We must address congestion that blights our roads
have any choice. For example, if you wish to commute from many areas of the Black Country into central Birmingham, it’s the car.
That has to change and that’s why, at the Conservative Conference, I pledged to address the serious and long-standing underfunding of public transport compared to London.
We get just one seventh of the money enjoyed by a Londoner.
And we know that, where public transport is good, it will be chosen, for example the Birmingham to Solihull rail line and the Midland Metro.
Encouragingly, there is some progress: the £1.6 billion public transport package the region negotiated with the Government – the equivalent of £800 for every household in the mayoral area - is an unprecedented level of investment.
The new mayor must use this wisely and secure more such investment.
This is why I am committing as mayor to the opening of a new passenger rail line to Moseley and Kings Heath, making a huge difference to traffic congestion in south Birmingham, and to the much-needed expansion of the Midland Metro network.
Within the first mayoral term, we will start construction on the Metro to Brierley Hill and will secure agreement for the Moseley line and the Metro extension to north Solihull.
By delivering these investments, we can start to give people options as to how they make their journeys, thus having a real chance of busting congestion.
In addition, we will tackle some of the all too familiar road bottlenecks that hold back economic activity on a daily basis.
Top priorities will include securing funding to solve the challenge of the Birchley Island in Oldbury and Holloway Head (or the Pagoda island) in Birmingham.
And, yes, the M6 Toll has a part to play. It does have to be used more creatively.
But I want our funding to bring modern transport solutions within our conurbation, not to be spent on those travelling around us. Andy Street is the Conservative candidate in the 2017 West Midlands mayoral election