Written evidence from West Midlands Campaign
for Better Transport (TE 113)
1. The Campaign for Better Transport campaigns
for a sustainable transport system which is a real alternative
to the private car, with high quality bus, rail and metro services
and where it is easy and safe to walk and cycle. As well as the
national organisation based in London there are also a network
of local groups around the country, including one for the West
Midlands, covering Birmingham, the Black Country, Solihull and
Coventry.
2. As the committee is coming to Birmingham on
16 November we thought that it would be useful to produce a short
memorandum giving some background to the current situation in
the West Midlands.
3. As you will be aware the West Midlands conurbation
is at the heart of the nations transport network, with both the
strategic motorway network and the main InterCity rail network
running through its heart. It is fair to say that an incident
within the West Midlands can have implications across the country,
for example a serious accident on the M6 through Birmingham can
cause delays and congestion on the motorway network up towards
Manchester, which brings all the problems for businesses and people
of lost time and money (which has an economic impact).
4. The conurbation is also home to two million
people - they all have to travel around to get to employment,
educational opportunities and other services. The hub of the
conurbation is Birmingham. The need for people to commute in to
and out of Birmingham from the wider region often conflicts with
those making longer journeys on the strategic road network which
leads to delays and lost productivity for both sets of travellers.
This has been recognised by the Highways Agency, and they are
to be commended for the work they have done in installing "Active
Traffic Management", initially on the M42. This has improved
traffic flow and has provided additional capacity for minimal
cost. Plans have been formulated for the system to be installed
on the M6 through Birmingham to relieve the congestion here largely
caused by commuters.
5. However, there is still a lack of sufficient
rail capacity in the region for local services. While some routes
have an excellent service (the Cross City line from Lichfield
to Redditch being one such example with a train every 10 minutes)
local services on other routes are not so frequent - for example
there are three local services on the Birmingham - Coventry route
every hour, two of which run within minutes of one another, all
of which have different calling patterns.
6. Rail services within the West Midlands conurbation
have blossomed thanks to the support of Centro, who have provided
investment for new lines, stations and integration between different
modes of transport. Up until 2007 they were co-signatory to
the West Midlands rail franchise, however following the Railways
Act 2005 Centro is no longer allowed to be a co-signatory. This
of concern; Centro have an excellent knowledge of the local area
and links to stakeholders such as local authorities, the business
community (such as the Chambers of Commerce) and groups such as
ourselves. The links they have with local stakeholders are probably
better than those that there are with DfT in London.
7. Services from the wider region to Birmingham
are less frequent, despite the economic links. For example Bromsgrove
has a strong commuter flow into Birmingham and trains to and from
the town are regularly full. Despite this, and the latent demand
for this route travelling by road into Birmingham, Bromsgrove
has an hourly service into Birmingham supplemented with a couple
of extra trains during the peak periods. A scheme has been developed
by Centro, working with Network Rail and other local authorities
to extend two electric Cross City trains an hour which currently
terminate at Longbridge, to Bromsgrove to an improved station.
The scheme would require a relatively modest capital outlay as
rail projects go and would have economic benefits in terms of
improved connectivity between Bromsgrove and its catchment, and
Birmingham and the wider region. It would be a relatively quick
win. Despite the work done and the strong local support progress
has been glacial.
8. Mention should also be made that crowding
standards on local rail routes in the West Midlands area (the
PIXC standard) has been changed from that devised by Centro to
the London standard of crowding. Rail patronage has grown in
the region year on year since the early 1990's. When the trains
are full where will all the extra passengers go? How will this
affect the economic performance of the region? As in London
and in the North of England there will be a need for extra rolling
stock in the medium term for the West Midlands, both for trains
to be extended and for additional services to be provided. (This
is an issue that is being considered by Network Rail in some detail
as they are currently preparing a Rail Utilisation Strategy for
the West Midlands and Chilterns.)
9. Within Birmingham over 30% of households do
not have access to a car - relying on walking or public transport
for their journeys. For many people this means using the bus.
Services within the West Midlands conurbation (as in most parts
of the UK outside of London) operate under a deregulated framework,
with Centro subsidising those routes that are socially necessary.
10. The majority of the commercial network (95%)
is operated by National Express West Midlands. Over the last
two years there has been a programme of network reviews undertaken
in conjunction with Centro, looking at the bus network within
a given area and seeing how it can be improved. Whilst the reviews
have led to some improvements, a number of routes have also been
withdrawn. This has made some journeys more difficult and has
meant that some people have had to make two or three changes of
service. The reviews in our opinion have not worked, and this
is best demonstrated by major changes to services being implemented
only a matter of months following the review.
11. It is clear that the level of service offered
by bus operators has been affected by economic factors. The
recession and rising unemployment has led to a reduction in trips
made by bus particularly those trips being made to and from work.
