to Bob Sleigh - Our truly sick, unsustainable, selfish society

Our truly sick, unsustainable, selfish society is letting the poor go to the wall as more of them become dependent on food banks and more have difficulty paying food and energy bills.  It is immoral and foolish to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayers' money on replacing buses and trains with light rail trams, very light rail trams and ultra light rail trams.  Give the money to the poor or, at least give them FFPT (that I've had for nearly 15 years) rather than wasting it on destroying yet more of our railway network.

Carrot and Stick for car commuters

Morning, Bob - but copied to Sharon, Mike, Sandra, Bob, Robert, Jake, Tarsam - especially for their expertise over my final para on wheelchairs in trams and buses.

You are so right about FFPT and, re-regulation to bring our bus services like London's.  But, as I have done, please write to ask for the official transport speakers to cover the subjects.  They must prepare something to present to us on the 12th and it must be to our agenda.

My other concern is this.  FFPT is the carrot or the reward for car commuters and others who leave their cars at home, as I do.  However, motorists are so wedded and welded to their cars there really must be a stick, too.  Hence, road pricing is essential to send the right signal that cars must be used more sparingly and definitely not for commuting to work in!  I think it should be brought in on the main arterial roads like my own A456, Hagley Road as an experiment for two years.  What do you think, Bob and the others?

Do you agree that we have to badger/encourage/suggest/work with the officers and members to do the right thing, as here?

By the way, there are only two official wheelchairs allowed on Metro trams, with 52 seats and 208 allowed to stand.  Max 2 wheelchair space is the same as some of our buses.  Is that right?  Without mentioning the subject, my daughter, Becky volunteered this, recently.  With two small children under 21 months, she told me that she will give up the space she uses for the double buggy and will fold it up, if four wheel passengers enter the bus.  I am banned with only two wheels!

I want us, also to press for bus step free access by asking and being persistent into eternity!  E-mails to these VIPs or, just stick with customerservices@tfwm.org.uk:

Nine Action Points

Nine Action Points

These actions were created by W Mids Climate Coalition to lobby the West Mids CA in support of a zero-carbon region by 2030.
 
RETROFIT BUILDINGS. Domestic insulation and heating programs need to be massively accelerated. This is a rapid way to reduce carbon emissions and save households money on their heating and energy bills. The WMCA should immediately publish and implement a comprehensive plan for the retrofitting of housing in the WMCA constituencies with the highest levels of fuel poverty revealed in a new league table from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, based on Government figures.
FARE FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT. Transport for West Midlands should follow the lead being given by Swansea, Newport, and Herefordshire by setting up free public transport schemes. A feasibility study into the economic, social, and environmental benefits of FFPT for the West Midlands should start work now. The WMCA should bring the region's buses back into public control, following the example of Greater Manchester, as a step towards FFPT. 
END SUPPORT FOR HS2. Apart from the environmental devastation it is causing, HS2 is vastly expensive. The money should be used instead for big investments in local and regional public transport. The current business model of the HS2 project is to increase economic growth and consumerism, however this will contribute to planetary destruction, and is not something we need more of.
DIVEST THE WEST MIDLANDS PENSION FUND FROM FOSSIL FUEL INVESTMENT. Pension funds investing in fossil fuels are contributing directly to uncontrolled global warming and in support of a sustainable future for all should invest instead in green renewables. 
END THE INCINERATION OF WASTE. The continuation of waste incineration is an environmental crime. Plans should be made immediately to increase recycling (including food waste) and to transition to ecologically sustainable degradation.
CURB AVIATION. The WMCA should encourage its residents to limit the excessive use of environmentally damaging national and international flights (pending the development of zero carbon planes) to one return flight every two or three years. 
TEACH THE CHILDREN. Local authorities within the WMCA area should actively promote proper climate and environmental studies in all schools for all children and young people, appropriate to their age.
PAUSE TRAM DEVELOPMENT. Trams are more accessible than buses and trains for disabled people and prams, but they are also hugely expensive to build and emit a large amount of carbon dioxide from cement and steel in their construction. New growth of this network should be paused, and the money diverted into upgrading the current regional public transport system, including the opening of new routes.
BUILDING A WORKFORCE FOR THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY. The WMCA should use its resources to collaborate with the region’s trade unions, FE colleges, universities, and employers to create and implement a long-term strategy for the creation of green jobs and a just transition for workers in high carbon workplaces as they decline.

