Hurst Green and Olive Lane estate residents will now be able to get the bus to Halesowen and Blackheath.

Centro stepped in after an avalanche of complaints about the 230 Diamond service which changed route leaving hundreds of pensioners stranded.

Starting on Monday the new 231 service will run every hour from Mondays to Saturdays between Halesowen bus station and Halesowen Street in Blackheath, serving Hurst Green, Olive Lane estate and Rowley Regis.

Halesowen North Councillor Lesley Faulkner is delighted with the new service after campaigning for the stricken pensioners.

She said: “A great deal of people will benefit from this new service and I am grateful that Centro has listened to the concerns of the community.

“This service will provide a valuable lifeline to people such as the elderly and parents with small children who need to get to Halesowen town centre and Blackheath.

“I would urge people to get on board so we can all benefit from the new service in to the future.”

The service is being run by National Express West Midlands under subsidy from Centro, the transport authority for the West Midlands.

Babs Coombes, Centro’s Black Country are manager added: “We realised the loss of parts of the 230 service would be an issue for people living in the Olive Lane and Hurst Green areas.

“We are delighted that we have been able to take the opportunity to provide the new service 231 not only for the residents that will lose the 230 but also for the Woodbury Road area.”

It also provides a brand new link between Halesowen and Rowley Regis rail station and extra links from Blackheath to Rowley Regis station, making it much easier for people to connect to the rail network.

Until permanent bus stops are found the service will operate as a hail and ride bus on those roads.

The 231 will run hourly at the opposite half hour to the Diamond 230.