Road charging gets thumbs down from Birmingham Forward and Future

Members of both Birmingham Forward, the organisation representing professional service firms in the city and Birmingham Future, the body made up of young professionals, have been asked to take part in an e- survey on transport. With the decision to trial road charging in Manchester about to be announced, Forward and Future asked members if they thought it inevitable or necessary to introduce road charging in Birmingham in the future. The answer was loud and clear from respondents. 65.8% of Birmingham Forward members who responded said no. This is compared with 78.6% of Future members who replied no. (In a poll conducted by Birmingham Future in 2007 69% were against the introduction of road charging) In answer to how members currently travelled to work there was a notable difference in the modes of transport used. 57.5% of Forward members used their car or a motorbike compared to 42% of Future members. Of the Future members who responded to the survey 17% used the bus to get to work against 8.8% of Forward members. There was little difference in the usage of the train as a preferred mode of transport. 36.6% of Future members were regular train commuters compared to 35% of Forward members. With the debate over the proposed extension to the Metro from Snow Hill to Five Ways heating up both organisations asked members if they would support the extension. Again there was very little difference in view. 66.7% of Forward members compared to 64.3% of Future respondents in support. Birmingham Future were also asked how far they travelled to work each day with 47.8% travelling up to five miles a day and 25.7% having a commute of in excess of fifteen miles per day. 68.5% of Birmingham Future members were also against banning buses on Corporation Street which has been recently suggested.