In message , Paul Corfield
writes

Sorry, sent all that TWM stuff before I saw that others had filled in
most of the details.

However, to add to this.......
The 11 in Birmingham goes up to 11E doesn't it? So the Outer Circle can
be divided into sectors?

As someone else has said "E" indicates a short, extra?,
"Exception".

trip on TWM routes. TWM don't seem to use letters for local networks
or anything else such as X for express - they are simply buses in the
9xx series.
That's the sole survivor of a system dating back to early WMPTE days:

1-199 South Division (Birmingham & Solihull)
200-299 North Division Dudley
300-399 North Division - Walsall
400-499 North Division - Sandwell
500-599 North Division - Wolverhampton
600-699 North Division Works Services
700-700 North Division School Services
800-899 South division Works & School Services
900-999 "Services with special characteristics" (Limited stop,
supermarket free buses, race day specials, etc.)

double checks Centro bus maps

They do have some "A" and "H"
There's only one "H" I think, the 406H so numbered because it was
diverted some years ago to pass a Sandwell District General Hospital.

suffixes and "C" for clockwise on circulars and "N" for night buses.
I'd forgotten about "N". There are so few of those left!
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

MIG wrote:

(snip)

I thought that beginning 3xx or 4xx implied that the route wasn't
direct. It certainly seems to work that way in practice.

Like the 484, which seems to visit every single house in south London
while going nowhere much. And a 3 something which I got on at Queen
Elizabeth Hospital to go a very short distance to Woolwich centre. I
think it went via Margate.

I'll have less bad mouthing of the 484 thank you! I have several
friends down that way, many of whom utilise it frequently, and I
patronise it occasionally as well.

Yes, in places it does go all around the houses, but should one be
familiar with those parts of south London you'd see it provides good
"cross-country" links (to completely abuse a phrase!) between
neighbourhoods in ways that the trunk bus routes along main roads
cannot do, as the main roads just aren't in the 'right' places.

Mizter T wrote:
MIG wrote:

(snip)

I thought that beginning 3xx or 4xx implied that the route wasn't
direct. It certainly seems to work that way in practice.

Like the 484, which seems to visit every single house in south London
while going nowhere much. And a 3 something which I got on at Queen
Elizabeth Hospital to go a very short distance to Woolwich centre. I
think it went via Margate.

I'll have less bad mouthing of the 484 thank you! I have several
friends down that way, many of whom utilise it frequently, and I
patronise it occasionally as well.

Yes, in places it does go all around the houses, but should one be
familiar with those parts of south London you'd see it provides good
"cross-country" links (to completely abuse a phrase!) between
neighbourhoods in ways that the trunk bus routes along main roads
cannot do, as the main roads just aren't in the 'right' places.


I wasn't bad mouthing it. Many's the time I've rolled out of a house
in the middle of some unfamiliar residential street after a few cans
thinking "how do I get home from here?" and then (as one squeezes round
the corner) realise "oh, the 484 comes here as well".

It generally gets you from just about any house to a bus route that you
are familiar with.

MIG wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
MIG wrote:

(snip)

I thought that beginning 3xx or 4xx implied that the route wasn't
direct. It certainly seems to work that way in practice.

Like the 484, which seems to visit every single house in south London
while going nowhere much. And a 3 something which I got on at Queen
Elizabeth Hospital to go a very short distance to Woolwich centre. I
think it went via Margate.

I'll have less bad mouthing of the 484 thank you! I have several
friends down that way, many of whom utilise it frequently, and I
patronise it occasionally as well.

Yes, in places it does go all around the houses, but should one be
familiar with those parts of south London you'd see it provides good
"cross-country" links (to completely abuse a phrase!) between
neighbourhoods in ways that the trunk bus routes along main roads
cannot do, as the main roads just aren't in the 'right' places.


I wasn't bad mouthing it. Many's the time I've rolled out of a house
in the middle of some unfamiliar residential street after a few cans
thinking "how do I get home from here?" and then (as one squeezes round
the corner) realise "oh, the 484 comes here as well".

It generally gets you from just about any house to a bus route that you
are familiar with.

I hope you don't take my witterings too seriously! Yes, said bus route
does scoop people up from all over the place. As you rightly point out
it does go round (all) the houses - using it for a Camberwell Green to
Lewisham journey would be somewhat absurd.