Bristol: Cycling City

[whole diary]

[Lee]

From an FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) member :

On Tuesday 13th November I had to travel to London on indeterminate "family matters". When I attempted to park my cycle just after 1310 on platform 4, there were no spare spaces despite going round three times looking for one. Several bikes were locked to pillars due to lack of spaces. This was not appropriate for me as I did not know how many days the bike would need to be there. Furthermore, the office on platform 3 informed me that my bike would be removed if parked away from the metal cycle racks.

Eventually, someone returned & unlocked their cycle releasing a parking space for me. However, it took nearly 20 minutes to find a parking space - nearly as long as the cycle journey time to the station & causing me to just miss a London train ! Another delay of nearly half an hour (but good for trade at the station shops) !

On Thursday evening when I returned from London, the bike gave me the flexibility to cycle home quicker than waiting nearly an hour for the last Beach train of the night. The bike would have been invaluable if I had returned later or on a Sunday when there are no Beach trains.

Although omitted from the notes of the 1 October Severn Beach Line Working Group meeting, I mentioned the glut of cycle racks at Clifton Down & the lack of cycle racks at Temple Meads - here they are desperately needed.

Some of the original cycle racks nearest to the stairs are too close together to satisfactorily park bikes on both sides of the rack. Even if cycle hire does eventually come to Temple Meads, there will still be considerable need for cycle parking space for those who cycle TO TEMPLE MEADS to start their train journey. Please can we have another tranche of cycle racks at Temple Meads on platform 3/4 which are adequately spaced ? Why is there no undercover "short stay" cycle parking for cyclists using the travel centre without travelling by train that day ?

[Lee]

Bristol could become the country's first "Cycling City" if a bid by the council is successful (link below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19972560&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

The Government-backed Cycling England agency has launched a competition to find the country's first Cycling City and 10 new Cycling Towns.

It has ^47 million to spend on encouraging people to start cycling - and Bristol City Council said it is preparing for its bid.

Yet a Sustrans campaigner argued that the council's bid is ironic given its role in the West of England Partnership's plans to turn part of the Bristol and Bath Railway Path into a bus route.

[Phil]

I suspect Bristol would face some fairly stiff competition in it's bid to become "Britain's first cycling city" from Oxford and, particularly, Cambridge (given the countryside surrounding the latter is amost completely flat). You only have to glimpse at the quite literally thousands of pushbikes parked outside their respective stations, and then compare it to the couple of dozen or so machines leaning up against one another in the racks on Platform 1 at Temple Meads - and most of them appear to be vandalised and abandoned there.

[Lee]

Bristol City Council seems somewhat worried by Sustrans concerns over the bus scheme (link below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19983705&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

Also, Robert Spriggs, of Bristol-based transport consultants Colin Buchanan said :

"Perhaps allowing cycles to be carried by the BRT^▸ (Bus Rapid Transit) could allow people greater access to the cyclepath beyond the city."

"Buses don't tend to catch the public's imagination quite like the railway or trams.

"It would be interesting to see what the public's view would be had the proposal been to reinstate the railway or build a tram line."

[Shazz]

I thought oxford became that when they went anti car almost everywhere?

[Lee]

A floating harbourside path could provide a traffic-free route to Bristol city centre for people arriving by rail (link below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=20481282&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

The 400-metre long, four-metre wide wooden track from Temple Meads to Castle Park would be suspended on steel pontoons secured to piles beside the wall of the Floating Harbour.

If council plans for the ^780,000 walkway are approved it will mean people can visit the new Cabot Circus shopping complex and other city centre attractions without having to walk down busy roads.

A foot and cycle path on land would drop by ramp to the pontoon path, which would run from a point near the new Valentine's Bridge, near Temple Meads, under Temple Way to an exit ramp close to Castle Park, beyond St Philip's Bridge in Passage Street.

The track would be a key element of a long-held council ambition to create an uninterrupted, traffic-free route around the harbour.

A planning application for the scheme, modelled on a similar one in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, is due to be submitted next week.

Most of the funding would come from the Carlyle Group, the developer which is demolishing the former Clerical Medical building in Temple Way.

A third ramp would connect the path to the new development being created on the site, Bank Place.

The remaining cost would be met by cash from other developers.

Quote from Councillor Mark Bradshaw, executive member for access and environment on the city council :

The unique riverside setting will provide rail commuters and residents with one of the most inspiring journeys to work in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

[John R]

They could have built a conventional path if one short section hadn't been built on by a massive office block that is still under construction. 

[Lee]

Notices have been put up around Valentine Bridge, Temple Quay, which crosses the Floating Harbour next to Temple Meads Station, saying it will be shut from Monday (links below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144913&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231190&home=yes&more_nodeId1=144922&contentPK=20840214

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=20850372&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=221340

It will be closed by developers working on the massive building site across the water from the station and is not due to reopen until January 2010.

