Great Western Coffee Shop

  England's city regions are set to receive billions of pounds to improve public transport in next week's Budget.
 West of England (£540m): A fully prioritised bus route between Bristol and Bath

It's 23km, bus station to bus station, from Bristol to Bath, so £540 million would equate to about £24 million per km. That would be about five times the cost per km of reopening the Borders Railway. Note also that the article refers to 'prioritised' rather than 'segregated'. I thing we have to conclude that there's more to this than some paint and traffic signals!

It's 23km, bus station to bus station, from Bristol to Bath, so £540 million would equate to about £24 million per km. That would be about five times the cost per km of reopening the Borders Railway. Note also that the article refers to 'prioritised' rather than 'segregated'. I thing we have to conclude that there's more to this than some paint and traffic signals!

I worry what effect this might have on the RYR proposals for St Annes Park and Saltford, or indeed for the Callington Greenway... or indeed whether this turns out to be another thinly-disguised road-building scheme.

I'd presume that figure includes things like the proposed bus priority scheme on the A4018, pedestrianisation of Park St, making permanent the temporary pedestrian schemes on eg Cotham Hill and Princess Victoria Street, and of course similar throughout the region.

New 'priority' bus corridors are sure to be branded 'MetroBus'. That is a tainted brand for many of us here, but perhaps not for the travelling public.

To be announced in next week’s budget.

Objectives

The following 8 large metropolitan areas are mainstays of our work to level up in England:

    West Midlands
    Greater Manchester
    Liverpool City Region
    the North East
    the Tees Valley
    West Yorkshire
    Sheffield City Region
    the West of England around Bristol and Bath

As the National Infrastructure Assessment – and our response to it, the National Infrastructure Strategy – agree, one important weakness of many of these great city regions, affecting their productivity, is the quality of their local transport networks, particularly public transport, compared to London and their counterparts in Europe.

This new City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), which is an unprecedented investment in local transport networks, is a major driver for significant change.

This new fund stems from the announcement we made in 2019 that the 8 eligible English city regions would receive £4.2 billion of additional funding for local transport networks. That new money is at the core of this fund and should allow city regions to commence transformational change.
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New 'priority' bus corridors are sure to be branded 'MetroBus'. That is a tainted brand for many of us here, but perhaps not for the travelling public.

It’s £1.5billion of new money across the areas. Sunak also said that this is the first time the actual amounts per area have been announced, so new ‘actual’ amounts

Probably to include £80 million to rebuild the line to Portishead.

I'm sure you're right about other bus priority schemes. The pedestrianisation schemes however are presumably considered to be 'active travel' rather than public transport.

I hear noises from the walking and cycling lobby that WECA's bid for additional active travel funding failed. Presumably the detail of all this will emerge over the coming weeks!

And let's hope that's money for shovels in the ground, rails on sleepers, platforms and signalling ... and not just investigations, consultations, enquires and legal fees.

The Combined Authority has a 10 Year Rail Delivery Plan, setting out the changes required to attract car users and incentivise rail use. Building on MetroWest 1 and 2, and the Bristol Temple Meads Eastern Entrance, this plan will transform the regional rail network, making stations accessible and providing capacity for ‘turn up and go’ services. This will increase access to jobs and neighbourhoods, ensuring equal opportunities while reducing reliance on cars and the region’s carbon impact from transport. Our five-year programme can be broken down as:

New stations:
Building on our delivery experience of constructing five new stations under the MetroWest programme, a new station will be delivered at Charfield providing access to the rail network for up to 14,500 residents within 5km, reducing car dependency in Charfield and neighbouring areas.

Accessibility:
Working to make our stations safe, attractive and accessible, and easy to access via walking and cycling. Focusing first on those stations providing services to our most deprived
communities: Lawrence Hill, Bristol; Parsons Street, Bristol; Bedminster, Bristol; Stapleton Road, Bristol; Oldfield Park, Bath.

Future services:
To further improve connectivity and capacity we are progressing plans to extend MetroWest to the south, increasing frequency of services between Bristol Temple Meads and locations such as Weston-super-Mare and Taunton. This will better link people and jobs, enhancing the economic prospects of our residents and supporting reduction of car travel. This increase in services will likely require infrastructure interventions and we are undertaking a feasibility assessment to understand the extent of physical works.

In addition to upgrading existing stations, we are evaluating major enhancements at Bristol Temple Meads, improving capacity to meet demand whilst celebrating the station’s unique heritage and its role as a gateway to the city. Network Rail, Bristol City Council, Homes England and the Combined Authority will collaboratively develop plans for northern and southern entrances to Bristol Temple Meads. Project delivery will be integrated with planned Temple Quarter Regeneration Programme works. We anticipate this to be funded through an existing bid to Homes England and MHCLG to increase housing capacity in the city centre.

Through our rail programme the Combined Authority has created high-performing partnerships with industry partners. Our work will be delivered through our existing partnership with Network Rail and GWR, and by directly-appointed experienced consultants and contractors where appropriate. The delivery of the Eastern Entrance is testament to that partnership.

New stations:
Building on our delivery experience of constructing five new stations under the MetroWest programme, a new station will be delivered at Charfield providing access to the rail network for up to 14,500 residents within 5km, reducing car dependency in Charfield and neighbouring areas.

You make an interesting point, Lee.

The 5 stations in question appear to be Portishead, Pill, Ashley Down, North Filton and Henbury. All of these except Henbury have reached the 'planning application' stage, as has Charfield, so it's puzzling that Charfield is not considered to be one of the five. And they don't mention Portway P&R... all rather odd.

Gratifying that they colour the proposed stations in FoSBR yellow on the map!

I agree though that it's not entirely clear which of the Work Packages involve actually building things as opposed to developing business plans or considering options. It would be easy, but perhaps not wise, to make assumptions.

You are absolutely right, but it won't stop me.  ;D

The press, including Rail magazine, think WECA's going to blow the whole lot on a bus lane.