Colmore Circus Bus Diversion - 8th Feb 2014 to 23rd Feb 2014

[Kevin_Brum12]

To enable track laying for the Metro extension to take place over Colmore Row....

http://www.networkwestmidlands.com/ServiceAlterations/RoadworksandEvents/ColmoreCircusBirmingham.aspx

This will be a nightmare.  Am surprised the decision has not been made to terminate some services short at the Town Hall, rather than force all of them into the bottleneck that is Livery Street.

It will be a bad fortnight for bus users.

[andy]

To enable track laying for the Metro extension to take place over Colmore Row....

http://www.networkwestmidlands.com/ServiceAlterations/RoadworksandEvents/ColmoreCircusBirmingham.aspx

This will be a nightmare.  Am surprised the decision has not been made to terminate some services short at the Town Hall, rather than force all of them into the bottleneck that is Livery Street.

It will be a bad fortnight for bus users.

And all for a pointless one route tram extension that nobody needs. I can't wait for the public inquiry in about 10 to 15 years to investigate the money wasted on this scheme.

What annoys me about this is that if you had a bus operator in the city with no vested interest in the Metro, they would fight all this disruption and upheaval of the city's bus network and lack of facilities tooth and nail. But who stands to benefit the most from Metro and therefore tows the line with little complaint? National Express!!

[Liverpool Street]

To enable track laying for the Metro extension to take place over Colmore Row....

http://www.networkwestmidlands.com/ServiceAlterations/RoadworksandEvents/ColmoreCircusBirmingham.aspx

This will be a nightmare.  Am surprised the decision has not been made to terminate some services short at the Town Hall, rather than force all of them into the bottleneck that is Livery Street.

It will be a bad fortnight for bus users.

And all for a pointless one route tram extension that nobody needs. I can't wait for the public inquiry in about 10 to 15 years to investigate the money wasted on this scheme.

What annoys me about this is that if you had a bus operator in the city with no vested interest in the Metro, they would fight all this disruption and upheaval of the city's bus network and lack of facilities tooth and nail. But who stands to benefit the most from Metro and therefore tows the line with little complaint? National Express!!

How many services were directly affected by this decision? Too many to mention!

I wonder what the Pro's / Con's meeting went like in the boardroom? Did anyone with any sense from the Bus Division actually turn up?

[Tony]

Not now happening!

[andy]

No doubt due to the weather more than anything else. Let's hope this bombsite doesn't end up being another Edinburgh.

[nx4737]

To enable track laying for the Metro extension to take place over Colmore Row....

http://www.networkwestmidlands.com/ServiceAlterations/RoadworksandEvents/ColmoreCircusBirmingham.aspx

This will be a nightmare.  Am surprised the decision has not been made to terminate some services short at the Town Hall, rather than force all of them into the bottleneck that is Livery Street.

It will be a bad fortnight for bus users.

And all for a pointless one route tram extension that nobody needs. I can't wait for the public inquiry in about 10 to 15 years to investigate the money wasted on this scheme.

What annoys me about this is that if you had a bus operator in the city with no vested interest in the Metro, they would fight all this disruption and upheaval of the city's bus network and lack of facilities tooth and nail. But who stands to benefit the most from Metro and therefore tows the line with little complaint? National Express!!

Laughable.

Birmingham needs the extension, it may only be a few stops at the moment, but it brings a whole host of route possibilities.

Look at most of the other major cities in the UK, London, Manchester, Sheffield, they all have a tram system, this is exactly what Birmingham needs to pull it out of the 90s!

[andy]

To enable track laying for the Metro extension to take place over Colmore Row....

http://www.networkwestmidlands.com/ServiceAlterations/RoadworksandEvents/ColmoreCircusBirmingham.aspx

This will be a nightmare.  Am surprised the decision has not been made to terminate some services short at the Town Hall, rather than force all of them into the bottleneck that is Livery Street.

It will be a bad fortnight for bus users.

And all for a pointless one route tram extension that nobody needs. I can't wait for the public inquiry in about 10 to 15 years to investigate the money wasted on this scheme.

What annoys me about this is that if you had a bus operator in the city with no vested interest in the Metro, they would fight all this disruption and upheaval of the city's bus network and lack of facilities tooth and nail. But who stands to benefit the most from Metro and therefore tows the line with little complaint? National Express!!

Laughable.

Birmingham needs the extension, it may only be a few stops at the moment, but it brings a whole host of route possibilities.

Look at most of the other major cities in the UK, London, Manchester, Sheffield, they all have a tram system, this is exactly what Birmingham needs to pull it out of the 90s!

Why do you have to be so obnoxious?

You can express your opinion without insulting and patronising others you know.

It only needs the extension if the 'whole host of route possibilities' that you speak of can ever be facilitated. At the moment there is no concrete plan or indeed funding for any of this, hence my reference to a pointless one route extension that nobody needs. Most Metro passengers are already in the vicinity of the Snow Hill terminus or the new Bull St one at least. 

And how many of the cities you mention turfed buses virtually out of their city centre termini to achieve this?