The 10th action point from me is:

STOP multi-modal, multi-mixed-up transport of different modes as they are giving to us, according to one email I had from Andy Street, ie HR, LR, VLR, ULR, Sprint and regular buses.  Make every bus and every bus stop as welcoming to every fossil-fuel free, 4-wheel user as trams.  Andy Street's Jan 2020, 20 year, £15 BILLION plan for mainly 150 miles of trams must go to the many who need help with paying their bills.

LEVELLING DOWN OUR ASPIRATIONS TO LEVEL UP INTELLIGENTLY AND RESPONSIBLY

Dear Ellie and Waseem - and yet again I'm encouraging and supporting you, Waseem!

LEVELLING DOWN OUR ASPIRATIONS TO LEVEL UP INTELLIGENTLY AND RESPONSIBLY

Thank you for organising Wednesday's Zoom meeting and for encouraging views from the general public, like me.  I would like to underline these points:

1. Ever-rising economic gain or wealth on a finite and natural planet can only come at the expense of that planet and its ecosystems or life support systems.  Future generations lose out.
2. Therefore, we have to move to a more sustainable and socially fair/just way of conducting our behaviour/lifestyles on this planet.  This must be done by:
3. Generating electricity for buildings by putting PV solar on the buildings' roofs.  Excess electricity should be stored in a mixture of batteries and exported to the grid for others to use when there is insufficient light to power the panels.  I have exported 32 MW in eight years and am now using a battery to use more of the electricity myself to cut down on gas use.
4. Conservation of our fast disappearing finite fossil fuels can be done by scrapping immorally expensive "bus on rails" Metro trams by, instead, rolling out electric buses directly on roads (without the steel rails) and putting them on the nearside lane for their exclusive use.
5. Let that lane be also used for all two wheel transport, too.
6. The outside lane is confined to all essential business users in cars, vans, trucks and lorries.  Commuter who don't need their cars for work must use the electric bus on the dedicated nearside lane.
7. The stick is having only the overtaking lane to drive in and the carrot is financial inducement, as here:
8. Money saved from not having to dig up the road for steel railway tracks is used to check, monitor and enforce the bus only lane all the way from Halesowen bus station to Five Ways roundabout.
9. Money saved from not having LR, VLR or ULR trams is used to reward car drivers who leave their cars at home and use the electric bus on its dedicated bus lane.  Everyone gets FFPT, not just old crocks like me.
10. Boston is now on board.  https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/wu-to-make-major-transit-announcement-wednesday/2638850/
11. Perhaps, workers should even get paid for the first 12 months of using the commuter bus on its dedicated bus lane, as an extra reward/inducement/bribe?
12. Profit or surplus from the CAZ must go towards rewarding thoughtful, responsible citizens who use the bus instead of the car.
13. Certainly, this is a better, more sensible use of the £15 BILLION to 2040 now being spent to convert buses and trains into three different kinds of trams - LR, VLR. ULR.
    
14. Two year experiment on Hagley Road from Halesowen to Five Ways.

I would like you meet with you, Waseem and Eleanor, to get your feedback, please.  Or, feedback, comments, rebuttal by email.  But, please don't wriggle out of a response, my friends!

Thanks again for a very worthwhile Zoom meeting.  Please do it again and keep to Zoom/Teams, to cut down on travelling (for me, by self powered bike!)

Tim

METRO BLUNDERS GALORE!

THIS IS WANT THE TOP OFFICERS HAVE TOLD ME:

You've got to have Metro through Dudley first, as the catalyst for reopening the Worcester to Burton on Trent railway.

The construction for Metro has passive provision for commuter and regional trains to be added later.  Yet, only some railway bridges are being strengthened to carry heavy railway trains at a later date!

THEIR INCOMPETENCE:

Building the Derby to Devon via  Dudley railway line and then forgetting to finish it between Stourbridge and Burton on Trent with passenger and freight trains - and the stations, too!

