Transport for West Midlands is proposing some changes to the 424 bus service, still affectionately known as the “Sadie bus”. The main change for Great Barr is that will be split into two routes to eliminate the existing routes tendency to double back on itself. A result of this is that the route that serves Abbotsford Avenue and Whitecrest (blue route above), and parts of Hamstead will no longer take people as far as ASDA. People will need to change to the number 5. On the other hand, the other (red) route restored a bus service to Nether Hall Park.

At the moment, these changes are still subject to change as Transport for West Midlands is consulting the companies that provide this service, so there may be some minor changes before the routes start operating at the end of January.