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Smethwick
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====Buses and trams==== [[File:Midland Red bus 5399 (BHA 399C), 26 August 2002 (1).jpg|thumb|left|A [[Midland Red]] D9 in 2002]] The town of Smethwick has a long association with buses. From 1914 the famous [[Midland Red|Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company (BMMO or Midland Red)]] was based on Bearwood Road on the site of the current Bearwood Shopping Centre until 1974. The garage later saw use as an indoor market until it was demolished in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://midlandred.net/depots/bd.shtml |title=MidlandRed.net - Depots - Bearwood depot |access-date=25 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402123034/http://midlandred.net/depots/bd.shtml |archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref> Smethwick never had its own Corporation Transport Department, like West Bromwich or [[Birmingham City Transport|Birmingham]]. Most bus services until the earlier 1970s were provided by the Midland Red, West Bromwich and Birmingham. In the early 1970s, all local bus transport was taken over by the [[West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive|WMPTE]] until [[Bus deregulation in the United Kingdom|deregulation]] in the 1980s. Since then, [[National Express West Midlands]] has been the primary operator in the West Midlands. Steam trams started through Smethwick in 1885 operated by Birmingham and Midland Tramways. These were replaced by electric trams in 1904 and then merged into the [[Birmingham Corporation Tramways]] in 1906 and trams eventually ran from both the Dudley Road and Hagley Road direction. Dudley Road trams operated to Cape Hill and then diverged to either take the route towards [[Dudley]] (Route 87) via the High Street or towards Bearwood (Route 29) via Waterloo Road, terminating near the site of current Bearwood Bus Station and Kings Head public house. Route 34 from Birmingham to Bearwood along the Hagley Road and terminated at the top of Bearwood Road next to the route from Cape Hill, despite terminating so close to each other there was no physical link between route 29 and 34 in Bearwood.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol17/pp120-123 |title=Smethwick: Public services | British History Online |website=British-history.ac.uk |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925023736/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol17/pp120-123 |url-status=live }}</ref> Route 34 was the first route in Smethwick to disappear, in 1930; the last tram route was closed in 1939 and replaced by motor buses. Both the current [[National Express West Midlands]] routes 82 and 87 are former tram routes and the 87 in fact uses the same number. [[File:The Hawthorns Station - geograph.org.uk - 1366107.jpg|thumb|[[The Hawthorns railway station]] and metro stop]] The [[West Midlands Metro]], opened in 1999, is more of a light railway than a tramway. It follows the former [[Great Western Railway]] track bed from [[Birmingham Snow Hill railway station|Birmingham Snow Hill station]] to the former Wolverhampton Low Level via West Bromwich until Priestfield in Wolverhampton. After that, it becomes a tramway proper and runs along the Bilston Road into Wolverhampton city centre. From late 2015 the service was extended from its former terminus at Snow Hill through the city centre to [[Grand Central tram stop|Grand Central]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.centro.org.uk/transport/metro/birmingham-extension/construction-phases/ |title=Construction phases - Construction phases |website=Centro.org.uk |date=2016-06-17 |access-date=2016-06-29 |archive-date=13 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313080543/http://www.centro.org.uk/transport/metro/birmingham-extension/construction-phases/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The metro can be caught at the [[The Hawthorns railway station|Hawthorns railway station]].
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