Posts Tagged ‘ bus ’

What Colour is the 11 route?

From my 111111 explorations: This year I decided to see what colour the outer circle was. I’ve been fascinated with an iPhone app called Color Identifier that does nothing else but read out the colours it detects in the centre of the camera’s sensor — based first on RGB values and then this list of colour names. I sat on the top deck of the bus and angled the camera so the colours it was reading were around eye-level for someone on the pavement. The headphone output of the phone was linked up to a recorder, recording it in real-time. The app reads a new colour about every three seconds. I got on the 11C at around 11:20am, on Vicarage Road in King’s Heath, but it took around one stop to set up the iPhone and Zoom H2 to record. So, the circuit started here, opposite King’s Heath Park. The circuit took around 2 hours 20 min — the driver had a fag break in Ward End and popped in to a house opposite Acock’s Green Garage for a minute or two. So here’s what colour the outer circle is. A beautifully relaxing two-plus hours of spoken word (please feel free to download...

Danny Smith: On the buses

The opinions of Danny Smith do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers of this blog, its affiliates, or any sane adult human beings. He currently lives in your cupboard, watching, always watching. I am thirty years-old (-ish) and have lived in Birmingham all my life (except the times I haven’t) in that time I have never learnt to drive. Consider this my favour to you. Seeing as I’m an notorious booze enthusiast, prone to bad decisions, and have somewhat of an impulse problem giving me a car would be like giving a toddler semi automatic weapon; hilarious but someone would get hurt. So I get around using public transport, more specifically the bus. Now its easy to complain about the bus system in Birmingham, as you’ll see in the next few hundred words. But I, as ever, have a point.

111111 2010

On the eleventh of November 2010 you are invited to take part in a pyschogeographical epic. A window of eleven hours to complete a circuit of Birmingham’s number eleven bus. 2009′s results were recorded here… including MoxyPark’s wonderful 11 bus song:

The Big Paws 25/09/2010 – Listen Again

Listen to the latest from BiNS’s radio show The Big Paws: With much bus, including the 11: The Big Paws is live every Saturday at 8am on Rhubarb Radio.

Maybe it’s a map?

On a 61 in Selly Oak.

BiNS Postbag

Couple of interesting emails to BiNS in the past day, both worth bringing to your attention — you may be able to help. First Jane who’s having comic-based film anxiety: “I went into London on the train aged 16 and bought my copy the Watchmen graphic novel from the old Forbidden Planet in Denmark St in 1987. I read it from cover to cover in parks, coffee shops and on the train home that day. It was amazing Yesterday I tried to book cinema tickets for the film I have been waiting 20 years for. Everyone else in the country can see this film in most regular cinemas as of Friday’s general release, as far as I can tell. But we can’t in central Birmingham. Unless we go to the Odeon – which frankly sucks as a cinema. the IMAX has cancelled it’s planned showings (we could book tickets last week, it all seemed fine) – this was alleged to be due to a refusal to show 18 cert films, but I’ve called them up leant on them and it’s actually because they could not come to an agreement with Paramount, who decided they wanted much more money than...

Art on the busses

Fancy confusing “chaps playing loud hip-hop on their mobiles on buses”? Alicja Rogalska (who you may remember was one of the people on 11-11-11) has a proposition: All I’d like to ask you to do is to play some rural sounds (birdsongs, dogs barking, etc.) on your mobile whilst on board a bus. Like a flashmob – everybody meets at a bus stop, we all get on a bus (top deck) and play a certain sound at a certain time (yet to be decided). The sounds will be available on the internet to download onto your mobile. All sounds are short (25secs to 1 minute) and designed to create curiosity and amusement amongst fellow passengers rather than annoyance. She’s got the sounds available for download and will even spring for your fares. Full details here, and you can contact Alicja through her website.

Step aboard the Big City Plan Bus today

The “Beyond Midnight” bus, which has more info about the Big City Plan (that will decide what happens in Birmingham over the next 20 years), is in the city centre today and Highgate tomorrow. Only just heard about this and we’re too late to let you know that it was in Ladywood yesterday. Please go along if you can, in great numbers, to find out more about the Big City Plan, have your say and show the council that we really care about our city. The details: Tuesday 13 January City Centre * 9am – 3pm, Edgbaston Street, Markets area * 3pm – 8pm, Victoria Square Wednesday 14 January Highgate * 12 noon – 3pm, Joseph Chamberlain College * 3pm -5pm, Gooch Street shops * 5pm – 7pm, Stanhope St Youth and Community Centre * 7pm – 9pm, St Martins Youth Centre Gooch Street, Highgate, Birmingham B12 Not quite sure why it’s called the “Beyond Midnight” bus, as it only seems to be open during the day and early evening. Oh well, I suppose 9am is beyond midnight. If you can eat After Eights at any time of day, we’re sure you can visit the Beyond Midnight bus too...

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