Britannia Travel owned company, Pete's Travel, are set to go to battle as they take on Travel West Midlands. From Sunday 28 March, Pete's hope to take passengers away from Travel West Midlands on Sundays as they begin to operate one of Travel West Midlands's premier routes in Stourbridge, service 9, Stourbridge - Birmingham City Centre via Halesowen.

Pete's Travel will operate this service on Sundays and Bank Holidays only, but there are hoping to nick custom from Travel West Midlands by operating this service five minutes before Travel West Midland's journeys. Pete's may gain the upper hand by taking cash paying passengers, but may lose out on passengers who use Travel West Midlands Travelcards.

Will Pete's win the battle with the bus giants, or will they be forced to submit? To find out, keep checking the news page on SBI, who will report on this, the first battle of the buses in Stourbridge in years.

Another operator has decided to take on Travel West Midlands in another part of the county. Diamond Bus have decided to use the same tactics from Monday 29 March, by operating - Monday to Saturday - service 78A, Wednesbury to West Bromwich. Diamond Bus will use the same tactics as Pete's and operate this service five minutes before the journeys operated by Travel West Midlands.

Does this mean the start of a major bus war in the West Midlands in 2004?