Now Birmingham has secured the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the city council and West Midlands Combined Authority are kick-starting the Sprint bus project.
It has to be asked, is what is being proposed better than what is operating already? Is the bendy bus proposed in the various Sprint plans the answer? From a commuter’s perspective it has to be no.
You want your bus to be reliable and turn up on time, so the priority measures for buses promised for Sprint would help. But you also want a seat and to travel in comfort. Stand for half an hour or more on a bendy bus hitting pot holes and getting stuck in traffic jams is not an attractive proposition.
Vehicles of the type currently proposed for Sprint were tried in projects in Swansea, Leeds and York. These buses were scrapped. Bendy buses were operated in London and when Boris Johnson ordered their withdrawal they were offered for sale.
If NatEx WM thought this design would be successful, they would have bought these and put them into service. The fact they’ve chosen not to, but invest in high quality double deck buses speaks volumes.
The legacy of the Commonwealth Games should include a bus that sprints around the region that people choose to use. Not a blunder-bus that failed in Swansea, failed in York and will fail in Birmingham.
Kevin Chapman, Chair,
West Midlands Campaign for Better Transport