[Christopher]

This project is just a waste of time like Nathan said there is hardly any track layed on broad street since I last seen the project

[Stu]

The tracks aren't going to be laid on Broad Street.  :o

[Christopher]

Well somewhere else in birmingham must have a similar name so I've probably got mixed up

[Kevin]

I have to say I'm with nx4737 on this, Birmingham (and the West Mids) needs a full network of tram lines... Alas I will admit defeat in that I dont think its ever going to happen now as the plans have been progressively cut back to pretty much nothing. Its a crying shame but so be it

[RW]

Don't be so defeatist even our politicians can see that eventually the bus at the front of the queue will meet the bus at the end of the queue. Gridlock. Trams will come in numbers to Birmingham and the West Midlands eventually It's inevitable if the wheels of commerce etc are to keep turning.

[andy]

I have to say I'm with nx4737 on this, Birmingham (and the West Mids) needs a full network of tram lines... Alas I will admit defeat in that I dont think its ever going to happen now as the plans have been progressively cut back to pretty much nothing. Its a crying shame but so be it

Don't be so defeatist even our politicians can see that eventually the bus at the front of the queue will meet the bus at the end of the queue. Gridlock. Trams will come in numbers to Birmingham and the West Midlands eventually It's inevitable if the wheels of commerce etc are to keep turning.

I think people are getting a bit confused here.  I am not anti tram and I too think a network of tram services would be a great benefit.  But the problem is that as usual the funding for Birmingham is unavailable, the plans that were made for other routes have been put on ice indefinitely and therefore the work being done for this one route extension is a cost that doesn't warrant its outcome. If all that was being done along with new routes, fair enough. That would have made the whole thing far more cost effective.

Until funding was secured and concrete plans put in place for the rest of the proposed network, none of this should have happened.

I admire your faith in politicians (although can't for the life of me see where you get it from) but I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you.

Meanwhile, bus passengers have to put up with possibly the worst set of facilities and locations of boarding and alighting points since the 70's, creating walks of over 10 minutes in many cases just to change buses and standing on exposed streets with useless open ended bus 'shelters', putting many off bus travel altogether.

[Tony]

I have to say I'm with nx4737 on this, Birmingham (and the West Mids) needs a full network of tram lines... Alas I will admit defeat in that I dont think its ever going to happen now as the plans have been progressively cut back to pretty much nothing. Its a crying shame but so be it

Don't be so defeatist even our politicians can see that eventually the bus at the front of the queue will meet the bus at the end of the queue. Gridlock. Trams will come in numbers to Birmingham and the West Midlands eventually It's inevitable if the wheels of commerce etc are to keep turning.

I think people are getting a bit confused here.  I am not anti tram and I too think a network of tram services would be a great benefit.  But the problem is that as usual the funding for Birmingham is unavailable, the plans that were made for other routes have been put on ice indefinitely and therefore the work being done for this one route extension is a cost that doesn't warrant its outcome. If all that was being done along with new routes, fair enough. That would have made the whole thing far more cost effective.

Until funding was secured and concrete plans put in place for the rest of the proposed network, none of this should have happened.

I admire your faith in politicians (although can't for the life of me see where you get it from) but I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you.

Meanwhile, bus passengers have to put up with possibly the worst set of facilities and locations of boarding and alighting points since the 70's, creating walks of over 10 minutes in many cases just to change buses and standing on exposed streets with useless open ended bus 'shelters', putting many off bus travel altogether.

I too think that as a stand alone project this is a waste of money, the big advantage is that when Centro next go begging the government for money for another line, specially on to the West down Broad Street/Hagley Road or Harborne they will need to ask for £70m less so have more chance of getting money and permission to build

[andy]

I have to say I'm with nx4737 on this, Birmingham (and the West Mids) needs a full network of tram lines... Alas I will admit defeat in that I dont think its ever going to happen now as the plans have been progressively cut back to pretty much nothing. Its a crying shame but so be it

Don't be so defeatist even our politicians can see that eventually the bus at the front of the queue will meet the bus at the end of the queue. Gridlock. Trams will come in numbers to Birmingham and the West Midlands eventually It's inevitable if the wheels of commerce etc are to keep turning.

I think people are getting a bit confused here.  I am not anti tram and I too think a network of tram services would be a great benefit.  But the problem is that as usual the funding for Birmingham is unavailable, the plans that were made for other routes have been put on ice indefinitely and therefore the work being done for this one route extension is a cost that doesn't warrant its outcome. If all that was being done along with new routes, fair enough. That would have made the whole thing far more cost effective.

Until funding was secured and concrete plans put in place for the rest of the proposed network, none of this should have happened.

I admire your faith in politicians (although can't for the life of me see where you get it from) but I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you.

Meanwhile, bus passengers have to put up with possibly the worst set of facilities and locations of boarding and alighting points since the 70's, creating walks of over 10 minutes in many cases just to change buses and standing on exposed streets with useless open ended bus 'shelters', putting many off bus travel altogether.

I too think that as a stand alone project this is a waste of money, the big advantage is that when Centro next go begging the government for money for another line, specially on to the West down Broad Street/Hagley Road or Harborne they will need to ask for £70m less so have more chance of getting money and permission to build

That is true Tony, but imagine how much less this part of the work would have cost if it wasn't stand alone?