Local Transport Works: Bristol City Council
Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance (TfGBA) does not share the confidence of Bristol’s head of transport, Peter Mann, that the £42 m programme of upgraded bus routes or ‘four new rapid transit routes’ will reduce Bristol’s transport chaos. (Local Transport Today: Bristol City Council (BCC), March 2011.) Nor does the council’s plan to provide everybody with a car club bay within five minutes’ walk inspire TfGBA. (‘big ambition for a city ‘village’. )
BCC transport policy continues to ignore the social, environmental and health damage caused by a road based transport industry. It ignores the fact that almost 3,000 people are killed annually on Britain’s roads. Rail travel is far safer and will remain so if Network Rail’s budget is maintained. BCC also ignores the alternative – rail. No other European city would produce a 10 page supplement with a double page spread showing railway lines while ignoring 12 of the 25 functioning stations and their potential as transport hubs. However, we recognise that transport funding has been cut by 50%, deplore the fact that the Local Sustainable Fund is allocated by competition and want to support BCC transport officers in meeting the June deadline for submission.
Public transport and Bristol’s 20:20 vision
Previous transport plans envisaged a 5 minutes’ walk to a bus-stop not a car club bay. A bus stop every 200 metres plus limited stop express services is what we need. Buses are the solution for Bristol roads but the service must be affordable, reliable, frequent and run from 6 am - midnight. Neither Bristol councillors nor Mr Mann can ignore the cost of bus travel. Tickets for those under 16s and over 60s should be free. A flat rate of £1 single bus journey and £2 return would make bus travel attractive.
Smartcards and efficiency
A smartcard or similar is essential to avoid delay when boarding. We welcome the discussion of a workplace parking levy and the fact that individual ‘work packages’ of the Greater Bristol Bus Network schemes such as smart cards will be delivered individually. But affordable public transport – whether bus or rail - is incompatible with the need of bus companies to make a profit. Since bus and rail privatisation, the tax payer has paid massively to finance bus and rail services. BCC should either give money designated for road based schemes to the bus companies, as suggested in a Bristol Evening Post editorial last year, or take over ownership of the bus service. And here we should look to Nottingham which has retained control of its bus service. Over 36% of residents use public transport and there are more bus passengers than in any city apart from London. (Campaign for Better Transport October 2010)
Smartcards and interconnectivity
Suburban rail is an essential component of public transport in Bristol which, despite being expensive and fragmented, is increasingly popular. Cross city train journeys between Filton Abbey Wood and Weston super Mare or Clifton and Bath are examples of effective public transport . However the hourly service for many of Bristol’s 25 functioning stations makes connectivity impractical. A 30 minute train service to every station in the West of England Partnership area is enshrined in the 2006/7 – 2010/11 Joint Local Transport Plan. As a result of intensive campaigning and widespread popular support, in 2008, Bristol City Council negotiated with the train operator, FGW, to hire two trains on the Severn Beach branch line from 05.24 to 19.33 on weekdays. This modest investment of £1.3 m over three years has had spectacular results. TfGB urge Bristol city councillors and Peter Mann to use as a lever to demand the 30 minute service for all suburban stations.
A transport interchange on Plot 6
A transport interchange at Temple Meads Station ‘as a modern transport interchange for rail, buses, coaches, taxis, cars and ferries is in section 2 Bristol City Centre Strategy Area and Action Plan 2005 – 2010. This is now under threat from the Government’s decision to sell off all former Regional Development Assembly (RDA) land to the highest bidder. Bristol has a unique opportunity to create a regional transport hub that could truly rival the best in the world using the undeveloped land surrounding Temple Meads Station. So far there has not been the vision, ambition or political will to produce the planning policies necessary to bring this about. The Government must recognise that strategically located and thus irreplaceable sites, such as these, must not simply be cast aside.
Bristol City Council powers
It’s clear that BCC transport section feel constrained by central government’s 50 year long road based policies. But politicians are elected to implement policies. Five out of 10 Bristol MPs included transport in their Bristol Evening Post pledges to the people who voted them into power in May 2010.
By subsidizing in rail and bus services since privatisation, Bristol City Council has shown that it has transport powers. TfGBA believe rail must be included in the Local Sustainable Fund submission. Affordable rail and bus travel is what the people of Bristol want and what Peter Mann, Bristol MPs and Bristol councillors should prioritise.