(Birmingham has a number of wards in the national top ten for
the highest numbers of claimants for Job Seekers Allowance per
ward). Fares have also gone up above inflation - the most recent
fares rise saw the cost of tickets rise by up to a quarter.[315]
This is a disincentive to use public transport although passengers
can save money by purchasing a multi-journey ticket like a "Travelcard"
or day ticket.
12. There is also a perception amongst many people
that the bus service provided is not of high quality. A Freedom
of Information Request made by our group to Centro in 2009 revealed
that the West Midlands was not on track to meet its targets to
improve the reliability of bus services. Punctuality (the number
of buses arriving between one minute early and five minutes late)
only improved by 1% between 2002-03 and 2007-08[316]
and this was only due to operators lengthening journey times rather
than the provision of bus priorities or improvements in operating
standards. Anti-social behaviour, cleanliness and customer service
has also been raised by passengers as issues of concern.
13. We have also had the spectacle of Birmingham
City Council spending money installing bus lanes on the A38 Tyburn
Road in the north of Birmingham to speed up bus journey times
for people travelling on the 67 route between Castle Vale and
the city centre, only for them to be taken out again only a few
years later, ostensibly to speed up journey times for motorists.
The whole exercise has cost city tax-payers £2.6 million[317]
and this is money now lost - while passengers in Castle Vale have
only seen modest improvements to their local bus service rather
than the sea change promised when the Tyburn Road scheme was being
planned.
14. It should be noted that many of the places
in the UK where the economy has boomed and new industries and
business have located (Cambridge, Oxford, Nottingham and Reading
amongst them) have invested in high quality bus services and have
seen double digit growth in patronage - indeed these places are
seen as the "gold standard" to which the bus industry
should be aiming for.
15. We do have concerns that there is a concentration
within the West Midlands on grands projets rather than
providing the infrastructure needed for the local economy to flourish.
There are calls for Birmingham to be connected into High Speed
2. The economic case though is not proven and there are still
questions to be answered. Will it mean more jobs and investment
coming into Birmingham and the West Midlands, or will it suck
investment away and drain the local economy? We have already
seen the emergence of people commuting from Warwickshire to London
and HS2 could encourage more long distance commuting.
16. There is also the issue of the expansion
of Birmingham Airport. Again the economic case for the expansion
of the airport is questionable, although the airport does contribute
to the regional economy. In order to facilitate this Birmingham
and Solihull councils are reportedly paying £32 million between
them to allow the A45 to be diverted. This is an odd situation,
since most schemes like this would require the developer to pay
for any transport works under a S.106 agreement.
17. There is a need for investment to be concentrated
on local and regional transport networks in order to boost local
economies and productivity. This is what was argued by Sir Rod
Eddington in his report on transport and the economy published
in 2006, rather than large scale infrastructure schemes such as
new motorways or high speed lines.
18. There is a need to look at improvements to
the existing network, in order to make journey times more reliable,
local areas more amenable and to make conditions safer for vulnerable
road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. There is work being
done in the West Midlands to address this need via the Smart Routes
project and a number have been developed already including one
on the A34 in Birmingham, using Red Routes to simply parking restrictions
and improve traffic flow while also improving the urban environment
and pavements. We would like to see this work continue over
LTP3.
19. Coventry has also seen the development of
a high quality bus network as the result of partnership working
between the city council, Centro and bus companies. This had
led to a much improved service and a growth in patronage, and
Coventry has the type of bus service we would like to see rolled
out across the West Midlands.
20. There is also the question of the links between
transport and regeneration. The conurbation has suffered from
previous development schemes placing the needs of the car over
the needs of people. Air quality in many parts of the conurbation
is amongst the worst in the UK and some authorities have looked
at introducing "Air Quality Management Areas", whilst
some previous regeneration schemes such as the Merry Hill shopping
centre (easily accessible by car) have sucked trade away from
existing town and district centres leading them to suffer a cycle
of decline. There is a need to look at encouraging the renaissance
of local centres by attracting new businesses to come in and new
trade. Providing high quality, reliable public transport will
be vital.
21. In conclusion, the transport network of the
West Midlands does make a contribution to the national economy
but must also service the local economies within the conurbation
and allow them to develop and flourish. Providing a high quality
public transport network as seen in other cities could the catalyst
for new investment and regeneration. The upcoming LTP3 will
need to provide a balancing act, ensuring that the West Midlands
transport network meets both local and national needs.
November 2010
315 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10265272 Back
316
Figure 4.2.54, page 56, Draft Delivery Report into the West Midlands
Local Transport Plan, CEPOG, December 2008. Back
317
http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2009/07/23/failed-tyburn-road-bus-lane-in-birmingham-cost-over-2-6m-97319-24221642/ Back
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