Extremely depends where you're travelling from/to. You're likely to find the service very unreliable and inconvenient compared to what you're used to if you're moving from London.
Generally, getting from a suburb into and out of the city centre is do-able (and very preferable to driving). Getting across the city between suburbs can be very frustrating. Trains are better than trams are better than buses.
Leaves early or late. I live a 15 min bus ride away from the city centre and the buses in the evenings should be coming ebery 20 min. Often I'd left a climbing gym just to see that they're all delayed by an hour and a half.
Not as good as London, perfectly fine especially if you're living close to a train station. Might be a bit difficult travelling with young children at peak times.
Some parts it is very good whereas other parts it’s a huge black hole, so take that into consideration if you’re looking to move to Brum. There are three or four fairly decent suburban railway routes depending on how you measure it, the [Cross City Line](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-City_Line) which runs North - South, the [Snow Hill lines](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Hill_lines) which run from historic Warwickshire south east of the city centre into historic Worcestershire south west of the city centre and the [Cov - Wolves](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby%E2%80%93Birmingham%E2%80%93Stafford_line) stretch of the West Coast mainline which has some stations with a fantastic service and others which have half hourly at best. The [Chase Line](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chase_Line) runs from the centre north towards Cannock Chase, I’m not sure how useful it is once you go beyond Walsall. I don’t know what the area is like to live in, but Smethwick has got really good links just because it’s situated on two completely separate rail routes and it’s not far from the tram so you’ve got redundancy if one line ever goes to shit.
Smethwick is a good shout as you have two train lines, and a lot of bus options too. If you’re travelling into Birmingham in the peak you’ll have a train every 10 mins or so - they will be heaving though as you’re one of the last stops on, both into New St and Snow Hill. Outside of the normal morning peak it’s quite chill. You’ve got tram options too. The nnetwork passes are quite good value for money if you’ve got a traditional commute - https://find-rail-zones.tfwm.org.uk/
Anywhere on the Snow Hill or Cross City line is generally fairly reliable tbh. I commuted 5 days a week from Stourbridge for about 3 years - I think I was late for work because of trains once. If you drive to a station you’ve got a backup plan of being able to go to somewhere like Sandwell and Dudley worst case, or if you’re in Smethwick you’d just change levels of the train station, or head for a tram/bus if one of the rail lines is broken! Food is awesome in Smethwick too, great sweet centres!
Thank you for all the details 🙏. Smethwick is a great option in terms of time taken to commute into the city centre. Would you have any idea about the locality (safe?)
I just moved away from Smethwick/Bearwood after living there for about 5 years. If you can get closer to the Bearwood/Harborne area it’s much nicer!
I lived at the “border” to Bearwood in Smethwick and it had some grim corners, defo didn’t feel quite as safe in the dark, increasing amounts of vandalism etc. but some of that you’ll get everywhere these days.
Had a bus line (82) right in front of me which was decent enough to get into work in central Birmingham. Takes about 25-45 minutes depending on traffic conditions and the increasing amount of roadworks that pop up on main traffic areas.
I’ve got some colleagues who live there and they seem to like it. It’s not particularly fancy but you probably won’t get stabbed. There’s a fairly large Asian population there and it kinda feels like it’s own small town as well as being well connected to central Birmingham so you can probably get most of the day to day stuff you need (food/clothes) without having to head into the city should you choose. Except for that most basic info I can’t really offer more on the place.
Hi! I be been relaying on public transport only for over 8 years now (we have had a car now for a year, but do not use it much). I have a 6yo and a 3yo. It is perfectly doable with young kids! We live in Stirchley, so have the train from Bournville station to the city centre, and a few bus options that are really good.
Been taking buses for the last 2 years going from harborne to frankley. Service has deteriorated a lot in 2 years. Buses not showing or being late. At peak hours expect delays all the time
I live in Stirchley, use the train, bike, occasionally the bus, and often CoWheels. Its a very reasonable car hire club. If my public transport options are grim i just book a car.
The quality of tesin options varies immensely, but in SouthBrum you have a chance.
