Public Transport

51.1. Map 12

A horse-tram service from Paradise Street to Five Ways was proposed in 1860 but did not materialise. In '72 horse-buses were plying from Hockley to Dudley Port along Lodge Road, and after the turnpikes became toll-free five years later other services were provided by companies including three through Edgbaston. Meanwhile the Corporation had laid Birmingham's first tramway, from Hockley to Colmore Row, leasing it to a company : this was done on every route thereafter, so that the municipality not only got back its capital outlay in rent but regained the lines when the leases expired. The first steam trams appeared in '82 and were universally hated for the next 25 years : the smoke-stack of the locomotive broadcast soot everywhere and especially upon passengers on the open top deck of the trailer.

By '85 there were tram-lines from Summer Row to Dudley along Dudley Road, and by 1907 when electric tramcars replaced steamers they were go-ing to termini at Dudley (via Smethwick and Oldbury), Bearwood, and Soho Station (via Heath Street). There was a depot in Rosebery Street. Another route went along Holloway Head, Islington Row, Ladywood Road, Monument Road, and Icknield Port Road.

A planned service from Hagley Road at the Ivy Bush to Hockley was never laid, probably because of the narrowness of Monument Road's south end, and a 1914 proposal to rum trams along Broad Street was opposed by the shopkeep-ers. An Act of 1903 permitted the City to municipalise its transport services, and all but the Bristol Road lines had been taken over four years later.
The first petrol 'bus service began from Ladywood in '03, but was replaced by horses after four years. The Birmingham and Midland Omnibus Company tried again with improved vehicles in '12 and 'Midland Red' buses thencefrom plied from the city centre to more and more neighbouring towns along both our main roads.

In 1913 the City took over the 'bus routes to Harborne and Queens Park, and from the Ivy Bush to Handsworth Wood. In '28 two existing routes were joined to make the Outer Circle route, which goes along City and Winson Green Roads - much nearer the city centre than anywhere else on the route. The Inner Circle via Five Ways and Icknield Street also began in '28.

Local trains were at this time unable to compete with cheap and efficient municipal and regional tram and 'bus services, while the bicycle and car were other successful rivals. Closure of Church Road Station in '25 began a steady decline in rail facilities : the Harborne line passenger service ended in '34, and the S.-W.S. line stations all closed before or during War Two. 'Buses re-placed trams, which were efficient but obstructive of other traffic, and all had gone by '57.

Commercial use of the canals has ended : the wharves off Broad Street, the Newhall Branch, and the Old Wharves off Suffolk Street, have all been infilled, and elsewhere private arms and wharves are derelict. But Gas Street Basin survives, and the old yards thereby are being developed. James Brindley Walk has opened up Cambrian Wharf and marina facilities are provided there. Hockley Port is an adventure area, and other plans exist to make the abandoned waterways into popular amenities. Th policy now, after long and vain attempts to keep children away from the canals, is to encourage their use for leisure pursuits. The high walls of bridges are being replaced by low railings, so that the cuts can be seen. Snow Hill Station is demolished, and the great trench of the B.W.& D. Railway is a weedy wilderness. Will it become a Walk-way, or will it re-open as another rapid-transit route ?