Public transport push for Birmingham Commonwealth Games

Tram services resumed in Birmingham last week after months of disruption

People are being urged to use public transport to travel to Commonwealth Games events in Birmingham.

With just over a week until the opening ceremony, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said the Games was "going to be a public transport games".

Anyone with tickets to events will be able to use the network across the region for free, including buses, trams, trains and bicycle hire.

However rail strikes and tram failures have raised concerns about travel.

Railway workers in the RMT union and drivers who are members of Aslef are due to strike either side of the start of the Games on 28 July.

The RMT union has announced a 24-hour walkout for 27 July while Aslef members plan to walk out on 30 July.

Extra buses will be laid on to deal with possible disruption caused by rail strikes

And tram services have only recently resumed in Birmingham following months of disruption after cracks were found in some of the vehicles.

However, Mr Street said he was confident the Games would be "very successful" and organisers have created a dedicated page for getting to each venue.

A "huge amount" of additional transport services, including park and ride and rail replacements, have been prepared, Birmingham 2022 chief executive Ian Reid said.

He told the BBC: "We've now sourced a huge amount of coach and bus provision. We're bulking up significantly around those days."

About a million people are expected to visit Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games

Anne Shaw, from Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), said hundreds more buses would be made available to get the estimated one million expected visitors to the events.

"There are some trains running so people will need to look at timetables," she said. "Of course they may be busy."

TfWM said it had arranged for 50 extra coaches to take people from across the country into Birmingham and the wider West Midlands, adding these were available to book.

It said there would also be 150 extra free shuttle buses, plus a number of accessible buses, for spectators, staff and volunteers.