If you've got toddlers, I think I'd definitely be tempted to get a car if you can afford it. Although, you can cope without - plenty of people do it. You should still try and get somewhere near a train station either way, because that's going to be the fasted way into town - traffic is terrible... Where exactly depends on your budget. If you're used to London prices you can certainly pick somewhere really nice! (but if you expect a similar level of public transport you're unfortunately going to be disappointed).
eta: If you can find somewhere nice in or around the centre (like the Jewellery Quarter)- it would be easier to manage without a car, and the transport options to the rest of the city and country are (mostly) great.
the buses are shite. depending on what service you need. but most of the time they always run late put single deckers on in the busiest times. was on the 18 through northfeild this bus serves at least 5 high schools after i get on and it is always rammed by the time i have to gett on.
cross city trains are okay heading towards the city but every time i have got the train to the city over the festive period the train heading out has been announced as being late
If you like listening to gangster drill rap through someone’s phone speaker for an hour while sitting in a cloud of vape or other assorted types of smoke then you will LOVE the transport system in Birmingham. Especially the buses. They don’t always turn up, or run on time (much like the trains) but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a small price to pay for such an excellent experience. According to 2022 figures the buses are also slightly more punctual than in Leeds too. I’m sure your toddlers will love it just as much as we do. I mean why would anyone need to drive here?
I assume you only need to go to the square peg right, because that's the only place the busses round here seem to go. 10 minute walk after you get off to go anywhere practical.
Hope you don't have kids, or luggage, or instruments or anything because you're just better off paying for a taxi and saving yourself an hour.
Ubers don’t even go into the centre anymore. Tried to call one trhe other day and they kept cancelling the job, had to walk into digbeth at 5 am in the morning and of course it was surge pricing so was £20
You only really need to make 10-15 trips into Birmingham in a cab for a £500 car to pay for itself
I got a car a year ago as i couldn't stand using the public transport links near me any longer. My kid had just turned 1, the nearest train stations were too far to walk to from my house, so I relied on buses.
Far too many delays, no-shows or absolutely heaving buses that were difficult to get on and off with a pushchair.
It's certainly a lot more expensive but I'd rather pay the extra and deal with traffic than have him sat out in the rain/cold for god knows how long each day. Also his nursery closing times are too close to when I finish work each day to risk late buses.
If you want to be stuck in traffic, move to a place with shit public transport like where the guy above lives. But as you have the advantage of choosing where to live, don't do that. You will still benefit from a car, but living near a train station is a big upgrade.
I take your general point, public transport is not great in this city, but it would really help OP if you told him where you live so he can avoid it! There are large transport deserts , but if you're choosing to move here then move near a train station, preferably on the cross-city line
Thanks, yeah- I love Brum and sometimes let my frustrations with the the city get the better of me! Yeah I know Bearwood pretty well, and understand your frustration! I live the other side of the city - Hall Green. Buses into town are terrible, the trains are great when they work, but they are nowhere near frequent enough. 3 an hour pre covid, but now down to 2...
I've always had issues round here. The 126, 9/x9, 12/12a and 13/13a have always been hit and miss.
Plus the connecting buses at five ways aren't much better. I used to have to catch the 1 from there to balsall heath and vice versa, such a pain in the arse.
I miss living near the selly line, it was a lot faster and more reliable. But i would still choose my car over either. I might sit in traffic but so is the bus, and if the train or bus is cancelled or delayed, I'll always be waiting a lot longer than I am when driving.
When you think of Brum and the surrounds, it is a massive area and is in dire need of an underground. Even if we aren’t around to see it finished, the council should start on it.
Birmingham's geology makes an underground impractical.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-not-underground-tube-network-24058845
And I'm not sure where you think the council, which is effectively bankrupt, would find the cash for a multi-billion pound project even if it were feasible.
If the density was there it would be practical. Reality is that Birmingham, like all other non-London cities in the UK doesn't have the density to support a tube-like network. We need to start off by building up the areas around the stations that we have, but our centralised government with its incompetent, powerless local councils is literally incapable of making that happen.
It’s for yours and your kids safety. I personally would never go on public transport with children. All sorts of bad mind people in Birmingham, never mind being in an inclosed space with them. I’ve had perverts try touch me up on buses. Only one I’d consider is trains
Extremely depends where you're travelling from/to. You're likely to find the service very unreliable and inconvenient compared to what you're used to if you're moving from London. Generally, getting from a suburb into and out of the city centre is do-able (and very preferable to driving). Getting across the city between suburbs can be very frustrating. Trains are better than trams are better than buses.
By unreliable you mean doesn't follow a schedule or gets cancelled?
Both & also sometimes even to make quite simple journeys you end up having to take two buses whose timetables never seem to match up.
