{"id":615792,"date":"2025-12-06T11:06:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T11:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/615792\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T11:06:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T11:06:17","slug":"changes-to-birmingham-and-solihull-ring-and-ride-all-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/615792\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes to Birmingham and Solihull Ring and Ride &#8211; all you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The service has become part of West Midlands Bus On Demand &#8211; here&#8217;s a rundown of the changes<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Ring-and-Ride.jpg\" alt=\"A West Midlands Ring and Ride bus.\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>A West Midlands Ring and Ride bus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"birminghammail\">The changes to the Birmingham and Solihull Ring and Ride service, now part of <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">West Midlands Bus On Demand<\/strong> , are summarized below:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"UnorderedList_unordered-list__gzblI\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"unordered-list\" publication=\"birminghammail\">\n<li class=\"sc-700e1ff3-0 VljCu\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">New Operator and Unified Service:<\/strong> The Ring and Ride service for Birmingham and Solihull, along with Coventry&#8217;s On Demand services, have been merged into a single operation called <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">West Midlands Bus On Demand<\/strong> . This new, unified service is being run by the operator <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Via<\/strong> with the goal of making the network simpler and easier for passengers to use.<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-700e1ff3-0 VljCu\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Focus on Efficiency and Passenger Experience:<\/strong> The integration brings with it a series of upgrades designed to boost both the service&#8217;s overall efficiency and the experience for its passengers. The West Midlands Mayor highlighted that this change is intended to guarantee &#8220;affordable, high quality and accessible transport.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-700e1ff3-0 VljCu\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Introduction of New Vehicles:<\/strong> As part of the upgrades, the service has introduced a new fleet of <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">smaller, more agile vehicles<\/strong> . This change is aimed at improving operational flexibility and efficiency, and specifically allows <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">wheelchair users to travel together<\/strong> .<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-700e1ff3-0 VljCu\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Service Hours Remain Unchanged:<\/strong> Despite the major operational changes, the existing <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">service hours have not been altered<\/strong> . This ensures continuity for current passengers who rely on the service at specific times.<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-700e1ff3-0 VljCu\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Retained Regional Access for Eligible Users:<\/strong> Individuals who were eligible for the former Ring &amp; Ride scheme will <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">retain their access to travel throughout the wider West Midlands region<\/strong> . This preserves the original service&#8217;s scope for its key demographic.<\/li>\n<li class=\"sc-700e1ff3-0 VljCu\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Separate Black Country Contract:<\/strong> A separate change has occurred for the <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Black Country Ring and Ride service<\/strong> , which has been awarded to a different operator, <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">HATS<\/strong> , with that new contract also coming into effect this week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"birminghammail\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">You can read the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/news\/midlands-news\/new-era-west-midlands-ring-33005852\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"full story hereLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">full story here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The service has become part of West Midlands Bus On Demand &#8211; here&#8217;s a rundown of the changesA&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,33451,748,393,4884,2671,1263,16,15,17008],"class_list":{"0":"post-615792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-buses","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-solihull","14":"tag-transport","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-west-midlands-combined-authority"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115672304881421300","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}