Shaping Birmingham’s Transport

Wow, what a conference. As I sit in Starbucks surrounded by the steering group and some of the UKYP Birmingham members reflecting on today, we realise what exactly what it is we’ve done today. Young people make up 37% of our population, and today they were able to speak to high-level decision-makers to do with transport in Birmingham. The guests they were consulting with were:

• Councillor Len Gregory: Cabinet Member for Transportation
• Councillor Jon Hunt
• Councillor Tim Huxtable
• Stephen Rhodes: Bus and Highways Director, CENTRO
• Martin Hancock: Commercial Director, National Express
• Inspector Gordon: British Transport Police
• Ben Martin: Friends of the Earth
• Andy Marlow, Richy Rana and Tyrone Fowles: UK Youth Parliament

A huge well done to Jamie P, Aaron and Jamie H for winning the Your Vision: 2026 competition with their Brumderground concept. Congratulations also to the two runner-up entries.

The idea of today was always to produce practical actions that the council can act on, tommorow, in the short-term and in the long-term… we certainly had a wealth of ideas that came from the rich discussion on each table. The Birmingham Mail attended and commented on how successful they thought it went. The young people involved really did make it what it was, so thanks to them for attending, and also to all those who put in so much to make the event happen. We’ll be updating this blog with the solutions you came up with over the next few days and weeks, as well as some of the photos taken on the event. Alternatively, you can find us on Facebook to keep up to date. Leader of the Council Mike Whitby has said he’s interested in hearing how the event went, and where we can take it from here; we’ll let you know how it goes. We recommend subscribing to stay informed.

As Bilal said in his closing remarks: “This isn’t going to be compiled into some big report where we try and pass it on to the relevant agencies; the appropriate people have already heard and noted what you’ve said.” He’s right. And so it ends? Don’t be silly; this is just the beginning.

With a month to go until the competition entry deadline, it seems transport has never been a bigger issue on the public agenda. This month the Transport Steering Group made the front cover of the City Council’s ‘Forward’ Newspaper, delivered to every house in Birmingham, showing the scope of interest and progression in ameliorating the current system.

The issue is also the focus of the UK Youth Parliament who are holding an upcoming summit discussing the accessibility and affordability of public transport. Brendan McGowan, Interim Head of Programmes, explained: “Our aim for the Fares Fair event is to bring together young people from across the country and support them to share and learn from other 11-19 year olds how they’re shaping transport services where they live- whether this is about customer services training for drivers, more affordable trains and trams or a reliable bus to get you to school, work or to see your mates.”

 Also in the news this week a Facebook group campaigning specifically about Travel West Midlands’ fares which continues to grow by at east 1,000 people per week. We spoke to group creator Michael Burke about why he set the group up: “I felt that there was no real way of people getting their opinions across to TWM, and that starting this group would be a good way for those people to voice their concerns. And the group has been very successful in doing this.”

As the awareness of the problems with Birmingham’s public transport system and suggestions for future developments continue to grow, what better time to submit an entry to our competition!