Passengers in the West Midlands are being given a new ‘identity’ to make travel easier.
Birmingham city centre is the latest area to get the Network West Midlands makeover with a whole new range of easy-to-follow information at bus stops, Metro stops and rail stations. It is part of a region-wide, £7m programme by transport body Centro-PTA to tackle congestion and improve the environment.
Centro-PTA chairman Cllr Gary Clarke, together with senior figures from bus, tram and rail operators, are launching the new Network West Midlands name to Birmingham city centre commuters at the Snow Hill / Colmore Row interchange today (Thursday 19 October).
“This is a major piece of work to get many more people using public transport,” says Cllr Clarke. “It will add to our campaign to cut congestion in the West Midlands and make it so much easier for everyone to get about. Our goal is for passengers to be offered a truly integrated transport system, with simpler ticketing and easy to use information to make finding your way about the network as easy as possible.”
The region’s private sector operators are partners in the scheme to provide vastly improved passenger information across all forms of public transport. Timetables, signs, maps and tickets will all carry the distinctive ‘n’ logo to emphasise that they belong to a joined-up network.
Eventually councillors want all bus, train and Metro services to become part of the comprehensive Network West Midlands to rival similar networks in Paris and London.
Public body Centro-PTA recently took over control of more than 7,000 bus stops across the West Midlands conurbation and is promising to provide passenger information at more than 13,000 locations in total, with operator partners funding the maintenance and upkeep of the information.
A host of different bus companies previously erected bus stops and only around one in ten of these provided any timetable or route information. The Network West Midlands programme is also providing digital displays showing ‘live’ bus and train departures on station platforms, in bus shelters and at key interchanges.
“Vastly improved passenger information and promoting the network of services is a crucial step in our plan to make the network more attractive to use,” comments Cllr Clarke. “Already there are more Birmingham city centre commuters using the bus, train or tram to get to work than choosing to travel by car – that’s a big step in the right direction,” he adds.
