THREE ESTATES, FEWER BUSES

11-10-2007

Local bus operator Travel West Midlands announced savage cuts to services in the Black Country last week, and in South Birmingham residents in one of the city's most deprived areas face increasingly inconvenient timetables. Kevin Chapman wonders why this form of transport always seems to be the poor relation.

The Stirrer has reported that South Birmingham could be in line for a new rail link between Birmingham Moor Street, Kings Heath and Kings Norton. (see link here)

However, residents in another part of the city don't want a "super sexy" rail link; they would just like their bus services to be improved.

Residents in the Pool Farm, Primrose Hill and Hawkesley areas of Birmingham have suffered three years of "managed decline" to their bus services. Sure, they have the 35 which is very frequent and operated by low floor, easy access buses. However, when Travel West Midlands review their routes in the city the area always seems to have a service removed as "uncommercial".

Once upon a time Hawkesley had three routes, the 84 which went to the city via Selly Oak Hospital, the 27 which went via the area from Kings Heath to Northfield, and the 35. There are other routes, but these are the ones I want to focus on in this tale.

The 84 was revised in September 2005. The service was curtailed between Kings Norton and Birmingham as it was considered to be "unviable". Perhaps it was unviable as TWM, one of the country's most successful bus companies could not be bothered to promote or market it and allowed it to terminate miles away from the rest of Birminghams bus routes, at a dingy stop in Station Street.

Since the service was curtailed, surprise surprise usage of the 84 has fallen, and the remaining route will probably go soon if something is not done.

Many residents of the three estates are elderly, and if they have an appointment at Selly Oak Hospital if they want to use public transport they have to catch the 84, get off the bus at Kings Norton Station, walk several hundred yards to the stop for the infamous Outer Circle and force their way onto the packed 11C.

Ring and Ride is not an option as the service will carry a "twirly" to bingo but not to a hospital appointment.

Given the lack of direct services most give up and get a taxi to the hospital - costing £8-£10 a time.

The 27 has been the latest service cut, last month. It's been diverted away from Hawkesley to improve "reliability". The result is that Hawkesley has lost a link to Northfield, just as the council are making plans for the Central Technology Belt along the Bristol Road which will bring new jobs, desperately needed in an area with above average unemployment.

The 35 remains busy, but suffers from anti-social behaviour, and gets caught up in the traffic congestion around Kings Heath. A new South Birmingham rail link would potentially help to improve the reliability of this bus service, but at the current rate of progress we could be looking at 2020 before the first train leaves Kings Heath station, particularly if the Government refuses the TIF bid and West Midlands politicians bury their heads in the sand over road user charging.

Passengers in other parts of the West Midlands could soon face cuts to their services. Travel West Midlands last week announced reductions to services around the Black Country and more could be on the way.

Bus usage across the big metropolitan areas in England (the West Midlands, Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire) has continued to decline since deregulation in 1986. If this decline continues at the current rate, within my lifetime bus patronage in the region could reach absolute zero.

There are reasons why operators are reviewing their services; costs are going up all the time and bus companies are struggling to recruit and retain drivers.

However, if rail services were being axed as local bus services are there would be demonstrations, public meetings, questions asked in the Commons and people blockading the last train. It appears that bus users around the West Midlands are seen as second class citizens.

Co-incidentally the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority has been very quiet lately about the role of the bus. Councillors in other parts of the country have berated operators for cuts and shoddy services.

There is a new Local Transport Bill going through Parliament which would give the PTA more powers so perhaps we can look forward to some idea of their thoughts on how they would use the new powers to improve buses.

In the meantime residents on the three estates would just like someone to listen to them and work with them to develop a quality bus service. A route from the area via Kings Norton and Selly Oak to the Q.E. site would be a start.

TWM's shareholders might want to consider giving the company the ticket if "managed decline" is the company's "growth" plan for maximising returns and Diamond and Central Connect will give the likes of Richard Bowker a headache if they go for new services and aggressive growth.

All in all, an interesting ride ahead, but how many people will stay on the bus?

(Kevin Chapman is Chair of the Campaign for Better Transport, West Midlands)