Dudley/Sandwell to Brum buses get pushed out of Five Ways underpass and Broad Street to have a longer and slower diversion on narrow roads with parked cars.  The "bus on rails" trams get the underpass and Broad Street, instead!

No money to correct the discrimination against "hard-working families" who don't get the regional Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT) that old crocks like me have had for 13 years!

But, more money than sense for converting buses and trains to Metro "bus on rails" trams.  At 10 x per Km more expensive to construct, than rebuilding the 50 Kms Borders Railway through the hills of southern Scotland.

NO MONEY FOR FFPT BUT A BOTTOMLESS PIT FOR HS2's LITTLE SISTER

IRRATIONAL, ILLOGICAL; A VERY PECULIAR PRACTICE!

"Free buses in West Midlands would cost 'massive amount of money'" is the headline.

Replacing and duplicating buses and trains with Metro "bus on rails" trams costs many more times the "massive amounts of money", in fact.  Yet, strangely, this is what you are doing and it is never a problem.  Money is never an obstacle to clogging up our roads with railway tracks, large tram stops and long, train-like "bus on rails" trams that each cost £4 m each compared with an electric bus directly on roads, minus the railway lines, costing £350,000.

It is truly weird and wonderful priorities and thinking.  Totally illogical and unreasonable thinking.  Actually irrational and not very intelligent.

In addition, it is urgent that we use more stick to force, "Oh!  You mustn't upset the precious motorists", to leave their cars at home and use even more carrot than stick to bribe them, to actually pay them even, to use public transport.  That makes it even more essential, as part of the package of measures, to entice them to use regional FFPT.

It is urgent, we reward them with FFPT when we are using the stick of congestion charging to hit the poor, beleaguered, impoverished, long-suffering, now even fuel-starved, motorist.

Resource depletion and eventual climate catastrophe also compel sensible action, at long last.  Something else in rather scarce supply!

SEE:-  https://freepublictransport.info/

On the way to FFPT

Residents in the West Midlands who have just gained a new job could benefit from free bus, tram and rail travel to work.

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) has teamed up with local transport operators to offer two four-week tickets free, then a third four-week ticket at a 50 per cent discount from the standard price on selected bus, tram and network travel passes through the Workwise scheme.

The scheme is aimed at giving newly employed people a helping hand into work and you can read more here.

Please tell me if I am wrong, here! Or, simply reply!

Please tell me if I am wrong, here!  Or, simply reply!

I am anxious to know if you think I am wrong in saying and writing that the more we spend the more we emit greenhouse gases.  Am I right or wrong, here?

£s spent = finite fossil fuels burnt = greenhouse gases = runaway greenhouse effect = earth turned into venus = THE END.

If I am right, should we be opposing unnecessary expenditures like extensions for HS2, Metro and Sprint that are extremely large greenhouse gas emitters because of their colossal expenditure?

Do you think I am wrong in insisting that we must put fossil fuel expenditure into projects that will cut greenhouse gases in the medium to long term?

Therefore, electric buses (not "bus on rails" trams on roads), all the obvious bus priority measures and FFPT.  Is that right?

Not trams on railway lines but commuter and regional trains.  Is that right?

The ending of demolition and rebuilding - like Centenary Sq rebuilt three times in less than twenty years and many examples of unnecessary demolition and rebuilding, eg Dudley Leisure Centre moved all of 1 Km to sit next to the flash, new tramline in Flood Street, Dudley?

Do you think that these jobs are the wrong jobs?

Do you think the right, green jobs are to insist that existing buildings are insulated, inside and out; should have URGENT installation of PV solar on every east, west, south-facing roof?

Are the right, green jobs to campaign for the major, 22 Kms Black Country Cycle-Walk Mudway to be professionally finished and upgraded with a wider and this time, all-weather surface to allow all fossil-free users to actually use the thing?

Am I right in wanting expenditure to put a cycle-walkway alongside the Dudley Southern Bypass, opposite the tramline?

Am I right in wanting green jobs to finish the 47 Kms of the UK's last and only mothballed mainline railway that has not yet been completely destroyed?  Finished with commuter and regional and freight TRAINS!