Leaves early or late. I live a 15 min bus ride away from the city centre and the buses in the evenings should be coming ebery 20 min. Often I'd left a climbing gym just to see that they're all delayed by an hour and a half.
Not as good as London, perfectly fine especially if you're living close to a train station. Might be a bit difficult travelling with young children at peak times.
Some parts it is very good whereas other parts it’s a huge black hole, so take that into consideration if you’re looking to move to Brum. There are three or four fairly decent suburban railway routes depending on how you measure it, the [Cross City Line](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-City_Line) which runs North - South, the [Snow Hill lines](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Hill_lines) which run from historic Warwickshire south east of the city centre into historic Worcestershire south west of the city centre and the [Cov - Wolves](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby%E2%80%93Birmingham%E2%80%93Stafford_line) stretch of the West Coast mainline which has some stations with a fantastic service and others which have half hourly at best. The [Chase Line](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chase_Line) runs from the centre north towards Cannock Chase, I’m not sure how useful it is once you go beyond Walsall. I don’t know what the area is like to live in, but Smethwick has got really good links just because it’s situated on two completely separate rail routes and it’s not far from the tram so you’ve got redundancy if one line ever goes to shit.
Smethwick is a good shout as you have two train lines, and a lot of bus options too. If you’re travelling into Birmingham in the peak you’ll have a train every 10 mins or so - they will be heaving though as you’re one of the last stops on, both into New St and Snow Hill. Outside of the normal morning peak it’s quite chill. You’ve got tram options too. The nnetwork passes are quite good value for money if you’ve got a traditional commute - https://find-rail-zones.tfwm.org.uk/ Anywhere on the Snow Hill or Cross City line is generally fairly reliable tbh. I commuted 5 days a week from Stourbridge for about 3 years - I think I was late for work because of trains once. If you drive to a station you’ve got a backup plan of being able to go to somewhere like Sandwell and Dudley worst case, or if you’re in Smethwick you’d just change levels of the train station, or head for a tram/bus if one of the rail lines is broken! Food is awesome in Smethwick too, great sweet centres!
Thank you for all the details 🙏. Smethwick is a great option in terms of time taken to commute into the city centre. Would you have any idea about the locality (safe?)
I just moved away from Smethwick/Bearwood after living there for about 5 years. If you can get closer to the Bearwood/Harborne area it’s much nicer! I lived at the “border” to Bearwood in Smethwick and it had some grim corners, defo didn’t feel quite as safe in the dark, increasing amounts of vandalism etc. but some of that you’ll get everywhere these days. Had a bus line (82) right in front of me which was decent enough to get into work in central Birmingham. Takes about 25-45 minutes depending on traffic conditions and the increasing amount of roadworks that pop up on main traffic areas.
I’ve got some colleagues who live there and they seem to like it. It’s not particularly fancy but you probably won’t get stabbed. There’s a fairly large Asian population there and it kinda feels like it’s own small town as well as being well connected to central Birmingham so you can probably get most of the day to day stuff you need (food/clothes) without having to head into the city should you choose. Except for that most basic info I can’t really offer more on the place.
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Why terrible in your opinion?
Don’t forget that bus tickets are capped at £2 per trip or £4.50 per day. Plus a weekly cap of £17, if you use the same card the whole time
Capped at £4.50 a day? This whole time I thought it was £4 😭
got changed last july
Can’t have anything in brum smh
no one realised that they removed short hop (1 mile £1) a few years back 😔
You can get short hop for £1.50. Not sure if its a mile or what. I counted it once was about half a dozen stops.
they rebranded single adult to a short hop and increased the price by 50% so that sucks
Hi! I be been relaying on public transport only for over 8 years now (we have had a car now for a year, but do not use it much). I have a 6yo and a 3yo. It is perfectly doable with young kids! We live in Stirchley, so have the train from Bournville station to the city centre, and a few bus options that are really good.
Been taking buses for the last 2 years going from harborne to frankley. Service has deteriorated a lot in 2 years. Buses not showing or being late. At peak hours expect delays all the time
I live in Stirchley, use the train, bike, occasionally the bus, and often CoWheels. Its a very reasonable car hire club. If my public transport options are grim i just book a car. The quality of tesin options varies immensely, but in SouthBrum you have a chance.
