A Touch of Class

Following widespread vehicle vandalism and a number of assaults on bus drivers during the late 1990s, virtually all evening bus services in Redditch were withdrawn. This left many parts of the town without public transport after early evening, creating significant accessibility issues, particularly for staff and visitors travelling to the Alexandra Hospital. In an effort to improve public transport, Worcestershire County Council successfully secured funding through the Department for Transport's Urban Bus Challenge initiative in 2003. The scheme focused on improving access to the Alexandra Hospital from across Redditch and enabled First Midland Red to purchase a fleet of new low-floor Alexander Dennis Enviro300 single-deck buses for daytime services. To restore evening bus provision, the County Council adopted an innovative approach by contracting a local taxi operator rather than a conventional bus company. A new three-vehicle Taxibus network was introduced, with Route 51 serving Batchley every 20 minutes. This service was coordinated with a similar 20-minute frequency on Routes 55 and 56, providing convenient connections while also serving the Alexandra Hospital. The Taxibus operation was entrusted to the local taxi company A Touch of Class, which purchased brand-new seven-seat minibuses specifically for the contract. The flexible, lower-cost operation proved an effective way of reintroducing evening public transport to areas that had previously lost their bus services. The Taxibus network remained in operation until 12 April 2009, when Worcestershire County Council reorganised the evening bus contracts. Services to Crabbs Cross and Batchley were renumbered 55A and 56A respectively, with operation transferring to Diamond Bus, bringing the evening network back under a conventional bus operation.