Do we get green jobs from light rail trams (LR), or very light trams (VLR) or, the ultra-light rail Stourbridge Shuttle tram on the missing 6 Kms (out of 120 Kms former and remaining throughout mainline) railway link between Stourbridge Jct and Brierley Hill?

Do green jobs mean putting passenger trains on the 106 Kms of mothballed or freight-only railway lines in the W Mids?  Now being reduced to 100 Kms with the Metro, WBHE, going on 6.7 Kms in two nibble-sized bites and the VLR test track on 2 Kms to bring it down to 98 Kms!!

Am I on the right lines, here?  Or, please tell me if I am wrong.  Not one person ever tells me I am wrong and, certainly, no-one ever writes back to tell me I am right - just complete apathy, acquiescence and silence!  I've had the best and longest support over the years from a train driver who has now resigned from his union in disgust over their support for railway destruction!

TIM, AT 73 YEARS, ASKS OF TfWM!

 Ask TfWM:

• No more Metro trams - 150 miles are planned to 2040 to get a multi-mixed up public transport.
• Trains on train lines, instead.  No more railways made into roads and roads turned into railways.
• Free electric buses on bus priority roads instead of "bus on rails" trams.

In more detail:

1. Please ask on my behalf that commuter and regional trains must go back on the 47 Kms of our Black Country Railway "of national strategic significance" between Derby and Devon via Dudley.
2. 47 Kms is still available after Metro "bus on rails" trams go on 6.7 Kms out of the available 56 Kms between Stourbridge Jct and Burton on Trent.
3. Please ask for no more expenditure on wastefully extending what is officially called "bus on rails" trams.
4. Instead, ask for electric buses to go directly on bus priority roads, without the railway tracks!
5. PLEASE say to TfWM that this particular OAP wants his regional Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT) to be given to the younger generations, too.  This, to end the disgraceful discrimination against the middle-aged and the young.
6. A Something for Others campaign - a wonderful legacy to leave our descendants and, we get to rest peacefully in our graves!!
7. Six simple sentences, above to suggest easy ways of lessening the climate emergency.

FFPT

Stop converting railway lines and bus routes into tramways for "bus on rails" trams.

Use electric buses going directly on roads, without the railway tracks.

Use the money saved from abandoning tram extensions into Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT) for all and not just old people like me that I have enjoyed for 13 years!

Move from multi-modal transport that is multi-mixed up transport with more changes and delays, into sticking with making buses more sought after.  That means FFPT and electric buses on bus priority roads.

FFPT is essential to compensate for a slightly higher risk from Covid transmission when using public transport.

FFPT is essential to cut greenhouse gases, congestion and polluted air in cities.

FFPT is a reward for leaving the car at home.

W Mids Women's Voice transport ask

Dear Debbie, Sharonjit, Jane and Deborah - please reply to say you will act - or not!

Your manifesto for the Mayoral candidates to adopt

 

Please don't hanker for the boys' toys or to be part of their aggression, violence and love of building, demolition and rebuilding.

 

I fully support the five asks, as long as 5. includes the Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT) that I have enjoyed for 13 years, is extended to everyone else.  And, your policy, wish must not include the very greenhouse gas emitting but, popular Metro tram extensions.  Is that OK?  Simply, fare-free for some extended to all.  Be inclusive, to miss no-one but to have everyone.  Simple and fair for all!

And, please campaign and go on asking for FFPT instead of the deadly greenhouse gas emitting in construction, wealth flaunting, high status, all style over substance, Metro trams.

 

With best wishes

 

Tim Weller

SPRINT DUPLICATES METRO!

Dear Paul - and copied to my other declared Metro Mayor candidates to put me right

"Sprint is a reliable, frequent, zero-emission bus
based rapid transit system offering the comfort,
look and feel of a modern tram or light rail system"

and,

"Sprint passenger fares will be priced in conjunction
with bus, whilst providing benefits more aligned
with tram"

('Transport Briefing: Sprint Delivery Programme, March 2021', page 1)

Therefore, why is £15 BILLION of greenhouse gas emissions being spent over the next 19 years to give us eight new tram lines over 150 miles and 380 tram stops?

