Bus transport in Bromsgrove has a long and varied history, dating back to Midland Red operations.
First operate a single service in the town, the 144/144A route which ran to Birmingham in one direction and Worcester in the other.
First previously operated many other services in the town, but in March 2013, the First depots at Kidderminster and Redditch were purchased by Diamond Bus.
The company states that insufficient passengers are carried between Catshill and Birmingham to make the section viable.
Diamond run the 52 service from Kidderminster to Redditch via Bromsgrove and the 52A from Bromsgrove (used to be princess of wales hospital) to Alexandra Hospital RedditchFurther expansion resulted from the acquisition of the Kidderminster and Redditch depots of First Midland Red.
Diamond did announce that from the 5th January 2025 the 145 would no longer serve Rubery, Droitwich and Wychbold and the 145A would be withdrawn.
However following intervention by the County Council the planned changes have been cancelled while funding for the service is discussed.
MRD operate a number of local services in the Bromsgrove area, mostly under contract to Worcestershire County Council.
Redline were a small local operator registered in School Lane, Lickey End, Bromsgrove.
[14] Operation continued by Redline until the company ceased trading in 1998, when the routes were taken over by First Midland Red.
Four years later Pete's Travel won the contract to operate the services on 3 November 2002, only to de-register them on 4 September 2003 when they were once again taken over by First Midland Red.
[20] From 12 April 2009, Diamond Bus won the contract to operate this service once again as routes 140 and 141, replacing First.
18 April 2004 saw the first of many changes to the route, it being re-routed in the Catshill area to replace the withdrawn 94 service.
A year later on 12 June 2005 the 143 route was cut back to run Catshill - Bromsgrove - Redditch only, with its frequency halved.
On 8 June 2008 several journeys were re-routed in the Bromsgrove area to serve the Charford estate.
Services on the 144 corridor running between Droitwich and Great Malvern go back to 1913, eventually being extended to Birmingham in 1914.
The full route used to run from Birmingham to Bromsgrove via the Pershore road, however it was curtailed to Cotteridge when taken over by Zak's Buses in 2003 (later Central Connect and Diamond Bus).
MRD introduced this service as a 1 journey each direction running between Bromsgrove and the Merry Hill centre.
The 007 route was registered by Ludlows 26 January 1987, at the time only running between Halesowen and the village of Romsley.
On 7 January 1997 the section of the route between Redditch town centre and Alexandra Hospital was withdrawn.
The route sparked local controversy in July 2010 when it was withdrawn, however it was quickly replaced by a new operator (Midland Rider) on a reduced timetable.
[33] and from August 2010, Diamond restarted operations on the 007 after Choice Travel/Midland Rider lost the contract.
[21] The 92 started life in the 90s as a route run by Redline in competition with First on the same corridor, however was withdrawn when Redine ceased trading in 1998.