Martin Price
@mrmjprice
I design public services. Former Chair @betterstreetsforbirmingham.org. Starting a PhD in autumn. Own @a38cycleway.bsky.social. Let’s rebalance our streets for safe and equitable trips from A to B. 🏳️🌈🟢 📍 Birmingham, UK
The AI-ification of the Bournville notice boards begins in earnest. Let’s check back in a year.
Meanwhile I stand at the bus stop with cars parking on all the pavement around and on the stop. And ambulance workers park on pavements and pedestrian crossings to get a meal deal from Tesco. Carmageddon is alive and well in the motor city…
The plan for 2022-27 vs what will be delivered. Lighter coloured circle borders indicate 'development only' schemes, but most were 'delivery' schemes at the start. Of 18 schemes, 6 will be finished, 7 are approved to run into 2027-32, 4 do not seem to have funding to carry over and 1 is a mystery.
It’s sad that this is a good day for the marooned A45 Cycleway - an eventual key cycleway out to the airport. We really need to sort out its connection through the ring road and to the Sports Quarter™️.
This case study from Active Travel England (ATE) working with West of England Combined Authority (WECA) was in ATE's 2026-30 delivery plan. Do we have any details of what they found and lessons learned?
I wonder how much money this service processes to still look like this.
The Reform councillor that voted for the Lib Dem-Green-Indy coalition last night happens to be the one opposing the extension of @a38cycleway.bsky.social. She'll be furious when she realises both of their manifestos committed to protected cycle routes. 🙈
Pic is a screenshot from a @geofftech.bsky.social video. The main experience difference is 25% relative capacity of a tram: 56 at a squeeze on the VLR demonstrator vehicle vs. 210 on a WM Metro tram.
To be fair, this is one of several multimodal corridor studies. I haven't FOI'd the others. Preet Gill MP was talking about being annoyed that Sprint was being chosen for Hagley Road. But I think it was based on a misunderstanding of the Rosewell Review, unless referring to unreleased papers.
I've just read the strategic outline case for mass rapid transit between Birmingham City Centre and Longbridge. 📑 £1.2bn for trams 🚊, £551m for very light rail 🚈 or £113m for bus rapid transit 🚏. The route would be via Smithfield, Pershore Rd to Edgbaston, then across to A38 through to Longbridge.
I fear the heat might be getting to Bobby Alden - leader of the Tory group. This cannot be a serious suggestion. It uses AI imagery that has badly hallucinated the civic centre. It forgets that he leads the third largest opposition group. It’s basically pissing into the wind to say *something*.
Tonight is Better Streets’ annual meeting where I had hoped to read this statement, however was admitted to hospital on Sunday so a post will have to do. Thank you to all who is part of and has supported @betterstreetsforbirmingham.org - it means so much. My next step is some important research!
I know I just need to follow those orange lines from the Middleway down to Yardley Wood. Getting very different directions everywhere!
Waterloo Street is a lovely demonstration that paint isn’t infrastructure. Blue badges and the rich now occupy this new (yes, despite the state of the tarmac it is new) contraflow cycle lane.
That random car park just off Queen Elizabeth Island? It's looking more and more like someone took some bollards out and is operating an illegal car park on council land.
My hopefully outgoing councillor didn’t like a final fact check under his post in the local Facebook group. 😔
Q61 - Park Central to Selly Oak via Edgbaston. £1 with LimePrime. A bit wonky trying to prove I was parked not on a footpath - this is the rack albeit beautifully paved.
Oh good, my local Reform candidate, who according to projections is likely to win, can't tell the difference between the Lord Mayor of Birmingham City Council and the Mayor of the West Midlands. That's a good start.