Am I right in thinking that trains, buses, three different kinds of trams and, Sprint buses make for FOUR transport modes, with the tram made up of three sub-modes (light rail, very light rail and ultra-light rail)?

Does this multi-modal transport provision mean a multi-mixed up transport provision? 

Will this mean more confusion and congestion on both our remaining railway lines (the half used, half wasted, 120 Kms Black Country Railway "of national strategic significance") and, roads?

 "of national strategic significance".pdf

Will this mean more changes and delays as passengers attempt to make ONE public transport journey?

Can Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT) be seen as a move for equality with elders and, ending discrimination against the young and middle-aged?

I would be glad of your guidance and opinion, please Paul.

Questions for TfWM

24 March 2021

Dear Paul

Thanks for your last email.

 

While I remain a declared candidate, could you please ask Mike Waters to put in writing what he was saying last week about Tallinn operating FFPT for every passenger being completely different from the position we find ourselves in, here in the W Midlands.  I need to hear again - and consider - the points he was making, please.

 

Could you please ask Shingadia to give me the average distance between each bus stop on the Sprint route and the average distance for the regular bus services on that same route.  Plus frequency of the two services on that Walsall to Brum to Solihull route.

 

Does this mean that some passengers will have to walk further from home and will need to examine the route to find which of the two different buses they should walk to, to find the best bus for them?

 

Is it simpler and cheaper to keep to the regular buses but to gradually make them as great, glitzy and glamorous as Sprint buses?

 

How do you decide when to upgrade bus routes to a Metro "bus on rails" tram and when to upgrade to Sprint?

 

Could the money, instead go to fund the proposed regional FFPT extension to the remainder of the population?

 

Can you use CAZ money to fund FFPT?

Would FFPT provide better value for money than Sprint?

Does Sprint make for a two-level, two-class bus provision?

 

Does the rolling out of Ultra Light Rail (Pre Metro Operations), Very Light Rail and Light Rail Metro, complicate the public transport journey with more changes, leading to more delays, between the different modes?

 

It seems that the Covid, Climate, Ecological, Nature crisis is here to stay into the foreseeable future.  Therefore, do Mike, Shingadia and Adam think that anything should change in the light of those realities and, of serious shortages of oil and all kinds of gas by the end of the century?

 

Do the three men accept my thought, here?:

It is the business of all of us to curtail our activities to minimise finite fossil fuel use and the resulting, deadly greenhouse gas emissions.  It isn't fair to live it up today when we know there will be shortages tomorrow AND a most uncomfortable existence from climate breakdown. 

 

Do they accept my conclusion?:

Spending = more greenhouse gas emissions = deepening climate crisis = THE END.

 

Could you please ask the two Co-Chairs of the YCA, what actions they are suggesting when they wrote (actually Chris Burden in the Afterword of their 'Community Recovery Prospectus'):

"... we call on our leaders to be ambitious in delivering not only growth but a more radical change that reflects the urgency of our situations."  What radical change exactly?

and,

"With each passing day of inaction, there is less of a future left to fight for."   What action does YCA want, specifically?

 

Many thanks, Paul

Use CAZ money for FFPT

"It would be helpful if you could provide an indication of specific elements with the overarching topics of Sprint and regional Fare-Free Public Transport you wish to cover, so that officials can prepare accordingly and ensure they have relevant information to hand."

Can you use CAZ money to fund FFPT?

Would FFPT provide better value for money than Sprint?

Does Sprint make for a two-level, two-class bus provision?

24 March 2021 Zoom on FFPT extended not Metro trams

Birmingham City Council’s Climate Emergency plan, adopted on January 12th this year, acknowledges that a feasibility study looking into FFPT would be acceptable, but the council will not do it by itself. We would like Transport for West Midlands to undertake a parallel study, but being an unaccountable body, we have little purchase with them.

Therefore, we are inviting you to register for the online meeting on Wednesday March 24th, 19.00 to 20.30 hours GMT, and take part in the discussion led by Wojciech Keblowski. Wojciech is a critical urban geographer working on transport and alternatives to capitalism and is based at the Free University of Brussels. He has written several articles on FFPT, which can be found here.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Wojciech_Keblowski

Register here for the Zoom meeting.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/.../fair-free-public...

