New ways of travelling in the District

With more and more workers returning to the city, Accessible and Connected has had a heavy focus on alternative modes of transport the past few months. The VOI e-scooter trial continues to go from strength to strength with the fleet size growing to around 1200 in Birmingham. The average trip length remains steady at around 2km and trip length at 15 minutes.

April saw the launch of the West Midlands Cycle Hire scheme in Birmingham. The scheme will see over 1500 bikes and 170 docking stations installed across the region, offering more people the opportunity to enjoy cycling and provide a convenient and sustainable alternative to the car for shorter journeys. Colmore Business District has three docking stations; Eden Place, Old Square and Victoria Square, with more planned pending the success of the scheme. You can find out more about the scheme here.

On the topic of cycling, the BID is working with local filmmakers Michael B. Clifford and Sam Lockyer to make a short film about the connection between cycling and business, entitled Connecting with Business. The film is part of a series of short films called Making Connections about cycling in Birmingham and the wider region. The series will focus on individual’s stories and their experiences of cycling, how it features in their lives and what it’s done for them. Alongside individual’s stories, the series will look at how schemes in the city have enabled people to cycle, what has been achieved so far and the challenges faced by the City Council and its partners in bringing cycling to a ‘motor’ city. We’re looking for people to be involved in the film, more details of which can be found here.

Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone also launched in June, a scheme which looks to better improve air quality in the city centre. With over 1000 people a year dying in Birmingham from causes attributed to poor air quality and motor vehicle emissions, as a city something has to be done. Colmore BID are supporters of the scheme and have been busy educating businesses on the financial support they can receive. More info here.