'Crazy and unsafe' – thousands sign petition against new Birmingham bus lane
More than 2,500 people have signed a petition against a ‘crazy and unsafe’ bus lane in Birmingham.
Last month the council set up a temporary 24-hour bus, cycle and taxi lane on the A38 Bristol Road South in Selly Oak, between Langleys Road and Northfield town centre.
The lane was established, the council says, on temporary trial basis for the next few months under the Emergency Transport Plan, with the potential for the measures to be made more permanent in the future.
However, local residents, councillors and MPs have slammed the project, with MP Gary Sambrook calling for a ‘major rethink’ of the scheme.
“This bus lane has clearly not been thought through from the council,” he said.
“It’s crazy, unsafe and will increase congestion and pollution at a time when we’re supposed to be climate-conscious.”
Infuriating
“There was no proper consultation and so it pretty much just appeared overnight infuriating local residents.
“We’ve seen similar schemes introduced and scrapped in the past such as on the Tyburn road in North Birmingham where it was seen to have increased air pollution and connection.
“Other councils are scrapping their bus lanes all together as well, such as Coventry. It’s time for Birmingham City Council to have a major rethink of it’s transport policy which is wreaking havoc on our city.”
The council’s web page describing the measures has so far had more than 150 comments from local residents, several of whom are opposed to the idea.
Responding to the petition, a Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “Through the Department for Transport’s Emergency Active Travel Fund, we have started to deliver several pilot transport schemes in various locations around Birmingham, to enable more people to walk and cycle. Along the A38 corridor between Selly Oak and Northfield we are trialling measures including segregated cycle lanes and a shared bus, cycle and taxi lane.
"All of the Emergency Active Travel Fund projects are temporary, trial measures. The emergency nature of this situation and the timescales we are having to work to, have limited the extent we have been able to consult and engage prior to delivery. However, petitions and other feedback are being used to make modifications to the scheme and inform whether the temporary measures are amended in future."