Climate Action Network West Midlands.

https://www.climateactionwm.org.uk/

Cost of full FFPT is easily covered by LR mass rapid transit construction for converting some buses to trams

Hi Bob and David - and copied to four key players who are the decision-makers (to save time in writing to them individually.  But, it is as much for Trevor, Andy, Deborah and Ian as it is for Bob and David.  Even more important for those four than you two!).

£58.5 m/yr x 20 years to 2040 = £1,170 million for the existing concessionaires (freeloaders!) like us.

But £15 billion for tram extensions to replace mainly buses is £15,000 million

(one billion is a £1,000 million)

Therefore, £15,000 m divided by £1,170 m = 12.8

Therefore, the existing, partial FFPT is as little as 1/13 the cost of replacing only part of the existing mass rapid transit system of bus and train with the tram based (or light rail) mass rapid transit system.  This would very comfortably cover the cost of Regional (W Mids) FFPT for everyone - fully implemented.

It simply needs the political will to transfer the £15 billion (or £750 m/year) from capital to revenue to pay for a full, free public transport for all regional users.  This cuts greenhouse gases by a massive amount and is the most cost-effective way to avoid the charge of hypocrisy from declaring a climate emergency in 2019 and resolutely remaining on the Road, not to zero carbon, but to 'Nothing Ever Changes' - except worsening climates around the world.

Best wishes

Fare Free Public Transport Meeting

On Wednesday 24th March 2021, the Climate Action Network West Midlands will be hosting an online meeting about Fare-Free Public Transport for Birmingham and the West Midlands. We will be doing this to draw attention to the growing global movement for FFPT, and to argue for Birmingham City Council and Transport for West Midlands to initiate a feasibility study about adopting such a scheme.

Currently, about 100 cities around the world have full FFPT systems. In Europe they are located mainly inFrance and Poland, but we should not overlook Tallinn (serving 430,000 people) or Luxembourg (serving over 600,00 people). While the Covid crisis has severely disrupted the use of public transport, we feel that the planning for the extension of the global FFPT movement into this area should begin now, and not wait until we are in a post-Covid situation to extend the scheme to our city and region.

As CANWM, our main concern is with reducing carbon dioxide emissions to net zero in Birmingham by2030, as part of the Climate Emergency response. We note that surface transport makes up 28% of the city’s CO2 total, and although the Birmingham Transport Plan proposes measures to deal with air pollution and congestion and other adverse factors, we feel that it does not go nearly far enough. We need to shift a large proportion of the cars off the road, and the best way to tempt motorists out of their private cars would be a full FFPT system.

Our vision is for a public transport system that is truly public, and free at the point of use. This would go a long way to curb NO2 and particulate matter pollution, congestion, delays, and accidents as well as dealing with our preoccupation with obtaining a net-zero carbon city.

Electric Vehicles represent a move away from fossil fuels, but they are currently expensive and would do

nothing to reduce congestion. They also emit particulate pollution from tyres and brakes and would require vast amounts of electricity if widely used. It would be far preferable to move to a social mass transport system, with electric or hydrogen-powered buses complementing increased access for walkers and cyclists.

Local train and trams should also be part of the FFPT mix, but we should note in passing the remarkably high cost of extending the tram network and consider that the investment should go into FFPT instead.

Similarly, we note the vast sums being made available for HS2 and a planned expansion of the airport.

There is not a lack of resources for transport investment, it is a question of priorities.

Birmingham City Council’s Climate Emergency plan, adopted on January 12th this year, acknowledges that a feasibility study looking into FFPT would be acceptable, but the council will not do it by itself. We would like Transport for West Midlands to undertake a parallel study, but being an unaccountable body, we have little purchase with them.

Therefore, we are inviting you to register for the online meeting on Wednesday March 24th, 19.00 to 20.30 hours GMT, and take part in the discussion led by Wojciech Keblowski. Wojciech is a critical urban geographer working on transport and alternatives to capitalism and is based at the Free University of Brussels.

4 words to explain irrefutable advantage of FFPT

REWARD for leaving your motor at home.

