Talk of concrete and architects (and they discourse on little else in The Dog & Duck....) makes me lift half a glass to John Madin. Veteran City designer of the hotly debated Central Library, Mr Madin is still battling to reprieve his creation from its final death sentence. It was very much his vision and 35 years on he sees no reason to call in the demolition squad. But if you can admire his tenacity, his sense of the art of the possible is less striking.

Yes, he's right to say that the politicians and business wallahs mucked up the original design, which saw the upside down ziggurat as part of a grander civic ensemble. Yes, he's right when he points out that the landscaping, marble cladding and other fine finishes were junked. But this means his original concept is dead. Why then keep bits of the corpse on life support?

Growing up nearby in the 60s and 70s, I remember the library when new as a reasonable place to study in; but the windswept concrete tunnel of a courtyard was about as far from the southern European spaces we all celebrate as a Big Mac from a rump steak. The cafes, bars and shops now there have rescued the wind tunnel from its previous role as a muggers' paradise. Unfortunately Paradise Row just off it - better known Desolation Alley - might still qualify.

Mr Madin's sentimental attachment to his baby blinds him to the fact that his dream was never realised. Maybe the topsy-turvy ziggurat idea was interesting, but the overall scheme was flawed, its brutal boxiness sitting badly with what's left of 19th/early 20thc Chamberlain Square.

But before we get to restore Chamberlain Square to something like former glory, let's make sure we learn a lesson or two with New Street Station. If the station make-over works, it will complement the new Bull Ring in transforming the city centre. The stakes are high. Let's get it right this time....

Having suffered a 3 hour nightmare bus journey to London from East Anglia recently, I sympathise. To be fair to NR, problems they may create by poor maintenance or unnecessary line closures are magnified by incompetent handling of passengers by train operators once we are forced to get off the train. In my case no information was given about journey time or destinations, so many of us got on a bus that stopped at all the intermediate stations to London when we should have been on the other bus that was heading straight to the Smoke. To cap it all, our driver didn't know where the stations were and we eventually decanted at Romford tube station after a very unmagical mystery tour courtesy of train company National Express East Anglia.

The national passenger body, Passenger Focus, has demanded a national code to tackle disruption. This will set out the sort of information passengers need and the plans each operator should have in place to manage any disruptions. But should it really be necessary to tell all these well-paid train managers how to manage?

Apparently innocent rail-spotting folk have been frog-marched off stations by security guards and the like having been told, Dad's Army ARP style, "'Ere, you can't do that !.."
A snapper on a public road overlooking current West Coast mainline works was also told not to take pictures by contractors - who sent a van to intercept him!

Interestingly, the British Transport Police Chief Constable says there is no power to stop genuine members of the public taking pictures on rail premises and (unlike at the Mailbox) there is a long tradition of photography in and around stations. Clearly the cops (who are best placed to assess any threats) are relaxed about snappers, but have some rail staff sacrificed another of our liberties to George W's War On Terror?

But how realistic is this? While we need people to make the case for rail and to dream the dream, don't we have to start from where we are? And where we are is cash available from Government for the New Street make-over, plus City Council backing and likely buy-in from commercial interests. £600 million quid on the table is a reality, Grand Central is just an idea.

He was at Worcester Rugby Club earlier this year leading a discussion amongst the region's transport movers and shakers (sounds like some of the trains I've been on...).
At this gathering Mr. B mentioned new ways of raising cash locally for better transport. The hidden message was: with £400 millions coming from Government for the New Street Station makeover it's going to be hard wringing much else from H M Treasury.

Much as I'd like to see Government blank cheques with the West Midlands name on the pay line (provided they didn't confuse Geordie Newcastle with Newcastle -u-Lyme again), it would be much more grown up if we had the ability to raise local cash for better buses, trains and trams. Going cap in hand to Whitehall isn't good for the region - neither is it efficient.

Unfortunately with our local politicians bottling out on congestion charging - unlike the Greater Manchester council bosses - we have no alternative way of obtaining extra local funding. Centro, the transport authority for the old WM County does a major fund-raising job already. But don't we need this for the whole region, from Hereford to Leek, from Oswestry to Stratford?

ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH?
Have you lost out on compensation in recent rail changes? New local operator London-Midland/London City who took over from (unlamented) Central Trains is required by Government to run a new compensation scheme for late running. Called Delay & Pay, overall it's a better scheme - but only for longer distance passengers. You have to be 30 minutes delayed to get a discount on your season ticket. This means Centro area commuters will generally see their past 10% lateness discount under threat as most will not (hopefully) meet the new delay level. But while we all want the trains to run to time, why wasn't this mismatch spotted by the brains at Department for Transport who set up the new rail franchises and ordered the compensation changes? In the East Midlands there were talks about easing in the new scheme to minimize loss to users. Why didn't that happen here?

ARISE SIR FAT CONTROLLER?
The Queen recently knighted Network Rail boss Ian McAllister. This was not long after NR management failures disrupted the West Coast Mainline and forced thousands of New Year travelers (at Rugby and elsewhere) onto buses, when they'd paid to use the train. Even now there are still major West Coast line closures planned by NR to meet their ambitious programme of engineering improvements up to January 2009. And 3 top NR bosses still got their over the top bonuses despite passenger misery.
When HMQ gave McAllister his K my (entirely fictional) spies tell me it went like this:
HMQ: Mr McAllister I've some bad news and good news
McA: I'll have the good news first Ma'am
HMQ: Arise Sir Ian - the bad news is that Network Rail has just been fined £14 million quid....
Passengers' Chorus: We Are Not Amused.......by Network Rail's failure to get its act together.

Or someone who wants a better bus service to get to work - without roads' gridlock turning a 15-minute ride into a Shakleton-style expedition?

I'm a transport consumer rep. and activist living in the city centre. I sit on national and regional consumer bodies that keep an eye on public transport providers. I got involved because I'm a public transport user. I've also been responsible for public transport policy in a small part of our region in the past. I now try to rattle the cage of those who run rail, bus and Metro services to get something better.