Fears Broad Street tram line will not be ready for Birmingham Commonwealth Games
Westside BID wanted to know when the first paying customer could ride a West Midlands Metro tram to Hagley Road and this was the answer
Phase two of the £149 million Westside tram extension was always promised to be ready by December 2021 - but as the New Year dawned the only vehicles using the near-deserted Broad Street were e-scooters and bicycles as you can see on the above video.
Westside BID manager Mike Olley said he still had no answer to his one burning question: "When will a paying customer be able to travel to 54 Hagley Road?"
And he wonders if it will be ready for the Commonwealth Games this summer.
West Midlands Metro trams are still terminating at Bull Street - having not gone further than that stop since July 24 even though the Westside Phase One stretch from Grand Central to Centenary Square first went into service on December 11, 2019.
The unexpected wholesale rebuild of the five-year-old section of track from Bull Street to Stephenson Street
stopped services running down Corporation Street from July 25 to October 29 and knocked out three more stops at Grand Central, Paradise Street and Library of Birmingham.
Read more:'Heads must roll ' - fury after entire West Midlands Tram fleet suspended
West Midlands Metro was still testing the new Corporation Street track when it announced the entire network from Wolverhampton
would be closing down for a month from November 13 because cracks had been found in the chassis of the Spain-built fleet.
The shutdown ended on December 15, but trams have still not travelled beyond Bull Street to penetrate the heart of the city centre.
Neither The Birmingham German Christmas Market (which closed on December 23) nor
Ice Skate Birmingham's three attractions in Centenary Square - which finished at 10pm on Sunday, January 9 - have been directly serviced by a single tram.
In the first week of 2022, all passengers can still only travel as far as Bull Street - and on Friday, January 7 it will be 166 days since a tram in service travelled any further than that.
When BirminghamLive asked track builders the Midland Metro Alliance (MMA) why paving around the new Hagley Road terminus was still not finished before Christmas on the Edgbaston side of Five Ways, we were told that "storms Arwen and Barra had made "conditions particularly poor for competing urban realm activities, particularly paving."
We then asked the MMA Mr Olley's most burning question: "When would passengers be able to pay to travel to 54 Hagley Road?"
The MMA said: "We are still looking for it to be in early 2022, and are working with partners to make this happen, but are unable to give a more concrete date as yet."
In June, it was announced that work to rebuild Corporation Street would be finished in October.
The construction work was signed off on October 29 after barely any sustained rain during that 96-day demolition and reconstruction period.
But track testing and driver training meant that by the time all services from Wolverhampton were being suspended for a month from November 13, no passengers had been carried on the new line.
Similarly, even if enough trams can be put back into service to bring Centenary Square back into range, the brand new Phase Two track from there to 54 Hagley Road would still need to be tested and drivers trained.
Westside BID reaction
In mid-December, Mr Olley told BirminghamLive that the month usually generated local hospitality firms "a third of their annual income" with the last Friday night before Christmas (December 17 last year) typically providing "a huge chunk of that."
But the eerie silence on Broad Street on January 1, 2022 was a reminder of how it will be another 11 months before the big build up to Christmas and New Year's Eve can begin again.
The new tram shelters were fenced off and the only thing in the tram tracks were disused silver canisters of nitrous oxide.
With the MMA still unable to offer a date when the area will begin to be served by trams, Mr Olley said: "The Covid camouflage seems to be able to hide a lot of sins.
"It's a simple question - when will trams start to run up Broad Street and they can't answer it!
"When anyone questions that fact, you are seen to be 'anti-tram' but we were all massively in favour of it. Brindleyplace was excited about it, The Park Regis Hotel was and so on, myself included.
"I speak on behalf of all businesses in this area, including a lot of big corporates, and there is a great deal of anger that we still haven't got a tram when January and February are hard enough months as it is.
"These are the months when customers of everywhere from Birmingham Rep and Symphony Hall to Pryzm and Cineworld as well as all of our bars and restaurants would probably want to use a tram because of the kind of weather the MMA says has put it behind schedule.
"We were promised trams by now, but the MMA can't give us a date in the future.
"Some 20 years ago, when I was chair of scrutiny at Birmingham City Council, the dates and costs of the tram seemed to be acceptable.
But they have not delivered and this is why we feel so let down.
"When the Corporation Street extension was opened by Ozzy Osbourne in May 2016 that was five months late and in June it will be five years since work began at Grand Central to reach Hagley Road.
"We've been very patient through all of the work on Broad Street. We now feel bitterly disappointed the trams aren't running and it's unacceptable if we can't even be told when we can buy a ticket to use it.
"We've paid our taxes, but is that money in safe hands if they can't answer a basic question?
"The public-private partnership seemed to be a good idea years ago, but it seems to have failed. Nobody can take pride for the position we find ourselves in."
A press release from the MMA on October 11 ended: "Once this last phase of the route is completed, trams will operate between Grand Central and Hagley Road in Edgbaston, improving transport links in the heart of Birmingham, making journeys faster and more accessible, in turn helping businesses and supporting more jobs."
Cost of Westside extensions
The total cost of both Westside extensions from Grand Central to 54 Hagley Road was put at £149 million for 1.2 miles of track - equivalent to around £77,000 per metre.
Phase One from Grand Central began almost five years ago on June 12, 2017.
After 912 days of work,
services began between Grand Central and the Library of Birmingham on December 11, 2019.
This line added two new stops at Paradise Street / Town Hall and Centenary Square / Library of Birmingham.
It is 0.4 miles long and cost £65.98 million - or roughly £100,000 per metre with a higher quality finish along Pinfold Street and Paradise Street.
The route to 54 Hagley Road via the Five Ways underpass was costed at £83.4 million for 0.8 miles of track - equivalent to around £65,000 per metre.
But with Broad Street having been largely closed to traffic for two years, Mr Olley the cost to businesses of lost trade should be added in to construction costs to illustrate whether the scheme offered value for money.
In June when he launched the Clean Air Zone designed to keep a quarter of the most polluting vehicles out of the city centre, Birmingham City Council leader Cllr Ian Ward, who is also the transport lead for the West Midlands Combined Authority, said: "(The Metro) is still scheduled to arrive by the end of this calendar year (2021).
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