404 Bus Route – Walsall-Blackheath

The four-​oh-​four is a stalwart of the Black Country bus scene, working its way across this part of the world from Walsall down to Blackheath; taking in Stone Cross, West Bromwich and Oldbury along the way. The 404A goes one step further and traverses the landscape as far as the wilds of Cradley Heath.
The bus runs every few minutes during the day and yet it always seems to be packed. When it’s not packed you’ll find you have a couple of weirdos as your travelling companions. It’s a long and winding journey along an unpicturesque and frankly quite boring route. But it does what it has to do and is the quickest way of getting between Oldbury and Blackheath on public transport. The two other buses that go between the two, the 128 and 238, go off all around the houses whereas our hero just shoots straight down the Oldbury Road.
If you’ve never got a bus before, the 404’s not the best one to start with. If you have and you don’t need to go anywhere on this route, don’t worry, you’re not missing out. If you ever do get it, it’s not that bad is it?