Paging the West-Midlanders

I have a meeting in Birmingham on Thursday / Friday this week.

Need to be in the city centre (Hyatt Hotel) at around 9am-9.30am.

Is it hell getting into the city at that time of the morning?

Just trying to decide if I should take the bike or car.

 

In

Train

 

I ought to know, "cus I doe stray as fur as brummagem much like."

If I do, I usually use the Midland Metro from wolvo. It has one or two
FREE park and ride halts on the route not far from the M5 so that might
be a possibility.

Despite UKRM perceptions it is not 100% guaranteed that your car will be
gone, torched or broken into upon your return.

--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Fairly hellish, yes. Bike won't make that much difference though as the
worst bits of the A456 are too narrow to filter. Allow yourself 30-40
minutes from the M5 to Broad Street at that time of day, & watch out
for the scameras, especially the one shortly after it changes from a 40
to a 30 limit.

--
Krusty
www.MuddyStuff.co.uk
Off-Road Classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tigtona 955i '96 Tiger '79 Fantic Hiro 250

 

Company will only pay for pikey class, and it would take 3 hours - so
I'll give that a miss.

 

Hmmm, I was planning on using the full-size panniers, too.

Maybe I should dig out the small ones, or try and fit everything in the
top-box and tank-bag.

Surely there's some kind of time saving to be made using a bike?

 

yes its an absolute fucking nightmare , all the kids will be back at
school so the traffic will be chaotic . Thiers very little secure bike
parking in brum at the moment either , not sure if the hyatt has
private secure parking any more either


Which way you comming in


--

 

This kind of worries me - car parking is in a nearby multi-storey @ £12
/ day.

I'd prefer to take the car, but I hate being stuck in traffic.

From South Wales - so M50 / M5.

 

Most of the A456 is very narrow dual carriageway. It tends to flow
quite well up to where it crosses the A4030, so a bike doesn't help
much there. After that it's often at a standstill between junctions,
but it's too narrow to filter on anything wider than a push-bike.

You /can/ zip down the outside if you time it right, but there won't be
a gap to get back into when the traffic starts coming the other way
again, which can lead to much leaning over of bike & praying the bus
thundering towards you doesn't take out your handlebars. There's also
lots of cars turning right into side roads/B&Bs etc, & they tend to gun
it on the rare occasions there is a gap in the traffic.

So yes, there is /some/ time saving to be had on a bike, but very
little compared to a typical town/city main road.

--
Krusty
www.MuddyStuff.co.uk
Off-Road Classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tigtona 955i '96 Tiger '79 Fantic Hiro 250

 

Got rid of the Scousers did you?

 

you will be lucky if you save 5 minutes , you will spend most of your
time playing dodge the kamicazi at that time of day , as krusty says
the roads into brum are covered with speed cameras so you are unlikely
to make any real progress
--

 

Hmmm - I took the car into Birmingham for a meeting last year, seemed to
spend ages stuck in traffic, which is why I figured I should take the
bike this year.

But if I'm not likely to save much time, I may as well use the car
again.

 

(SteveH) wrote in

Cheaper than Cardiff after 1st Oct.

Change jobs



--
wessie at tesco dot net

BMW R1150GS

"Wessie is a lovely man with many wonderful qualities" TM Blaney

 

Heh.

I only ever get stuck in traffic when people book stupid places for
meetings.

We should have booked something near the airport, but if we did that, it
would limit our options for a company sponsored piss-up.

 

Centro are on patrol:
http://www.centro.org.uk/wwwroot/AboutCentro/usrACMetroParkRide.asp?hdWhichMenu=FACILITIES

That might possibly reveal what SteveH gets up to in the privacy of his
car though, which might dissuade him from that option.
--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Makes no difference bike or car at that time of day your going to be
buggered for traffic , if you really do want to use your bike , stay on
the m5 join the m6 southbound and run in on the expressway the traffic
will be heavy but you will be in a position to filter , another option
i use in the van is jump on the m42 come off at the coventry road / nec
junction and come through marston green , tile cross , stechford ,
borsdley green , past the blues football ground and follow the roads
around the back of the fish market in digbeth and up through the
chineze quarter that brings you out on suffolk queensway just below the
hyatt underground carpark , if you want the full directions i can
email you them --

 

train straight into brum from the airport 10 minutes , taxi to
coleshill
15 minutes loads of pubs taxi to solihull again 15 minutes loads of
pubs and a few clubs , some decent tottie around thier as well

--

 

Get off the M5 at J4 and leave the car at Stourbridge Junction (free and
safe parking) and get a half an hour train in to the city centre.
No guarantees of a seat on the train but it'll be easier than driving in
--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it goes away"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk www.ebayfaq.co.uk

 

Yep , but you can just use the wrong side of the road , or the street that
runs parallel to the Hagley road on the right hand side.

<nods>
--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it goes away"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk www.ebayfaq.co.uk

 

From South Wales to Birmingham by car it'll take much the same - more if
you hit rush hour.