My local ballot paper: Two paper candidates, someone who can’t string a sentence together, someone who recently pleaded guilty to harassing a woman - then got rejected by two parties - and has a penchant for random explosive outbursts, and Labour - a tough sell to my ward at the best of times.

It may seem like nerdy detail that the increasing weight of cars is worsening potholes, but it matters. The car makers push to sell wider and heavier cars is increasing road maintenance costs and that affects us all. Not to mention worse crash outcomes and less space to pass (wider) parked cars.

615 candidates for 101 seats. 🤔

You should see the scheme drawing for this mess!

Right message, wrong person?

🗳️ Later this week, Birmingham's local elections will hot up further as candidates are published. Here's a thread of our election coverage so far, what you can do now to put safer streets and better transport at the top of candidates' agendas, and what to expect from us over the coming weeks. 🧵

@electoralcommission.org.uk An awful lot of candidates in Birmingham are missing an imprint on their social media. 🤔

I've accidentally happened upon four new rail fares today. Day tickets for rail travel around the region. This is a big step towards tap-in and tap-out for rail travel. It's at an odd price point. For only 60p (peak) or 40p (off-peak) more, you can get tickets that also include all buses and trams.

A great day for being on antibiotics where you cannot be in the sun!

Excellent article from @profkyd.bsky.social here on how unambitious our legal system is about addressing dangerous driving

Dog two is in high heat and in nappies. Dog one, despite having his 🥜 cut off 3.5 years ago, remains determined.

Enjoying Richard Holden’s meltdown here.

Stop Incinerating, Start Recycling! Birmingham burns a lot more than it recycles, sending waste into the sky.

Ah no, the first city centre BID that's gone rogue with wayfinding. As nicely designed as it is, we've got Interconnect Birmingham for consistent wayfinding around the city centre and eventually beyond. Also, this photo is wayfinding attached to wayfinding! 😬

Government needs to double the funding allocation for Transport for City Regions if trams are a priority. Trams are good and expensive, which is why they require more than just what’s in TCR. The West Mids 2027-32 pipeline is £3 billion oversubscribed and will see under a mile of tramway built.

Bank holidays aren’t as fun when you’ve been unwell for a few weeks. 🤕

I let @jordanbhx.bsky.social post this to the other place, so I’ll post them here! Here are some healthy streets transformations from Birmingham using Google Gemini.

Good news for walking! The Government has confirmed in its new "Better Connected" strategy that it will enable new simplified zebra crossings. Many campaigners have, for many years, been advocating for this change. Here's the case I made in 2022.

Largely sensible stuff in here as policy. However surprised by no real extra funding, no changes to TWAOs/TROs/eTROs to make things happen, and the fact that TfWM’s Swift are anywhere near a national pay as you go/integrated ticketing solution should concern everyone.

I should get my bikes in for a service before everyone else starts raiding their sheds…

It can happen, but it requires leadership. Where are our leaders?

Waiting at Emergency with a broken thumb because some asshole doored me, and because the powers that be in this city believe that parking for car owners matters more than safety for everyone else. #UKCarCulture is a pestilence upon Birmingham.

Having had to run a load of little erands around Brum recently (especially into the city centre) I think a bicycle is the only way to get around town with any speed these days.

Online GP contact forms. Great if you manage to find the right form and don’t receive a snotogram telling you that you’ve got to use another form. Assume it’s related to how performance is measured.

NEW EPISODE! 🚨 London’s road danger reduction plan under the microscope. What will it take to achieve Vision Zero by 2041? With @willnorman.co.uk, @adamtranter.bsky.social & @lauralaker.bsky.social Listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts: shows.acast.com/streets-ahea...

Unless there’s a shift coming in their manifesto, this doesn’t really give off the vibes of having been in opposition for 14 years and pitching a radically different city. Slightly depressing, really.

Having been thoroughly miffed by Google's approach to designating cycle routes, I went and traced them all for myself. There are just shy of 300km. Only 21km are on blue-route modern separated cycleways. 38km are on quietways, the mystical cycle markings in the middle of the carriageway.

My local turquoise twats in tweed are imploding, having deselected the person that got them going in the constituency, and it’s mildly amusing.

The same party complaining about a new separated cycle lane because nobody uses the existing infrastructure, by the way.

Something something powers and revenue generation.

Bus stop or parking spot?

Pining for some Swiss sensibility to getting from Birmingham to a village four miles into Cornwall. I can get to Plymouth and the options go to pot. The bus that goes to the village leaves five minutes after the train gets in - not impossible but tight. The bus after is an hour and a half.

£1.55 for a poster. Printing the next batch of labels at midday tomorrow. The batch after won’t be until Wednesday. ☺️

I’d love to see how they’re planning to get a tandem through the toucan crossings at the Priory Road junction 🤔

Thinking today about the effectiveness of our mayor's "drivers should pledge to be kind" message as a solution to the problem of #UKCarCulture in Birmingham.

Once again experiencing a border queue of Brexit shame.

In England a driver can be speeding, using cannabis and a phone, overtake another vehicle, mount the pavement outside a school playground and kill a 4-year-old girl while uninsured — and receive just 3 years 10 months for causing death by careless driving. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Today on 'That's so Birmingham City Council!', a new build primary school has been approved where the only way to access the school on foot is through crossing three sections of its car park. The new building will relocate a school from 1.4km away.

Here be dolphins

All-out elections meet cabinet structure meet total electoral shakeup.

Another thing to add to the "every leader who shied away from this for political reasons looks quite silly now" pile. I'll bet the air quality data is stunningly good too...

Hopefully the inquiry isn't just trying to keep angry graduates out of MP's inboxes. I had more to write than the 1,000 characters allowed! I mostly wanted to point out that for every £1 I pay back, two-thirds gets swallowed up by new interest and that I'll pay back 200% before it is written off.

England next pls.

Fancy yet another go at building a regional transport app? @dracos.co.uk

Election season is upon us. Get a poster for the small-ish price of a stamp. 👇🏼

How an electric bike can protect your money as another oil shock hits. The argument for fossil fuels is ending, but so too is the argument for relying on cars for journeys of under five miles. Here's some numbers to convince: www.cyclingelectric.com/in-depth/how...

If you had £15 million at your disposal, do you think you'd spend it on rolling out a new regional transport brand or making your customer service outfit fit for purpose?

Better Streets for Birmingham podcast ep 8. - Clean air in Birmingham Happy Monday! We've got another podcast out. A conversation with Kirsten de Vos and Florence Cadge about clean air in the city. betterstreetsforbirmingham.org/ep-8-clean-a...