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Birmingham information and places to stay

General information

Gay live

General

Public transportation

Public transportation is a puzzle in much of Brittain and Birmingham seems to be particularly bad.

  • Public tranportation page on visitBirmingham.com

  • Buses in the area are mostly done by Transport for West Midlands.

    • Tickets cash on the bus, or a "Swift Pay As You Go " Card (seems uninteresting for tourists). Swift Ticket Machines or a mobile app.

    • The most interesting system might be "Swift Go". It will cap but cannot be used for trains and not on all buses. It should work on National Express Coventry also though.

    • A week ticket may also be very interesting if I can start it on a Tuesday. See also this page (at least the link when I wrote this). The 1 week nNetwork zones 1-5 ticket also covers Coventry, but not Kennilworth, Leamington Spa or Warwick.

    • On National Express Coventry (e.g., bus to Kenilworth), you can pay with card.

      An alternative on that operator is via their app, the so-called mTickets Activate just before boarding, and then scan the QR code at the bottom of the red reader.

      To travel from Coventry to Kenilworth and Leamington Sp, an NX Outer Zones ticket is needed, wich is £3 single and £5.50 for a day ticket. You can buy this simply using "Tap and Cap": Tap your card on the card machine at the front of the bus. Wait for a beep and a green screen. No need to tap again when leaving the bus.

  • Planning train tickets on nationalrail.co.uk.

Interesting apps

  • VoiceMap sells sef-guided audio tours in many cities.

  • OMIO could be interesting for longer distance train and bus connections.

  • Trainline is another such app but does only trains.