COMPENSATION for slightly higher risk of Covid transmission.

REDUCES congestion and pollution.

MAXIMISE existing mass rapid transit, in this way, without changing to trams at the most colossal expense in reducing reserves of fossil fuels and increasing greenhouse gas emissions - both at the same time!

Modern and multi-modal - Facebook and Twitter

Tramways must be built because it is "a modern form of public transport" (Cllr Qadar Zada) and is "multi-modal transport", says Mayor Andy Street.

Modern because in the modern age, trams are taking over from buses and trains at the most colossal expense.  Multi-modal means that an additional delay is caused by having to change from bus or train onto the tram.  More waiting and a slower journey.  Therefore, it puts people off from using public transport.

Far better to use the £15 billion to 2040 for extending FFPT from the elderly to everyone and, to give us electric buses directly onto the road without the rails having to be laid first.  Give us bus priority roads.

Space for the "bus on rails" trams at the bus station means more congestion for the buses that go directly on the roads without having all the fuss and expense of digging up the roads for the "bus on rails" tram. Replace diesel buses with electric buses!

YOU SAY:  The Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro extension will boost public transport in the Black Country, providing much-needed links to the existing heavy and light rail networks.

I SAY: Use the half a billion to boost existing public transport with such a large percentage drop of people using it.  Boost it by extending Fare-Free Public Transport to everybody.  As a reward for doing the right thing in leaving the car at home and as compensation for the slightly higher risk of getting Covid.

Dave Harries

I know wht you mean 

Tim

 but surely, irrespective of the noise (which I presume is what you are referring to) a freight train is no bad thing, whichever way it goes, when you consider how many lorry journeys are taken off the roads by one freight train?

With commuter trains finally going back on the Kings Norton, Kings Heath, Moseley line, freight on that line may be needed on the 120 Kms railway. Nothing to do with noise, Dave! Perhaps, freight can go on at night with trams during the day? But still a misuse and underuse of an important mainline railway. The test track is another complication for rail freight operators but they have never done anything to stop the trams!

Carl M Cox 17 tram stops over 11 Kms makes for a compulsory tram stop every 650 m. How does that compare with buses that only stop when requested? On Metro One tramway, the average speed is 20 mph when I've been on it. 13 miles in 40 mins = 20 mph. Certainly quicker than the bus but, why did you all lose about 100 Kms of railway lines to homes, shops, offices, roads and trams since the 1970s? Just put the trains back before anymore railway lines are destroyed - as you are doing, in fact!

Thanks for this, Carl. But why not save all those deadly greenhouse gases and have electric buses with pneumatic tyres directly on roads? Phase-out diesel buses. Use the money saved to put freight/commuter trains back on all 120 Kms and there would still be money left to extend Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT) to your age group, too! I've had it for 13 years I'm so ancient. And FFPT is done in about 100 towns and cities around the world, according to Bob Whitehead who has researched it.

Jackie, Dudley Leisure Centre is the second newest leisure centre in Dudley borough. It is a shocking waste of finite fossil fuels and spews out yet more deadly greenhouse gases to move it all of a 1 Km walk to Flood St tram stop. I am worried about future of you young people! 15.1.21

W Mids Pensioners' Convention on board with FFPT

Can pensioners like me help our younger citizens by asking for a full, Fare-Free Public Transport (FFPT) that I have enjoyed since I was 60 years old?

 The Case for FFPT in Birmingham.pdf

​

 BIRMINGHAM – A FFPT PIONEER?

​

This could be funded by using the hundreds of millions now going into multi-modal, multi-mixed up, unnecessary, underground and overground Metro extensions to duplicate/replace buses and trains.  One tram extension, even on the UK's only, middle half mothballed, 120 Kms, mainline railway, I'm afraid. 

I am referring to Conservative Mayor, Andy Street who is working on his £15 billion scheme to 2040 for, mainly, underground and overground "bus on rails" tram extensions!

The "bus on rails" trams in Corporation Street, Bull Street, Broad St/Hagley Road have simply replaced buses that could have been electric buses, minus the rails, running directly on roads!

Always money for grossly extravagant, flash, showpiece to impress, projects that should go instead to FFPT.