Predictions for 2024

[woody38]

I have always thought public transport should be there to provide a service not to make money, especially in the climate we live in now, somehow we have to stop people obsession with the car.
I don't like Andy Street never have, he has killed Birmingham with his obsession with his bet project the metro.  instead of wasting all the money on closing roads like Corporation Street, it would have been better to have built a busway like in Luton, buses then could have entered & exited the busway using normal roads saving millions
My prediction for 2024 is he is massively beaten & the West Midlands area can move on better & stronger.

[Tony]

I have always thought public transport should be there to provide a service not to make money, especially in the climate we live in now, somehow we have to stop people obsession with the car.
I don't like Andy Street never have, he has killed Birmingham with his obsession with his bet project the metro.  instead of wasting all the money on closing roads like Corporation Street, it would have been better to have built a busway like in Luton, buses then could have entered & exited the busway using normal roads saving millions
My prediction for 2024 is he is massively beaten & the West Midlands area can move on better & stronger.

So which bit of Metro are you blaming Andy Street for?

Everything currently being built was planned more than 6 years ago when he bacame Mayor

[Westy]

Someone thinks outside the mentality that my road should be on a Walsall to Cannock route & brings back a service after nearly 2 years to somewhere!

[woody38]

So which bit of Metro are you blaming Andy Street for?

Everything currently being built was planned more than 6 years ago when he bacame Mayor

Andy Street signed of the Wednesbury Dudley link when it could have easily have been a busway, wasted millions on rapid bus transit, which is no nearer to being operational than the day they started it.

[j789]

Andy Street signed of the Wednesbury Dudley link when it could have easily have been a busway, wasted millions on rapid bus transit, which is no nearer to being operational than the day they started it.

Could you highlight where these 'wasted millions' were spent? Upgrading roads with bus priority measures is NOT A WASTE OF MONEY no matter what type of bus eventually runs along the route, Sprint or traditional, so what 'wasted millions' are you actually talking about?

And as for advocating a Labour mayor, perhaps look at the sh*t show that is Labour-run BCC. I don't believe it was just the conservatives who decided to underpay women for decades and thus bankrupted the modern day set up - Labour are as bad!

[Tony]

Could you highlight where these 'wasted millions' were spent? Upgrading roads with bus priority measures is NOT A WASTE OF MONEY no matter what type of bus eventually runs along the route, Sprint or traditional, so what 'wasted millions' are you actually talking about?

And as for advocating a Labour mayor, perhaps look at the sh*t show that is Labour-run BCC. I don't believe it was just the conservatives who decided to underpay women for decades and thus bankrupted the modern day set up - Labour are as bad!

The whole reply is contradictory moaning about wasting millions on 'rapid bus transit' then saying the Dudley tramlink could be a 'rapid bus transit'

Without Andy Street there's no way the current Government would have given the many millions for public transport they have.

Let's see which works out best for bus travel between the West Midlands & Greater Manchester, You won't find many people in Wigan happy with their bus service at the moment, general comment there is 'can we have Stagecoach back'

[BlackCountryBusSpotter]

I have always thought public transport should be there to provide a service not to make money, especially in the climate we live in now, somehow we have to stop people obsession with the car.
I don't like Andy Street never have, he has killed Birmingham with his obsession with his bet project the metro.  instead of wasting all the money on closing roads like Corporation Street, it would have been better to have built a busway like in Luton, buses then could have entered & exited the busway using normal roads saving millions
My prediction for 2024 is he is massively beaten & the West Midlands area can move on better & stronger.

I have mixed feelings I don't like Tories as a rule, I do like some of the stuff he has done New Trains although are they gonna be viable or are they gonna be gone in 30 years but the Tram is killing off buses and the City of Birmingham and the Black Country. You still won't attract Mondeo man out of his Mondeo when the Tram is late overbudget and sits in the same traffic as him and is rammed. But I do not want Franchising.

I think Sprint should be sacked. I do agree though with Tony and the others that the Tram is good in some regards. And had we not got him the Transport would have been rubbish which for an area as well as connected as Birmingham and The Black Country that has 3 major Motorways in the M6, M5 and M42 serve it, Major A Roads The A5, A34, A38, A41, A47, A454, A449, A456 and many others it would have been shambles had the Second City not good Transport to rival London. Trams to me are good and Bad. For example if your a West Brom fan and you want to get to West Brom you can't get the 74 after the game for a while due to the Road being closed so you could get the Tram to West Brom or walk but for example today it's Sunday Service you might walk miss a bus and wait half an hour whereas the Tram you could get the bus as it's quicker than Walking. But when the Tram fails the bus picks up the slack and if the A41 is screwed in Wolverhampton then the Tram and the bus is screwed.

