Every route 99. 14 of 25.

Sunday 12th July 2026

I’ve ticked off Britain’s 13 bus routes numbered 99 in the South East, South West, Wales and East Anglia so it’s now time to head to the Midlands and my expectations of receiving a top quality travel experience on this latest route 99 exploration were sky high having avidly read the undiluted praise heaped upon Rotala owned Diamond Bus in the West Midlands by one of this blog’s dedicated readers and regular commentator.

It’s the only route 99 in the Rotala owned empire as well as being the only route 99 in the West Midlands conurbation.

It runs between Solihull and Kingshurst via Yardley and Lea Hall and. along with sister route numbered 99A. provides a half hourly frequency as far as Lea Hall railway station (where journeys numbered 99A terminate about two thirds of the full route) with an hourly frequency from there to Kingshurst for the final third of the route.

End to end journey time is just under an hour with a span of day from 06:30 to 19:30 with, unusually, a slightly earlier start and later finish on Saturdays and just an hourly service on Sundays between 09:30 and 18:30.

There’s also a route numbered 98 which parallels the 99/99A at the southern end every half hour to make for a 15 minute frequency between Solihull and Lyndon but then the 98 takes in Sheldon before Yardley and terminates at Alum Rock.

I aimed to catch the 11:33 departure from Solihull railway station where there’s a bus arrival and departure area right alongside the station with bus stops and shelters clearly marked, as well as timetables on display, so it wasn’t hard to find Stand F where buses on the 99/99A depart.

There were a couple of other passengers waiting which gave me reassurance especially as the minutes drifted by after 11:33 with no sign of a bus nor was one tracking anywhere near Solihull according to bus times.org.

I could sense the frustration from the Veolia employee wearing high viz waiting for the bus as the minutes ticked by with his frequent glancing at his watch and despairing look towards where the bus would come from. There was palpable relief when the bus appeared at 11:37.

It was a new Enviro200 with smart blue moquette on comfortable seats which makes all the difference for an hour’s journey.

The three of us were quickly aboard and we set off to the main bus stops in Solihull town centre where a good crowd of 10 were waiting with their shopping bags, wheely aids and trolleys but were all soon aboard…

… with one more joining us at the next stop by the hospital and from where the ‘next stop display’ monitor inside the bus froze and didn’t work again (nor the audio) for the rest of the journey..

It wasn’t long before some of the short riders among the 13 passengers on board started alighting with ones and twos boarding and alighting as we headed through a rather nice residential area towards Olton.

The driver was making a valiant attempt to make up lost time but I could sense his frustration at all the traffic calming measures we were encountering through this well-heeled area particularly protruding islands and kerbs of which we clipped quite a few.

As you can see from the map shown earlier, the route includes numerous twists and turns to the right and the left with tight corners making for challenging driving conditions which overall the driver coped well with.

All told we turned left 12 times and turned right 14 times on the route – a turn, on average, every two minutes.

As we reached the Swan Island retail area in Yardley, half way along the route, where there’s one of those giant Tesco Extra stores, we had eight on board having lost 11 but picked up seven at 13 bus stops including a stretch of route along the main A45 Coventry Road with a bus lane and souped up bus shelters ready for the long awaited Swift project.

In fact all the shelters we passed on the route were to a high standard and reflect well on the work done by the West Midlands Combined Authority to make improvements in this area.

Six boarded at Tesco Extra as we began the second half of the journey towards Kingshurst making for 11 on board. In this part of the journey we stopped 10 times setting down 15 passengers and picking up just four. No passengers alighted or boarded at Lea Hall station as we passed by.

The second half of the route was much quieter than the first but still an impressive number of passengers, however after Lea Hall numbers did drop and it was easy to see why only an hourly frequency applies to this end of the route.

It was interesting to note that as we approached the terminus, the only passenger left on the bus, aside from myself, was the anxious Veolia employee who’d boarded at Solihull station. He travelled the entire journey save for the last couple of bus stops.

I could see why he was worried the bus might not be running.

The terminus in the KIngshurst residential area was a lovely turning circle and the driver prepared himself for a nice break of 34 minutes before heading back to Solihull – the time needed so that from Lea Hall there’s an even 30 minute frequency with the journeys numbered 99A.

An interesting journey on a well used route linking several residential areas in this large conurbation with retail, employment, education and health facilities.

Standard ingredients for a successful bus route and a nice comfortable ride in a new bus.

Well done Diamond Bus. You met expectations.

Roger French

Did you catch the previous 13 blogs in this series? 1 Eastbourne-Hastings, 2 Petworth-Chichester, 3 Woolwich-Bexleyheath, 4 Tilbury Town-Tilbury Ferry Terminal, 5 Chippenham-Swindon, 6 Ubley-Chew Valley, 7 Exmouth-Brixington-Exmouth, 8 Taunton-Chard, 9 Pontypridd town circular, 10 Cheltenham-Gloucester, 11 Leigh-on-Sea-Shoeburyness East Beach, 12 Malton-Chelmsford, 13 Lowestoft-Southwold-Halesworth.

Summer blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSSu