Start the New Year on the right foot!
Start the New Year on the right foot!
Why not make a positive change to your travel habits in 2023? Making small, positive, and sustainable changes to the way you travel is better for the environment, great for your mental and physical health, and can save you money too!
Here are a few ideas to think about this year:
- Is your journey less than 2 miles? Leave the car at home and walk or cycle to your destination
- Try out West Midlands Cycle Hire where you can also hire eBikes, making it easier to travel longer distances and cover steeper ground. Remember, if you cycle between 6am and 11am there is no unlock fee!
- Why not walk or cycle to your local train station and enjoy your journey on the train, find information to get you started on the TfWM website
- Commit to swapping one car journey a week for bike, bus, tram, or train and build up from there
- As part of the Government’s Help for Household’s scheme, National Express bus tickets have been reduced in price to just £2 for an adult single ticket, and £1 for an under 18s ticket. The offer runs until 31 March 2023.
- Get inspired to walk for 20 minutes every day with Living Streets Try 20 tips
It's Time to Act!
Join us in celebrating our NEW air quality campaign launching on Tuesday 17 January across all BCC social media channels. The #TimeToAct campaign was filmed across several of Birmingham’s schools with the aim to remind everyone of the harmful impacts and causes of poor air quality, specifically around the school gate.
Want to support our #TimeToAct campaign? Here are some steps you can take…
- Help to keep the conversation going by liking, commenting, and sharing the campaign from our social media channels @BhamCityCouncil and @BhamConnected. The campaign can be searched for using the hashtags #TimeToAct and #BrumBreathes
- Read the Birmingham Clean Air Strategy to find out more about air pollution and Birmingham’s six pledges
- If you are a school in Birmingham, email connected@birmingham.gov.uk to find out more about air quality monitoring
- Switch to sustainable and active forms of travel
- Switch off your car engine when your vehicle is stationary
Switch off campaign
Air pollution is a major problem in Birmingham, and transport is responsible for around 80% of pollutants in the city.
Leaving the car engine running whilst the car is stationary - otherwise known as ‘idling’ - is a common cause of high levels of air pollution. Vehicle exhaust fumes are linked to health issues such as asthma and are especially damaging for younger children.
In order to help tackle this issue, we have developed our Switch Off campaign with FREE resources for schools. To support the campaign, simply turn off your engine when stationary. This small change will improve the quality of air both inside and outside of your vehicle, and help to improve the air we all breathe.
See our Switch Off toolkit complete with resources for schools
Workplaces and communities can also use the Clean Air Day Anti-idling Toolkit to educate yourself and others about the dangers of idling car engines.
Camp Hill Line stations and drop in sessions
West Midlands Rail are investing £61 million in 3 new stations on the Camp Hill line in South Birmingham as part of the West Midlands Rail Programme (WMRP). This project will provide faster, more reliable transport for people who live or work in the area. It will also mean that train journeys could replace up to 25% of car journeys, reducing congestion and pollution.
West Midlands Rail are holding three drop-in sessions about the new Camp Hill Line stations, where you can meet the team behind the construction and ask any questions.
Sessions are free to attend and are taking place on:
- Thursday 26 January, 12pm – 2pm, Kings Heath Community Centre, Heathfield Road
- Saturday 28 January, 10am – 12pm, Moseley Hive, Alcester Road
- Wednesday 1 February, 5pm – 7pm, Stirchley Baths, Bournville Lane
Find out more and register your attendance
Cycle Confident sessions
Cycle Confident are aiming to help more people to cycle as part of their everyday lives through a range of free, fun and exciting activities to suit everyone including cycle training, cycle maintenance courses, led rides and more!
Find a Cycle Confident session near you
Cycle Confident can also arrange led rides, cycle training and cycle maintenance courses for employers. If your workplace is interested in hosting a session please email us: connected@birmingam.gov.uk
Big Bike Revival sessions
If your workplace is hosting a Dr Bike session in the coming weeks, be sure to bring your bike along for some FREE repairs. The sessions are delivered by experienced mechanics from local Community Cycle Clubs, and funded by Cycling UK as part of their Big Bike Revival project.
City Centre improvements resume in Victoria Square
A multi-million pound regeneration of Birmingham’s city centre continues with Victoria Square, Colmore Row and Waterloo Street being repaved over the coming months. Some £5million for this has come from the government’s Transforming Cities Fund.
HS2 completes world’s longest box ‘bridge slide’
There have been some exciting developments in the creation of HS2, as the new HS2 Marston Box Rail Bridge was successfully installed on Sunday 1 January making it the UK’s first ‘box-slide’ bridge over a motorway. This bridge will carry the HS2 line across the M42 motorway near junction 9. It will join up Dunton Wood Embankment to the south and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Viaduct to the north.
Have your say
Camp Hill Line drop in sessions:
West Midlands Rail are holding three drop-in sessions about the new Camp Hill Line stations where you can meet the team behind the construction and ask any questions.
Find out more and register your attendance
Dudley Road Phase 5:
The A457 Dudley Road/Spring Hill corridor forms part of Birmingham’s Strategic Highway Network and provides a key arterial route from the Black Country into central Birmingham.
We are currently planning to improve the A457 Dudley Road/Spring Hill corridor to:
- upgrade facilities for pedestrians and cyclists,
- provide new bus lanes,
- reduce traffic congestion through junctions.
Find out more about the consultation and have your say on Birmingham BeHeard
Consultation closes on 31 Jan 2023
Dates for the diary
Modeshift TravelWise and STARS Business Conference - Thursday 16 March
The theme of this conference is ‘Switchable trips: from private car to active travel and public transport’. Find out more about the conference and book to attend on the Modeshift website.
Please email the Birmingham Connected team if you would like to be added to or removed from our mailing list: connected@birmingham.gov.uk
Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