[EK40]

The whole reply is contradictory moaning about wasting millions on 'rapid bus transit' then saying the Dudley tramlink could be a 'rapid bus transit'

Without Andy Street there's no way the current Government would have given the many millions for public transport they have.

Let's see which works out best for bus travel between the West Midlands & Greater Manchester, You won't find many people in Wigan happy with their bus service at the moment, general comment there is 'can we have Stagecoach back'

BRT systems could never replace a proper light rail system honestly but they do have a place but the general concensus ive seen in most urban planning/transport spaces ive seen is that light rail is always a better option.

in an ideal world it should be light rail/heavy rail doing the trunk routes with local buses connecting these systems together with other towns & areas, with BRT systems filling in the gaps where a light rail system may not be as viable but a local bus service is not enough. obviously though none of this is probably going to happen since we are in the uk lmao and we cant do anything without it being overly expensive,overbudget and late.

[Ronnoc]

BRT systems could never replace a proper light rail system honestly but they do have a place but the general concensus ive seen in most urban planning/transport spaces ive seen is that light rail is always a better option.

in an ideal world it should be light rail/heavy rail doing the trunk routes with local buses connecting these systems together with other towns & areas, with BRT systems filling in the gaps where a light rail system may not be as viable but a local bus service is not enough. obviously though none of this is probably going to happen since we are in the uk lmao and we cant do anything without it being overly expensive,overbudget and late.

Very much agree with your comments. However, I don't think that solely trams would really cut it anymore here in the WMCA. Seeing the amount of economic growth in Birmingham alongside the lackluster infrastructure requires thinking beyond trams, perhaps a segregated rapid transit network running adjacent to many corridors. However, the only thing I can see occuring in 2024 is more delays to current projects.

[Stu]

BRT systems could never replace a proper light rail system honestly but they do have a place but the general concensus ive seen in most urban planning/transport spaces ive seen is that light rail is always a better option.

The city of Bogota in Columbia has had a BRT system since 2000, and that would seem to work very well.



I can't find the video I originally watched about this now, but I recall this worked by having these articulated buses running frequently along major trunk corridors, while having 'regular' buses on local services that connected with the BRT routes as 'feeder' services.

[Ginger66]

Andy Street signed of the Wednesbury Dudley link when it could have easily have been a busway, wasted millions on rapid bus transit, which is no nearer to being operational than the day they started it.

Agree in principle, could have easily turned into guided busway for the old 311/313 Walsall - Dudley during the early days and used single deckers while funding for Tramway was there.

[Tony]

Agree in principle, could have easily turned into guided busway for the old 311/313 Walsall - Dudley during the early days and used single deckers while funding for Tramway was there.

Yes, It could have been a guided busway, but no it couldn't replace the 11/11a (311/313) as it would have missed some of the areas where those routes pick up large numbers of passengers

[BlackCountryBusSpotter]

Yes, It could have been a guided busway, but no it couldn't replace the 11/11a (311/313) as it would have missed some of the areas where those routes pick up large numbers of passengers

Ocker Hill, Princes End and Tipton at a guess. If it was a Guided Bus Way could it do Walsall to Wednesbury limited Stop along the Wood Green Road runs to the where the old train line starts near to the Metro serves the Metro Stop as the 11 and 11A do then run alongside it with limited stops to Merry Hill Via the old Railway Alingment maybe stopping at Dudley Port to connect with the Train and maybe Tipton to

[EK40]

Yeah id be happy to see any improvement but we are in the uk, we cant even plan and then build a 80 mile railway line in the space of nearly 3 decades lmao

while morocco (credits to them) have managed to plan,build then open from scratch a 300 mile high speed railway line in the span of a decade. In that same period we didnt even start construction of hs2

[joieman]

Due to Nottingham City Council issuing a Section 114 notice, the council will sell off their 82% stake in Nottingham City Transport, possibly to Transdev who have had an 18% stake in NCT since 2000.