Tips and Advice
Creating a vision of the transport network for a city the size of Birmingham is no easy task, and we understand that. So, to help you (or at least try) we’ve listed some tips and advice. You’ll be aware you have total freedom to present whatever and, more importantly, however you wish; song, dance, with a video, using a computer will no doubt form some of the entries. The presentation should just be as creative as your vision!
So, the first tip is to bear in mind the target audience. The event will comprise of Councillors, representatives from CENTRO, the police and other such organisations; these aren’t who you should be worried about though. This is an event for young people - try to think about what you’d find interesting: statistics are always useful, would you really want 10 minutes of 32% this, 85% that?
Talk to people. That’s what the purpose of the event overall is, but it should come across in your presentation. Our transport network has to cater for a whole wealth of people: the daily commuters, pensioners, students and tourists being just a handful. What would help them in getting around Birmingham; will it be as simple as just hopping in a car in 20 years time? (Have you seen Broad Street, for example, during the rush hour?) And it’s not just the people of Birmingham that need to get around - Birmingham New Street connects trains from London to Glasgow, and beyond. We also host one of the countrie’s busiest airports… which leads us to the next point:
Do your research. When we started the project we didn’t give credit to how big transport actually is in the city - we suspect you probably will too. We’ll be posting some preliminary research very shortly to get you started, but if you’re reading this you must have an internet connection. Here’s a starter for 10 - click here. You can find a wealth of information there - if you can’t find what you’re looking for though, drop them an e-mail. There are other sites to look at too - try out the CENTRO, National Express West Midlands or even PushBikes.
Look at examples. Birmingham is a “global city with a local heart”, but that also means we’re competing with other cities too. We’d definitely recommend you look into what’s being done around the UK both short-term and long-term, or what works well; Manchester’s bus system, for example, is often commented on as being efficient. Could Birmingham be facing the prospect of it’s own Underground any time soon? But why stop at UK cities, and why only look at public transport solutions? Copenhagen, for example, has as much as 30% of it’s population with a cycle dependency.
These are a few tips to get you started. Be sure to check back regularly as we add more though. Good luck!
