Jean-Luc,

Many thanks for that brilliant response. I agree wholeheartedly with everything you say, and you're particularly eloquent on the issue of why, when it comes to big-city public transport, trams cut it and buses don't.
What does it say – not least to potential investors – about Birmingham's status relative to Manchester and Nottingham if those cities have achieved modern tram systems and Birmingham is happy to settle for more buses? It's no coincidence that a Metrolink tram figures in the opening credits of Coronation Street.
The lack of vision and ambition for the city from some of our politicians and business people makes me angry and embarrassed. It was Jerry Blackett, by the way, who declared that he couldn't see what was wrong with the last design for New Street. Fortunately everyone else could, which is why Network Rail ran an international competition to improve it.
My point about not assuming the Government's anti-light rail stance is set in stone seems to have received some support already following Liam Byrne's comments, reported in yesterday's Post, which suggest that the Government may be rethinking its policy of coupling transport investment to road-charging.
We're still a long way from the coffers being thrown open but at least there's some sign of movement, which is why it would be particularly inept to give up on the Metro now. We need a united front and a determination from the city's political and business establishment which has been sadly lacking up to now.

What everyone has said here sums up the situation with Metro Extension schemes very well. I feel Birmingham has been overlooked in terms of funding for many years and not just for the Metro extensions. There are many other Public Transport Improvements that could bring significant benefits to the region. One of these improvements that, as far as I am aware, is not going to be realistically progressed is the construction of tunnels under the city for the Cross City Line. This would provide a fantastic link through the city and relieve some of the congestion at New Street. Liverpool has its suberban trains running under its city and I believe the benefits in Birmingham would outweigh the cost. Also what ever happened to the reopening of the platforms at Moor Street? Surely that is a reasonably cheap solution to the congestiong through the Snow Hill Tunnel?

Of course there is talk of providing a new High Speed Rail Link through Birmingham by 2026. If this did happen then Metro and other rail extensions would be essential for people to get to and from a new High Speed Rail Station and these links need to be planned now.

I have also read recently that Birmingham is considering changing the alignment of the currently planned Metro Extensions. I was concerned that this would further delay an already late project by another 5 or 6 years because of the need to get a new Transport and Works Act order. However it may be sensible that the route goes via Eastside and the Bull Ring. These areas of the city generate or will generate a significant amount of need for travel. It may be right to put the Metro there but is it the best option to move the existing planned extension.

As for only extending to New Street station. I think that Birmingham should be gunning for the full extension. But let us not forget that just getting the Metro into the City Centre would be the Metro's best advertisment and even though it would not be serving its full potential it would have a tremendous effect on swaying the political opinion of the city. People may start to ask "when can our part of the city get a metro?" At the moment it is just tucked away in Snow Hill and although it is a great service it is not serving the heart of the city or providing the much needed link between the two major stations.

There's no need for me to say much as several people have summed things up perfectly on here.

I've recently returned from a trip to Germany, where all major cities have an extensive underground system.

As I conveniently navigated my way around these exciting subterranean stations using trams that arrived with amazing regularity both day and night, I imagined what it must be like to be a tourist in Birmingham, clutching a few dozen bus timetables and trying to work out how I'd find the next bus stop on a freezing cold winter evening. It was very depressing to realise that Birmingham really is a second-rate European city.

I'd just like to add to a point that someone else touched upon - funding for public transport should be a civic right of the people, something which enhances society and quality of life, not something which is based on the proviso that a sterile business plan can prove it to be a good money-making exercise.

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