South Birmingham Consultation 2017

[paul0147]

Oh dear.
Any idea to send more buses through the QE is just stupid, especially "express" services
I'm sorry, the interchange there is not adequate, takes forever for buses to get through

Been a while since I used to travel past the QE on the 99 regularly, but the traffic there would be horrendous and if there was a car or taxi parked outside the main entrance, you had it. I think it took one 99 I was on nearly 15 minutes just to do the loop at the interchange. So the idea of sending more buses to interchange is personally asking for long delays to services.

[Mike K]

Some radical proposals in there. If the 22/23 proposals were implemented then either Jiggins Lane or South Woodgate would lose their link to Harborne, and the 'new' service via QE and the Vale would have to be single deck operated. I suspect that the 23 (or whatever route remains) would not operate at the same frequency that the combined routes do now, and a lot of Edgbaston and Harborne could potentially lose direct links to Newman College and KE Five Ways school.

Seems strange timing for 38 new Platinum buses for the Harborne corridor when at least one of the 4 routes (22, 23 or 29) could be changing and requiring single deckers.

[2206]

Some radical proposals in there. If the 22/23 proposals were implemented then either Jiggins Lane or South Woodgate would lose their link to Harborne, and the 'new' service via QE and the Vale would have to be single deck operated. I suspect that the 23 (or whatever route remains) would not operate at the same frequency that the combined routes do now, and a lot of Edgbaston and Harborne could potentially lose direct links to Newman College and KE Five Ways school.

Seems strange timing for 38 new Platinum buses for the Harborne corridor when at least one of the 4 routes (22, 23 or 29) could be changing and requiring single deckers.

Personally I like the idea for the 1 to serve the University and QE linking them with Acocks Green and Moesley.
The more direct 31 for Gospel Oak looks good as well, stopping right outside the shops in Acocks Green.

[Mike K]

What are the proposals for the 244? I can see it says West Bromwich to QE via Quinton but the proposed map on the QE page seems to show it finishing at Quinton Tesco. I couldn't see any details on that one.

Just realised that the possible 22 change is a throwback to the 1980 short lived route 72 which the 22 replaced. And I can't see the point in changing the 24 to remove the Simmons Drive loop - a lot of people including the elderly would face a much longer walk to their nearest stop.

All in all, whilst acknowledging that things need to be done to improve reliability and journey times, I can't say I'm impressed with these proposals.

[Jack]

Personally I like the idea for the 1 to serve the University and QE linking them with Acocks Green and Moesley.
The more direct 31 for Gospel Oak looks good as well, stopping right outside the shops in Acocks Green.

I agree with the 1 being curtailed. But not the 31. You may as well, just let it be Solihull to Acocks Green. If it was to follow the 37 from Acocks Green to City it will be one waste of time. The 37 serves that section well. I think the only change for the 31 is for it not to use Pitmaston Road, too tight and when the schools come out then the buses get stuck. I think it would be better for the 31 to serve Redstone Farm Road as it will move and not get stuck on tight Pitmaston Road.

[2206]

I agree with the 1 being curtailed. But not the 31. You may as well, just let it be Solihull to Acocks Green. If it was to follow the 37 from Acocks Green to City it will be one waste of time. The 37 serves that section well. I think the only change for the 31 is for it not to use Pitmaston Road, too tight and when the schools come out then the buses get stuck. I think it would be better for the 31 to serve Redstone Farm Road as it will move and not get stuck on tight Pitmaston Road.

Not realy a waste of time, it'd provide a faster journey time to the City Centre and they wouldn't have to sit in Stratford Road traffic around Sparkhill. The consultation says when people were previously consulted about the changes in Gospel Oak they said the link to Birmingham was important to them as well.
Just because it'd follow the 37 wouldn't make it a waste of time.

[Sayeed]

I can't see the point in changing the 24 to remove the Simmons Drive loop - a lot of people including the elderly would face a much longer walk to their nearest stop.

I was thinking about that as well and if that happens I guess it would make sense to throw 10H/S there.   

[2206]

Some radical proposals in there. If the 22/23 proposals were implemented then either Jiggins Lane or South Woodgate would lose their link to Harborne, and the 'new' service via QE and the Vale would have to be single deck operated. I suspect that the 23 (or whatever route remains) would not operate at the same frequency that the combined routes do now, and a lot of Edgbaston and Harborne could potentially lose direct links to Newman College and KE Five Ways school.

Seems strange timing for 38 new Platinum buses for the Harborne corridor when at least one of the 4 routes (22, 23 or 29) could be changing and requiring single deckers.

There's nothing about the 244 except where it says West Brom and the map.
Could it just be an error perhaps?

[Sh4318]

Personally I like the idea for the 1 to serve the University and QE linking them with Acocks Green and Moesley.
The more direct 31 for Gospel Oak looks good as well, stopping right outside the shops in Acocks Green.

I agree with that. I wasn't really a fan of the idea to curtail the 31 to run between Acocks Green and Solihull

[Bus1237]

Let's just hope they don't reduce the frequency of the 37 :/

[Jack]

Not realy a waste of time, it'd provide a faster journey time to the City Centre and they wouldn't have to sit in Stratford Road traffic around Sparkhill. The consultation says when people were previously consulted about the changes in Gospel Oak they said the link to Birmingham was important to them as well.
Just because it'd follow the 37 wouldn't make it a waste of time.

What's the point? The 31 doesn't need to follow the 37 for most of the route. I highly doubt the 37 will have a reduced frequency, being it combines with the 6, the 6 and 37 are the most frequent services on Stratford Road. I never hear anyone moan about the 31 taking ages to get through Stratford Road. It's mainly just the daytimes and evening rush hour it's bad, I've been on the 2 and 6 a few times at 7:30 in the morning and they flew through Sparkhill at that time so the 5 and 31 would be the same. The only change I think the 31 needs to make is to serve Redstone Farm Road so it's not stuck in chaos on Pitmaston Road. Unless you completely rerouted it and don't let it serve Gospel Oak at all, but that will never happen.

Let's just hope they don't reduce the frequency of the 37 :/

I highly doubt that.

[MasterPlan]

I've not read it fully yet, but these proposed changes are even worse than I feared. Why can't they just be left alone?!

[monkeyjoe]

Because of increased traffic and reliability issues I'm guessing

[MasterPlan]

Because of increased traffic and reliability issues I'm guessing

I've not experienced many reliability issues to be quite honest with you. Besides, it doesn't matter which route you take there'll always be traffic. Destroying long-standing routes and coming up with bizzare replacements won't change that.

[monkeyjoe]

Well I guess they need to increase their profits if they can make their network more efficient etc