To Coyne A Phrase

Stop, I want to get off

I SEEM to be writing almost exclusively about transport these days with HS2 stories dominating the news agenda.

But almost overlooked in all the fanfare surrounding the high-speed rail project was the news that the long-mooted SPRINT rapid transit system in Birmingham has been agreed as part of a £2bn package of transport improvements for the region.

The tram-style buses will run along the Hagley Road in Edgbaston and are intended to improve connectivity between that area and the city centre.

Now, as I understood it, the original thinking behind SPRINT – an idea for which, I believe, we have Gary Taylor of Brindleyplace developer Argent fame to thank – was to introduce it to link up various outlying parts of an ever-growing city centre.

It had become apparent that moving around between, say, Brindleyplace, Digbeth, the Aston University campus and the Mailbox was something of a trek and, apart from taxis, Shanks’s pony was the only option.

A tram-like bus looping around the city, perhaps getting priority at traffic junctions, would seem to be the ideal solution and one which – relatively speaking – would be inexpensive and easy to implement.

All well and good but when, may I ask, did shunting it up and down the Hagley Road become part of the equation?

The last time I was down there the ever-busy Hagley Road was chock-a block with buses ferrying people into and out of ‘town’. So why do we need trams to add to the confusion and solve a problem that doesn’t exist?

Birmingham city centre is an easy place to get in and out of on public transport. From the extreme limits of Solihull and Sutton Coldfield it is about a 20 minute train journey whilst bus services down the Moseley Road, Hagley Road, Lichfield Road and Coventry Road, for example, are some of the busiest in Europe.

It’s when you get into the city centre that the problems start.

Might it be hoped that regional transport authority Centro and the other powers that be look again at the rapid transit route?  After all, walking around the city centre has become more of a marathon than a sprint? 

 
Taking its toll

TALKING of transport, the phrase white elephant has been used on a number of occasions by opponents of HS2.

You may be interested to know that the term derives from the story that the kings of Siam made a present of one of these animals to courtiers who were of no further use – or obnoxious – in order to ruin the recipient by the cost of its maintenance, but I digress.

It is now largely a term of abuse for projects where the expense far outweighs their usefulness.

It is not always an accurate description. The M40 was described as a white elephant for many years and initially usage on the motorway was low – largely because of a lack of services – but now it works very effectively as an alternative route to London and the South East, taking traffic away from the M1.

Of course the same thing was supposed to happen with the M6 Toll. The idea was that it would take a lot of lorry traffic away from the M6 and ease the problem around the junction 6 to 9 region where the traffic is especially bad.

It was all about easing capacity problems.

But the Toll’s private sector operator set the charges too high from day one and the haulage companies have mostly boycotted it. The result is that the road has become largely a race track for chief executives whilst the M6 remains full of lorries.

Which is why I worry when I keep seeing that word capacity linked to HS2.

My big fear about the project – should it get built of course – is that ticket prices will be so high (partly to pay off spiralling build costs) that few people will be able to afford to travel on it.

If it charges up and down between Birmingham and London half empty it will become the rail version of M6 Toll and the whitest of white elephants.

Suited and booted

FOLLOWING my rant about the pointlessness of ties a few weeks ago, posh tailor Cad & the Dandy is seeking to stop the tide of more casual business atire from washing over UK plc.

To be fair, it’s in its own best interests to do so.

“The gradual creeping in of American dress-down culture to Britain’s boardrooms is stunting Britain’s export growth potential,” according to the business’s co-founder James Sleater.

“The pimple poppers  from America have given us this inverted type of anti-fashion, which simply doesn’t suit British business practice”.

“Even The Institute of Directors is currently trialling a dress-down concept as a way of appealing to entrepreneurs, which is a disturbing trend for British business.

“We will never out bubble-gum Americans. We should therefore  own refinement, class and style – not try and prove our credentials by dressing for work like school truants”.

It makes you think doesn’t it? No, me neither.

Have a great weekend.