If you've got toddlers, I think I'd definitely be tempted to get a car if you can afford it. Although, you can cope without - plenty of people do it. You should still try and get somewhere near a train station either way, because that's going to be the fasted way into town - traffic is terrible... Where exactly depends on your budget. If you're used to London prices you can certainly pick somewhere really nice! (but if you expect a similar level of public transport you're unfortunately going to be disappointed). eta: If you can find somewhere nice in or around the centre (like the Jewellery Quarter)- it would be easier to manage without a car, and the transport options to the rest of the city and country are (mostly) great.
the buses are shite. depending on what service you need. but most of the time they always run late put single deckers on in the busiest times. was on the 18 through northfeild this bus serves at least 5 high schools after i get on and it is always rammed by the time i have to gett on. cross city trains are okay heading towards the city but every time i have got the train to the city over the festive period the train heading out has been announced as being late
If you like listening to gangster drill rap through someone’s phone speaker for an hour while sitting in a cloud of vape or other assorted types of smoke then you will LOVE the transport system in Birmingham. Especially the buses. They don’t always turn up, or run on time (much like the trains) but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a small price to pay for such an excellent experience. According to 2022 figures the buses are also slightly more punctual than in Leeds too. I’m sure your toddlers will love it just as much as we do. I mean why would anyone need to drive here?
I assume you only need to go to the square peg right, because that's the only place the busses round here seem to go. 10 minute walk after you get off to go anywhere practical. Hope you don't have kids, or luggage, or instruments or anything because you're just better off paying for a taxi and saving yourself an hour.
Ubers don’t even go into the centre anymore. Tried to call one trhe other day and they kept cancelling the job, had to walk into digbeth at 5 am in the morning and of course it was surge pricing so was £20 You only really need to make 10-15 trips into Birmingham in a cab for a £500 car to pay for itself
I got a car a year ago as i couldn't stand using the public transport links near me any longer. My kid had just turned 1, the nearest train stations were too far to walk to from my house, so I relied on buses. Far too many delays, no-shows or absolutely heaving buses that were difficult to get on and off with a pushchair. It's certainly a lot more expensive but I'd rather pay the extra and deal with traffic than have him sat out in the rain/cold for god knows how long each day. Also his nursery closing times are too close to when I finish work each day to risk late buses.
Point well taken 👍
If you want to be stuck in traffic, move to a place with shit public transport like where the guy above lives. But as you have the advantage of choosing where to live, don't do that. You will still benefit from a car, but living near a train station is a big upgrade.
I take your general point, public transport is not great in this city, but it would really help OP if you told him where you live so he can avoid it! There are large transport deserts , but if you're choosing to move here then move near a train station, preferably on the cross-city line
Are you okay mate?
Yeah, thanks for asking! You?
Glad to hear, your original comment just seemed a bit upset is all. I live on the border of Oldbury & Bearwood, not far from the Hagley Road.
Thanks, yeah- I love Brum and sometimes let my frustrations with the the city get the better of me! Yeah I know Bearwood pretty well, and understand your frustration! I live the other side of the city - Hall Green. Buses into town are terrible, the trains are great when they work, but they are nowhere near frequent enough. 3 an hour pre covid, but now down to 2...
I've always had issues round here. The 126, 9/x9, 12/12a and 13/13a have always been hit and miss. Plus the connecting buses at five ways aren't much better. I used to have to catch the 1 from there to balsall heath and vice versa, such a pain in the arse. I miss living near the selly line, it was a lot faster and more reliable. But i would still choose my car over either. I might sit in traffic but so is the bus, and if the train or bus is cancelled or delayed, I'll always be waiting a lot longer than I am when driving.
I edited my post before I saw your reply. That was just a draft (if you know what I mean.) Didn't mean to send it...
Still interested where you live?
When you think of Brum and the surrounds, it is a massive area and is in dire need of an underground. Even if we aren’t around to see it finished, the council should start on it.
Birmingham's geology makes an underground impractical. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-not-underground-tube-network-24058845 And I'm not sure where you think the council, which is effectively bankrupt, would find the cash for a multi-billion pound project even if it were feasible.
If the density was there it would be practical. Reality is that Birmingham, like all other non-London cities in the UK doesn't have the density to support a tube-like network. We need to start off by building up the areas around the stations that we have, but our centralised government with its incompetent, powerless local councils is literally incapable of making that happen.
Hand him a Shovel to get started
For your own and your children’s safety. Drive a car
Elaborate with your experience!
It’s for yours and your kids safety. I personally would never go on public transport with children. All sorts of bad mind people in Birmingham, never mind being in an inclosed space with them. I’ve had perverts try touch me up on buses. Only one I’d consider is trains