Metropol

Godfather wrote:This is just the crap city trying to kiss up to London to be Second City.

Said a man from Birmingham. I can't imagine Birmingham needs a congestion charge given the city centre is hidden in a tangle of motorway and owing to the fact that when you find it, you wish you hadn't.

I went to Birmingham years ago. I've never gone back, and have no intention of going again.

marksi wrote: Said a man from Birmingham. I can't imagine Birmingham needs a congestion charge given the city centre is hidden in a tangle of motorway and owing to the fact that when you find it, you wish you hadn't.

On a motorway? I'll bet there's a lot of car horns going Beep.

Yes Birmingham is a dump. I bet you Beep might agree whenever he ventures out of it.

Edinburgh is to get trams. We've been living with the roadworks since last Christmas, but according to the webshite they're actually ahead of schedule in some areas.

Its interesting to me that the route being created first follows the line that the best bus service in the city takes - the number 22 - which, coincidentally, runs between both large buildings of the Scottish Government. The 22 runs every 3 minutes, and yet was the first bus to be fitted with route marker transmitters so that punters know how long til the next one arrives.

Crazy, really, as you don't even have time to smoke a ciggie before the next one comes.

Self-serving government officials? Never!

Nick Harvey wrote:

Sput wrote:6X?

6X!

Simply one of the best real ales I've had. I drink it quite a bit in the pub.

Gavin Scott wrote:Yes Birmingham is a dump.

Well, It depends on which part of brum, there are some terrible places (Small Heath, Bordsley Green, Lea Hall , Chelmsley Wood , Stechford and Yardley) and some nicer places (Edgbaston, Mosley , South Yardley, Hall Green, City Centre and Witton) .

BTW The entire city centre is now pedestrianised, the Rotunda has been revamped and the Spagetti Junction is being revamped soon.

Godfather wrote:

Gavin Scott wrote:Yes Birmingham is a dump.

Well, It depends on which part of brum, there are some terrible places (Small Heath, Bordsley Green, Lea Hall , Chelmsley Wood , Stechford and Yardley) and some nicer places (Edgbaston, Mosley , South Yardley, Hall Green, City Centre and Witton) .

BTW The entire city centre is now pedestrianised, the Rotunda has been revamped and the Spagetti Junction is being revamped soon.

Ooo a revamped motorway junction. That'll have the tourists flocking to see it.

You could rebrand spagetti junction as the linguini launch pad and it won't make B/Ham any less of a post-industrial shabby dump. Every town has good and bad places, but on balance I'll stick with my view.

I've been there, you understand.

You'll travel around as you get older and see that there's some lovely cities around. Ones that are so nice to look at they make you smile.

Well I love brutalist architecture, and Birmingham is fab for that. So it gets my vote. I may be impressed by Cumbernauld when I go there, though, it all depends.

If we're picking out nasty cities I offer Milton Keynes.

cdd wrote:Well I love brutalist architecture, and Birmingham is fab for that. So it gets my vote. I may be impressed by Cumbernauld when I go there, though, it all depends.

If we're picking out nasty cities I offer Milton Keynes.

I love using TomTom in MK - by the time it has finished directing you over one roundabout - you are at the 4th one - and it gets very confused.

Godfather wrote:This is just the crap city trying to kiss up to London to be Second City.

You're so cool.

There's been more on this recently, with adverts running on TV pretty regularly about it. There are claims that the congestion charge will be used to fund extra bus routes, more carriages on trains and more trams. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all of these services run by private companies? Private companies who stand to benefit hugely from this by way of greater numbers of passengers? It just looks to me as if they're going to spend loads of money on enabling the companies to make even more for themselves.

My solution to this? Free public transport within Manchester, paid for by the revenue from the congestion charge. Or, at the very least, incredibly cheap transport. I reckon this would work - it would cut congestion, and stop the transport companies from making huge profits as a side effect. As it stands, public transport is a very unattractive option as a) it costs too much and b) it is often inconvenient and time consuming. Reducing the first of these will make it a lot more attractive an option, and this will then lead to reducing the latter as more routes are added to cope with demand. Win win situation, shurely?

Or would this not make them enough money?