South Birmingham Consultation 2017

[don]

If the infrastructure was there in place, it should be theoretically better for passengers in the suburbs to have more 'local' bus routes that would operate more reliably, and then connect to more frequent services operating along key trunk roads. It would mean that passengers who travel to and from the city would have to change buses to complete their journey admittedly, but as in your example, 'local' buses between Kings Norton and Turves Green would run on time more often, as they wouldn't be getting stuck in congestion closer to the city centre.

If the trunk route buses from Birmingham are going to bunch owing to congestion, when they get to the outer point where the feeder buses take over, surely there would be too many passengers for the feeder bus meaning people will have to wait - which would defeat the object of the exercise (always presuming passenger convenience and service is at the root of the proposal....

[jc]

27 is an interesting one, personally think it could be split in two at Northfield for a start, pretty much most trips, everyone on the bus will leave in Northfield and a whole new set of passengers will board, obviously you get your through passengers but not many!

Centro have been carrying out checks/survey on behalf of NXWM between Haunch Lane, Kings Heath, Shirley and Cadbury over the last few weeks, I did ask about why and was told to ask NX as they had no idea why they were there either.

[sonic84]

If the trunk route buses from Birmingham are going to bunch owing to congestion, when they get to the outer point where the feeder buses take over, surely there would be too many passengers for the feeder bus meaning people will have to wait - which would defeat the object of the exercise (always presuming passenger convenience and service is at the root of the proposal....

I think local services connecting onto frequent services heading towards the city works fine as you potentially only have a 5-10 min wait for your frequent bus service to take you into Birmingham.

Coming back is where there are issues as often local services are every 20/30 minutes and therefore there can be potentially some long waiting times for customers wanting to change buses to get home.

[Sh4318]

I think local services connecting onto frequent services heading towards the city works fine as you potentially only have a 5-10 min wait for your frequent bus service to take you into Birmingham.

Coming back is where there are issues as often local services are every 20/30 minutes and therefore there can be potentially some long waiting times for customers wanting to change buses to get home.

Personally I just don't find changing buses as seem less as changing trains, especially when it comes to fares

[Justin Tyme]

The road network isn't good in South Birmingham and the use of trains has increased a lot as a result.   Nonetheless, I regret I have strong reservations about these proposals.  They could mean just one bus service along the Stratford Road (south of Sparkbrook), one along Yardley Wood Road and one along the Pershore Road - just as in tramway days 100 years ago.

I appreciate that NXWM needs to have a strong commercial network, and an easy-to-understand network of frequent services is a good thing, but I do wonder whether many proposals would be counter-productive.  Has travel to the city centre really dropped so much that several areas should lose their direct service?   If not, routes should not be split so that many passengers have to change buses to reach a principal destination.  History shows that doing so is very unpopular and a recipe for driving passengers away.

The idea of faster journeys is fine in principle, but there are hardly any examples of it.  There are many more examples of longer journeys - Turves Green, Warstock and much of Hall Green to City being just three.  Some route change options for the 1, 49 and 76 (which of course don't reach the city centre and often suffer bad delays at peak times) would also extend journey times and do nothing to improve timekeeping.  Would they stand to lose more passengers than they might gain?

[B.C Driver]

If NX want to speed up journeys they should collaborate with Bham City Council about traffic light sequences and investing in more traffic lights with sensors.
A prime example is the lights on Bristol Rd / Bournbrook Rd - late at night they will change onto red when no traffic is emerging from anywhere else, in fact they will change onto GREEN for trafic coming from the university - even though the gates are CLOSED! Waiting at these lights has a knock on effect as you will more than likely get held up at the next stop.
In Birmingham City centre the pedestrian lights around Moor St Queensway are set to change automatically regardless of being pressed by a pedestrian. WHY?? The lights on Moor St Qway / Albert St dont change in sync, traffic heading uphill (33, 51, 52 etc) are held on red for an extra 15 seconds while the other side (97 etc) are on green. WHY??
I have emailed Bham City Council, but they never seem bothered. Maybe I should write to the Birmingham Mail to highlight this problem...

[don]

I think local services connecting onto frequent services heading towards the city works fine as you potentially only have a 5-10 min wait for your frequent bus service to take you into Birmingham.

Coming back is where there are issues as often local services are every 20/30 minutes and therefore there can be potentially some long waiting times for customers wanting to change buses to get home.

Yes that was the point I was making - and if they arrive from city bunched, there would no doubt be too many people for the one bus on the feeder route also.

