Fewer journeys through ring and ride service

Driver shortages and road congestion have resulted in a drop in the use of ring and ride bus services across the West Midlands.

Between October and December, there were 54,500 journeys made through West Midlands Bus on Demand (WMBOD), a fall of 2.6% from the same period in 2024, latest figures show.

From 1 December last year two new operators were mobilised and service availability was now at 100%, a report to a West Midlands Combined Authority scrutiny committee said.

It stated passenger numbers went down largely due to the reduced performance in the first two months of that quarter, because of driver shortages and "reduced reliability from increased congestion".

Last year, Ring and Ride, which covered Birmingham, Wolverhampton and the Black Country, was combined with Coventry's on-demand service to form WMBOD.

Demand responsive transport in Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry is now run by operator Via and a new contract for the Black Country ring and ride was awarded to operator Hats.

WMBOD introduced a series of upgrades which managers said were designed to boost efficiency and passenger experience.

These included introducing a fleet of smaller vehicles, allowing people in wheelchairs to travel together.

The report to the authority's Transport Delivery Overview and Scrutiny Committee said: "From 1st December 2025 two new operators were mobilised to deliver the service.

"There have been some initial teething issues however service availability is now at 100 per cent."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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