There appears to be a lot of excitement at money becoming available for new 100
mph rolling stock on the London Euston Line and for a fleet of new
“super-buses”. Problem is both will operated on congested rail and road
networks. By contrast London is granted billions of pounds for the Thameslink
service.
My good friend Cllr Jon Hunt is now leading on buses on the PTA, problem is,
like Khalid Mahmood MP he hates the tram. OK, but neither has any other
modernisation idea to put forward as far as I can see. I’ve asked them enough times. Perhaps it’s these gentlemen who are responsible for beginning to paint the trams in outrageous colours!
I use the number 11, a show case route. It now has real time information at
stops. Piy about the buses though. Today I saw that the next bus was due in 7
minutes, but so was the following one. The next one was 28 minutes. The times of
the first two eventually reduced to 6 minutes only to revert to 7! They stayed
at that while the 3rd bus reduced to 18 minutes. Were the others going backwards.
There is, of course a real problem on the number 11 route which the former
administration were tackling by improving junctions and introducing bus lanes.
Len Gregory, in control(?) for 3 years now seems to have taken things backwards,
like the no. 11 bus with closure of lanes. Improvements proposed 4 years ago
such as the Perry Barr underpass have vanished apparently. Menawhile congestion
increases apace.
I like using the tram for all the reasons I dislike the bus. It doesn’t get held
up and is usually more reliable. I say “usually” because that service seems to
be falling into disrepair. Most of the station real time indicators don’t work,
and on the trams the information system is not operating. It’s not so bad if
it’s switched off but sometimes it gives the wrong information.

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Letter to the Birmingham Post, 9/7/2006
Dear Editor,
I was present at the Core Cities Conference when it was held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 2003-4 as Cabinet Member for Transportation and Street Services. I felt at the time that there was good will towards Birmingham and that people were naturally drawn to it as the hub of the region.
Birmingham is at the centre of the region – and, as I argued at the time, at the heart of the nation. Nobody suggested then that there should be any other association – for the reasons given, that no one would know where a “Heart of England” region would be. It would be disastrous to pretend otherwise. What I did regret at the time was that Coventry had not been properly involved. I don’t know if that to bad feeling and contributed to the determination to go ahead with a separate airport. (Again I argued then that any plans would have to be put together with Birmingham because of shared flight paths and the consequent potential for long-term conflict).
It is deeply saddening that the well-being of the region is put as second to fighting over the name of the region. Manchetsr, Newcastle, Bristol, Liverpool Leeds et al don’t seem to have that problem. For goodness sake let’s get on with the business and pull alongside Britain’s Second City!
Yours sincerely,
John Tyrrell,
Handsworth

As Cabinet Member for Transportation on Birmingham City Council it seemed to me necessary to press ahead with what was on the table rather than stop to consider other ideas. There were a range of measures in process dealing with congestion, pollution, cutting accidents and so on which needed to be moved on. Stopping and starting didn’t seem an option – as it has to the present mixed-up leadership. A delay in the Metro extension Alastair Darling has warned, could prove a very grave mistake and extremely costly.
A feature of the year 2003-4 was a Transport Summit chaired by Fiona Alexander, Editor of the Birmingham Post. The Post’s “Get Moving” campaign helped put transport well on the agenda. Remember Tony Blair thought it was not an issue and put Prescott in charge.

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WHEN WILL THE MIDLANDS EVER GET A DECENT TRANSPORT SYSTEM – NOT EVER IF THE TORIES AIDED BY THE LIB DEMS CAN HELP IT!

The West Midlands is crying out for a sustainable transport system. The Midland Metro, begun in the early nineteen ninties, runs between Wolverhanpton and Birmingham, Snow Hill. We worked hard last year to take the route further to Five Ways at Edgbaston, to be followed by a route to the planned Eastside development as far as Vauxhall and Duddeston. This would create a link with the rail network and relieve pressure on New Street. The problem is the Tories want an underground. This was tried in the late nineties when a proposal was made for a route from Five Ways to Duddeston. The prohibitive cost drove it out of the window. However Tories and their Lib Dem partners in crime (Lib Dem voters would you have voted for them if you knew you would get a Tory led Council?) continue to press ahead to destroy our one hope of getting a good reliable system which will get people out of their cars. The existing line is increasingly popular. All the money and work put into this following the Local Transport Plan (2000, revised 2003) will have been for nothing. Will they never learn?
“Darling – Tube is holding you back”, Birmingham Post, Nov 3 2004

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“Birmingham hasn’t got a public transport system” – Ken Livingstone.
Birmingham is at the hub of the nation and, as a spokesperson for Virgin Rail confirms, the whole of the rail network is affected by what goes on there. However the Strategic Rail Authority has repeatedly stated that there are no resources available. One might ask what is “strategic” about this body if it is the case that it fundamentally affects the whole network? The problem is that the West Midlands, as with everywhere that is not London, is seen as a “region”. Even then this particular region is underfunded compared to others. The MPs representing the region don’t appear to be grasping this issue, even though one, Khalid Mahmood, is now PPS to Tony McNulty in the Transport Department. However Mr Mahmood is even opposing the extension of the Metro along the Walsall Road, so what hope is there?

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