With the 2022 Commonwealth Games taking place from 28th July to 8th August, you may have noticed the above posters start to be stuck up on bus shelters across the region.
This Summer the Commonwealth Games will take place across the region.
Roads and public transport will be busier. Plan ahead for a smooth journey.
Consider how and when you travel
West Midlands Mayor posted the following image on Facebook a couple of days ago:
It seems that if you have bought a ticket to attend one of the events taking place, you also get free public transport included.
Granted, there will be a number of shuttle buses in operation to ferry spectators between park-and-ride sites and event venues (which have been contracted to Stagecoach).
So the expectation is that most spectators will be travelling to event venues via public transport. The notices at bus shelters are warning passengers to expect buses and trains to be busier than normal.
Ironically, from Sunday 24th July, summer holiday timetables are to be introduced for many services in Birmingham and the Black Country, on the basis that “traffic levels are lower, and fewer people are using buses”.
Does anyone else see the lack of “joined-up thinking”?
I appreciate that this event only lasts for a week and a half, but if the anticipation is that traffic levels will be higher, and the number of people using public transport will be higher, why not postpone the holiday timetables until the 9th August, after the Games have finished? Or at least for those routes that would be serving event venues?
Despite all their best intentions, I have a feeling that TfWM’s “expectations” aren’t going to match up to reality. Hopefully I’m wrong about this, but perhaps passengers who use certain bus services may want to brace themselves for crowded buses and late running / unreliability.
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