The Stourbridge Shuttle is celebrating seven million passenger journeys since services began in 2009.

This incredible achievement helps to showcase the value that a short feeder route can have to a local community like Stourbridge, particularly as a convenient and cost effective public transport option.

Opened in 1879, the Branch is thought to be the shortest passenger transit route in Europe at 0.8 miles long, and it has now been carrying passengers for over 143 years.

It operates at a maximum speed limit of twenty miles an hour and requires two drivers at a time to ensure safety and provide customer service duties.

Despite their easy-accessibility and high levels of reliability, there are only two Shuttles are the currently in operation on the railway.

The Stourbridge Shuttle is the only operational example of Very Light Rail – which is essentially a self-powered tram with a drivers cab at both ends.

Very Light Rail has become something of a buzz word recently, but Pre Metro have been supporting the concept since the late John Parry’s early innovation, the Parry People Mover.

It great to see that the Shuttle has become synonymous with Stourbridge and convenient public transportation, and it will remain that way for the foreseeable future.