Great Western Coffee Shop

A Bristol congestion charge could be in place within six years (link below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144913&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231190&home=yes&more_nodeId1=144922&contentPK=20825528

The city could join other parts of the country and follow the example of Manchester by bringing in a congestion charge.

It follows today's announcement that Manchester will become the second city in the UK, after London, to get the go-ahead from the Government to introduce a charge to drive at peak times (link below.)
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=7782.msg12523#msg12523

As part of the West of England Partnership, Bristol plans to submit a bid for a ^1.4 billion share of the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) money later this summer (link below.)
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=1450.msg8844#msg8844

And among the changes planned to the area's transport network are congestion charging proposals for the city centres of Bristol and Bath.

Bristol City Council's transport leader Mark Bradshaw told the Evening Post that he believed congestion charging was one of the key measures needed to solve the city's traffic woes.

He also revealed that any measure would only operate from 7am to 10am on weekdays and would not be active in afternoon rush hours.

He said work was progressing to research the most appropriate system for Bristol, with the daily charge likely to be around ^4.

And he said a system of charging people who work around Filton and Patchway to park their cars could also be introduced.

But no such measures would be implemented before there was a viable alternative to using the car, he said.

It means congestion charging will not happen before a core network of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems - such as the ones proposed from the city centre to east Bristol, Long Ashton and Hartcliffe - are in place.

Other developments which will need to be in place before congestion charging include the "showcase" bus routes to all areas of Greater Bristol, for which the Government recently released ^42 million.

And new park and ride sites, at Emersons Green, Whitchurch, near the M32 and near Parkway station, would also have to be in place first.

Further investment in local railways and cyclepaths would bring the total transport improvement package to around ^840 million.

The ^1.5 billion transport fund handed to the city of Manchester could have solved all the major road problems in the whole of the South West, it was claimed last night (link below.)
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/West-losing-congestion-funding/article-187081-detail/article.html

Devon and Cornwall Business Council said the same amount of Government funding could pay to cut congestion on the holiday route past Stonehenge and create the Kingskerswell bypass to getting traffic moving in Torbay.

Road-pricing policies should be re-examined to deal with congestion, and rail reliability monitored, a transport committee report has said (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7452332.stm

It examined the Department for Transport (DfT) annual report for 2007. It said local authorities were not keen to apply for road-pricing-scheme funding and the transport department lacked interest in rail punctuality.

The DfT said the government had been early in meeting its targets on "rail reliability and road safety".

And it is said it is "already implementing innovative measures to tackle congestion".

In its report, the committee said it feared a growth in the number of motorists whose vehicles are not registered, taxed or insured.

It said the DfT should identify its "main priorities".

Louise Ellman, who chairs the committee, said there was also a need for the department to be clear in "showing how progress can be measured".

She said there should be an indication of the way in which "environmental and economic targets can be achieved".

On the issue of rail services, the committee's annual report said MPs were concerned that the DfT appeared to have lost interest in rail punctuality and reliability.

The committee warned that a loss of focus in this area could lead to a reversal of progress achieved during the past five years.

It also called for the government to take a decision on high-speed rail.

Why don't they build that light rail tram system BCC have been planning on doing for ages, but dropped?  Not excellent when compared likes of places on the continent who can manage these transit systems really well.

The tramway plans were turned down by the government, and rightly so, as the eventual plan appeared to be for a route from Parkway to Temple Meads to Broadmead, ie about a mile of new tramway, the rest using the rail line. This route was a compromise between Bristol City Council who wanted a Park & Ride terminus on the M32 to entice South Glos shoppers to use it to shop in Bristol, while South Glos council wanted it to end at Cribbs Causeway for Bristol shoppers to shop in South Glos. ;D

This shows one of the disadvantages of our local government arrangement, where areas that look like suburbs of Bristol (Filton, Kingswood etc) have no more connection with the City of Bristol than Hartlepool does. The councils are supposed to work in partnership but of course it's easier to just blame each other when nothing ever gets sorted out.

Regarding the congestion charge, I'll be surprised if it ever happens in Bristol. One plan was already thrown out, and now they're proposing three hours a day, as if there isn't already congestion throughout the day. There will be a massive campaign against it and whichever party supports it will probably lose the next council elections.

Unfortunately, the government has said that if we don't have a congestion charge we won't get any meaningful public transport improvements. But the difference with London and Manchester is that they are cities that already have a local public transport network, not just a few slow, expensive unreliable bus routes.

For those who don't know, the Showcase bus routes are not all bad -- the raised kerbs are great for the old, disabled and people with pushchairs -- but generally most of the money is wasted on nonsense like putting all the bus stops in Old Market in the middle of the road. I'm not joking. And the real time information would be more useful if it was accurate and didn't keep packing in completely.