A substitute footbridge, which is part of the ^200 million complex, was meant to be in place by now.

But a delay with the construction means it is not expected to be open until August.

In the meantime, people walking to Bristol's main railway station from the north-east will be diverted via Avon Street, Temple Way and Temple Back East or Avon Street, Feeder Road and Cattle Market Road.

The developer, Birmingham-based Castlemore Securities, apologised for the delay but said the closure of Valentine Bridge was necessary on health and safety grounds.

Work is about to start on The Eye, a high-rise 13-storey residential tower which will be the centrepiece of the waterfront development.

The new cycle and pedestrian bridge promises to be an exciting new landmark in the heart of the city, and the public will get a chance to witness a unique engineering feat when the stainless steel structure is lowered into place in August by one of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)'s tallest cranes.

On completion, the Temple Quay Central development will provide state-of-the-art offices, a 142-bed hotel, cafe, bars and shops, in addition to apartments and a new road infrastructure.

[Lee]

Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has appointed Bristol as the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)'s first official Cycling City, and announced a further 11 Cycling Demonstration Towns across England (link below.)
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=371177&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False

[Chris from Nailsea]

... the couple of dozen or so machines leaning up against one another in the racks on Platform 1 at Temple Meads - and most of them appear to be vandalised and abandoned there.

I'm obviously very sorry to have to correct you on a couple of points, Phil but I've done a bit of 'bean counting' on this one, one evening when I had a few minutes to spare at BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))!

It's actually on platform 3 where there are, to be fair, plenty of racks provided - and at a rough count, I made it 320 bikes.

If any of them are actually vandalised, I'd take it as a pretty shocking indictment of BTP^▸ (British Transport Police): their office overlooks the bike racks, about six feet away!   

[Super Guard]

If any of them are actually vandalised, I'd take it as a pretty shocking indictment of BTP^▸ (British Transport Police): their office overlooks the bike racks, about six feet away!   

The irony 

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thousands of people took part in Bristol's Biggest Bike Ride yesterday, cycling one of six routes - from the 10-mile Family Fiesta along the Portway and back to a 52-mile ride to Chew Valley along the Avon Cycleway.

http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144913&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231190&home=yes&more_nodeId1=144922&contentPK=20928833

[Chris from Nailsea]

Plans to build a foot and cycle bridge across the Floating Harbour - first mooted two years ago - are still in the pipeline.

The West of England Partnership, responsible for transport in the region, has revealed that plans to link Bull Wharf, off Redcliff Street, and Welsh Back, at the junction of King Street, are still being pursued.

The idea of creating the bridge first emerged as part of the planning application to build a new ^25 million Bristol Civil Courts Centre in Redcliff Street two years ago. The court will replace the ageing civil court opposite the Crown Court in King Street. (Edit note: I think they mean Small Street - Chris  )

According to the planning application, the bridge would connect Welsh Back to Redcliff Street leading onto a new public piazza outside the courts complex in Thomas Lane.

The West of England Partnership says there is not enough money available for it to be built. But the plans for the bridge are still on the table and the link has been marked on a map of a proposed new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT^▸ (Bus Rapid Transit)) route for Bristol city centre.

See http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=20979196&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks to Government plans to pump ^20 million into the city's transport network, Bristol is set to become the cycling capital of the country. And two young entrepreneurs are planning to make the most of the opportunity after setting up a new company to cater for the thousands of cyclists expected to throng the streets in the coming years.

Joanne Lee and Greg Lancaster, both 28, have been keen cyclists for many years. They know many of their friends are all too keen to get out and about, but struggle when it comes to the technical side of things. To cater for a market which they expect to explode in the coming months, they have set up a business which offers running repairs and servicing where people need it most - at the side of the road.

The two-wheeled version of the AA has been called Cycle Therapist and was set up just two weeks ago to offer a service to the growing number of people who are abandoning their cars in the face of growing costs and raised awareness over the environment.

See http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=21029567&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

[Lee]

More than 200 people have signed a petition opposing the sale to a developer of land next to the Bristol-to-Bath cycle path (link below.)
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Hundreds-join-bid-halt-Bristol-cycle-path-land-sale/article-319752-detail/article.html

Residents and campaigners are up in arms at the prospect of Bristol City Council selling a strip of land to Squarepeg, the developers of the former Elizabeth Shaw chocolate factory at Greenbank.

The company is due to submit a planning application to build 267 homes, as well as offices and shops, this month but is also negotiating an agreement with the council to include a nearby stretch of land in the scheme.

The land would be used to build a number of "cycle houses" ^ properties built with cyclists in mind ^ and a cafe for people using the cycle path.

The provisional arrangement to sell the land is subject to Squarepeg being granted planning permission for the whole site, but critics claim that makes it a foregone conclusion.

Easton councillor Faruk Choudhury is collecting signatures for the petition, which he plans to present to the council at the next full meeting.