.
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