If the idea of Birmingham city centre’s new bus lanes was to clear congestion and get cars and taxis out of the way so buses can run freely and on time then it has clearly failed.

During a 20-minute meeting with furious cab drivers at Priory Queensway I saw about two dozen cars go through the bus zone and no doubt they all received a £60 fine in the post a week later.

Another outraged motorist, Ben Cheney of Sutton Coldfield, carried out a more accurate survey and counted 65 cars go through the same zone in half an hour. He filmed them.

That’s an awful lot of tickets and fines.

So the new bus lanes and zones, far from getting the traffic out of the way of bus, have made very little impact – at least in the early weeks of operation – with drivers freely running through the zones, frequently picking up several penalty notices in the process.

Many have also complained that the little blue circle signs are easily missed, especially when a double-decker bus is parked next to one.

So it is perhaps not surprising that those afflicted see this more as a money making scheme, designed to catch people out and make them pay rather than a deterrent.

We have been told of the taxi drivers, whose ability to ply their trade has been made more challenging.

There have also been anxious parents running backwards and forwards to the Children’s Hospital, sometimes several days running, while racking up a series of tickets which drop through the door at a later date.

These have complained that signs directing them to the hospital lead them into the bus zones.

Not surprisingly the council insists the cameras and warning signs are legal and there is nothing to answer for. It will take a brave person to risk legal fees and costs to challenge the zones, rather than just stump up a £30 discounted fine.

I wish to place on record that I have not fallen foul of the zones – this is not a piece of personal axe grinding.

We know from public agendas that the contract for the bus lane enforcement will cost £3 million over four years, about £470,000 for the cameras, £1.49m for ‘ongoing revenue costs’ – presumably the issuing and collection of fines – and over £1m for the software, computer servers and maintenance from Service Birmingham.

A report to the Cabinet in March pointed out this ‘will be covered by income generated by penalty charge notices’.

So now we know we have a policy whose funding is entirely dependent on its failure – ie if motorists were clearly warned to stay away and did the city council would be left with a huge financial black hole.

A bit like those old car clampers whose business was entirely based on people failing to obey their unreasonably strident pay and display parking terms.

While on the subject of transport the wrangling over the merits of HS2 has reached fever pitch with Government reports outlining a clear case for it, counter arguments against and some fence-sitting from the Labour Party front bench on the issue.

But few, if any, are surprised that after three years of debate the project is little further forward than when it was first announced.

Commuters face instead another 13 years of standing on trains going into Euston, or sat in heavy traffic while the car pumps out vast amounts of pollution.

If it’s so important to the future of the UK’s economy and if existing train services are at capacity why are we not, pardon the pun, fast tracking this?

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Harmony has broken out in the leaky Birmingham City Council Labour group it appears. The latest in a series of policy reviews, covering a radical overhaul of residential care for people with learning difficulties and cuts to public health, was fully endorsed by the comrades, those media attending a press briefing were told.

Previous reviews have been subject to dispute and in some cases major revision according to accounts from the Labour camp.

But Coun Steve Bedser, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said the 77 strong group had achieved a ‘consensus’ and all had backed the proposals –- although he stressed it was with reluctance as no one likes implementing cuts.

Well, there’s a first time for everything I suppose.