In London the system usually works well (indeed I have at least four alternative combinations of train, tram or bus, or just bus) for my regular commute - however it relies on the fact that all of the services run at least every 15 mins and the no extra charge on the Oyster within 1 hour means any of these (except involving the train) cost £1.50 on an Oyster card.

[don]

The road network isn't good in South Birmingham and the use of trains has increased a lot as a result.   Nonetheless, I regret I have strong reservations about these proposals.  They could mean just one bus service along the Stratford Road (south of Sparkbrook), one along Yardley Wood Road and one along the Pershore Road - just as in tramway days 100 years ago.

On a similar retrospective look, it struck me that in the mid 60s, routes like the 4 (Cotteridge to Pool Farm); 35 (Brandwood Park Road to Kings Heath) and 46 (Queslett to College Road/Boars Head) all started out as single deck, one person operated feeder routes but were changed within a relatively short time (at least the 35 and 46) to run to and from the City - eventually changing to double deck operation.

This proposal does seem like a reversal of that principal.

[Tony]

In Birmingham City centre the pedestrian lights around Moor St Queensway are set to change automatically regardless of being pressed by a pedestrian. WHY?? The lights on Moor St Qway / Albert St dont change in sync, traffic heading uphill (33, 51, 52 etc) are held on red for an extra 15 seconds while the other side (97 etc) are on green. WHY??
I have emailed Bham City Council, but they never seem bothered. Maybe I should write to the Birmingham Mail to highlight this problem...

The 'Pedestrian lights' you refer to are not just pedestrian lights they are a cross roads. When they go red to traffic the lights to let buses go across into The tunnel go green. All traffic lights change to a pattern even if there is not traffic there in case the sensors haven't picked up any waiting traffic. You would soon complain if you had to sit there ages with a 45/47; 63/X61 or Harborne bus.

Albert Street is for the protection of pedestrians

[B.C Driver]

The 'Pedestrian lights' you refer to are not just pedestrian lights they are a cross roads. When they go red to traffic the lights to let buses go across into The tunnel go green. All traffic lights change to a pattern even if there is not traffic there in case the sensors haven't picked up any waiting traffic. You would soon complain if you had to sit there ages with a 45/47; 63/X61 or Harborne bus.

Albert Street is for the protection of pedestrians

The lights at the end of the tunnel (coming into city) change on to red regardless of being pressed. They are only pedestrian lights. It is highly infuriating when trying to run to tight running times and trying to keep on time.
The ammount of times Ive stopped at the lights on Moor St Qway late at night and NO vehicles have crossed over from Albert St. Again, infuriating. I know plenty of traffic lights with sensors and they work well, we need more. This is 2017!

[B.C Driver]

Speed limits too. NX want faster journey times, as do passengers. So why for example is Heath Mill Lane 20mph??
It is a road consisting of mainly factorys and warehouses. There are no schools, no old peoples homes, in fact no houses.
The Pershore Rd is 20mph through Stirchley, then 30mph after Fordhouse Ln (it is 30mph where Breedon School is!!!), and then reverts to 20mph approaching Cotteridge.
What is the logic in that? A main 'A' road linking the City 20mph? And then 30mph by a school?
Seriously, who makes these ideas?

[Tony]

The lights at the end of the tunnel (coming into city) change on to red regardless of being pressed. They are only pedestrian lights. It is highly infuriating when trying to run to tight running times and trying to keep on time.
The ammount of times Ive stopped at the lights on Moor St Qway late at night and NO vehicles have crossed over from Albert St. Again, infuriating. I know plenty of traffic lights with sensors and they work well, we need more. This is 2017!

Those lights are all part of the crossroads. They have sensors, but every set of lights changes occasionally in case of fault even with no detection apparant. There are very strict national guidelines Amey have to adheer to on traffic lights. I have had a load of work done all the way along Moor Street, but Amey have to stick to National rules

[B.C Driver]

Those lights are all part of the crossroads. They have sensors, but every set of lights changes occasionally in case of fault even with no detection apparant. There are very strict national guidelines Amey have to adheer to on traffic lights. I have had a load of work done all the way along Moor Street, but Amey have to stick to National rules

Ok cheers Tony.

[Steve3229vp]

Found this on Facebook
http://bournvilleconservatives.com/save-the-27-bus

[Stu]

http://bournvilleconservatives.com/save-the-27-bus

Instead of signing petitions, people should be taking part in the consultation and making their opinions heard.