Chiltern's head office is actually based in Banbury, but they are well worth mentioning in a…read moreBirmingham context. They provide trains that run from Snow Hill and Moor Street to London Marylebone, with various stops at nice places like Banbury, Bicester and Harrow-on-the-Hill. I personally find travelling into Marylebone a far more relaxing experience than the New Street journey into Euston. The prices always strike me as more reasonable too, with an off-peak return fixed at £25.00. Chiltern Trains are in much better condition than the Virgin trains and they provide FREE WIFI on routes out of Moor Street, which is pretty awesome. I get quite gushy when talking about Chiltern, but I honestly think that their standard class beats Virgin First Class.

It's the free wifi that gets @chilternrailway the extra star. Not that it always works so not…read moreideal if you're 100% relying on it but certainly handy for emails. Chiltern have some shiny new trains which are clean and comfortable. Going from Moor St or Snow Hill (or both) adds to the convenience with the back entrance of Snow Hill being a mere 5 minute brisk walk from home for me. They also get you from Brum to London in 1 hour 39 minutes if you get on the right train! As with all train journeys, the further in advance you book, the less you pay too. Both stations have the glorious Centenary Lounge which is a bonus but there is often a refreshments trolly on board, which I 'm told they try and have on as many journeys as possible. Chiltern offer a great service too. I know trains don't run always (!) run on time on any network and it's not alway the fault of the train company but as long as they keep us informed, eh.

If you don't fancy catching the train, then you have the option of getting on a coach. Birmingham…read moreCoach Station is just a five-minute walk from the City Centre and is easily accessible by car and public transport. I have been here whenever I have travelled to Leicester and London. The coaches are regularly on time and I have not had any issues with this place. If you are waiting for your coach, you can always grab a coffee at Starbucks or you can even go to WHS Smith to buy a newspaper/magazine or even some sweets. The one downer is the fact you have to pay to use the toilets. I just find that ridiculous. But there is a toilet on the coach if that is any consolation. From here you can get on coaches that will take you to cities across England, Scotland and Wales. National Express, Ulsterbus and Eurolines are the three operators that operate at this coach station. And I have also found it is a lot cheaper to travel by coach than train. It is not that expensive to travel by coach. The staff here are very friendly and they will answer any questions/queries you have. An excellent station in my view and one I will continue to visit.

The sign that greets you says 'a hundred thousand welcomes'* and on the other side of the coach…read morestation is probably my favourite bit of public art EVER - a big graffiti style mural that reads 'welcome to Digbeth bab'. This is in marked contrast to the welcome you used to receive at Birmingham Coach Station which generally consisted of stumbling around in a dimly lit car-park, narrowly missing being run over by a bus, hassled for money by men who smelt a bit funny and stepping over the pools of vomit outside the Dubliner. I've known loads of people who when they've heard I'm from Birmingham get a funny look in their eye simply because of their experiences of arriving by coach. Anyway it's all changed - the old building was torn down in 2007 and the new building officially reopened in 2009 by (bizarrely) Fabio Capello. It's a different beast all together - the space is light and airy and the signs actually make sense. You can hear the announcements. The toilets are okay. And there's a Starbucks. * In Irish this is "C'ead Mile Failte" so the sign is obviously a nod to the Irish history of the region. Step into any of the pubs round Digbeth and you're likely to see these words over the bar.

The bus stops on Upper Bull Street don't have long left to live as they lie in the path of the soon…read moreto be started Metro Extension from Snow Hill down to New Street. For the moment though, they are a poor excuse for helping commuters get home. From Upper Bull Street, the buses head north out of the city centre. The main bus-stops to Sutton Coldfield are here, as are the ones for West Bromwich, Wednesbury and Tamworth. The Sutton bus-stops used to be covered by a massive awning protruding from the nearby buildings. However, a couple of years or so ago, some bright spark or sparks decided to remove this massive cover and replace it with a couple of tiny lean-to style bus shelters. Now when it's pouring down with rain or snow, everybody bar the few who can fit under this shelter get drenched. Clever, huh?! Hopefully once the Metro has redesigned the City Centre's layout, a more practical and traveller-friendly place will be found. I wouldn't bank on it though.

I know the 17 bus route off by heart I've used it that much; and unfortunately, it's not a pleasant…read moreroute to know so well. It's one of the very very few buses that I can actually catch to town, and out of that few, it's the most reliable (and that's saying something, seriously!) If you need to get somewhere quickly, I honestly suggest planning your journey an hour in advance, because it's more than likely that this bus service will unpredictably be delayed severely. I don't think it has ever got me into town on time, and if it says '5mins' on the screen, don't build your hopes up, because it'll probably shoot up to a 10 minute wait, and the a 20, and who knows, maybe even a 30! The service is meant to be roughly every 8 minutes during the day, and then after 6pm, the bus turns up ever half an hour. I don't know who decided this schedule, but if they see the amount of people that use the single decker 17 everyday, they'd have a shock. And of course, as soon as the bus is full, it'll miss stops out, making pedestrians even angrier. But to be honest, you don't want to be squashed on this bus, which always gets gridlocked in Small Heath and Digbeth; Then you have to wait for them to swap bus drivers just before you get into the city! I'd avoid this bus route if you can afford to, it might be better to get a bus to Acocks Green and get the 37; there's tonnes of those, you'll be in the city centre before you know it!

The bus is never ontime I'm sick of it I can get all across the west midlands ontime but when I…read morehave to get the 17 I'm stood waiting and waiting omg how hard is it there suppost to run every 6 minuets in the morning something needs to be done you do a 12 hour night shift get ajohnstones bus from reddich ontime then your stood in birmingham till you eventually give in and jump on the x1 aaarrrgghh!!!