West Of England Partnership Proposes 9 Guided Bus Routes

[whole diary]

[Lee]

The buses would be able to run on roads, paths and disused rail lines, requiring up to 11 metres to run two lanes of track plus cycle lanes and footpaths in the guided sections (links below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19738779&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144913&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145365&contentPK=19737792

This could mean compulsory purchase orders being sought to buy some land along the proposed routes to enable the buses to run past.

All four West Of England Partnership councils - Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath & North East Somerset - would be affected by the routes, although much of the mileage would fall under the Bristol City Council's authority.

It has been consulting with transport experts including First, which runs a similar service in York, about the proposals.

But Mark Bradshaw, the city council's executive member for transport, said all discussions with First had so far been in a "purely advisory" capacity.

He said the contract to run the services would be up for open tender when the time came.

The BRT^▸ (Bus Rapid Transit) routes are a key ingredient in Our Future Transport (link below.)
http://www.westofengland.org/downloads/Our_Future_Transport-October_2007.pdf

The document forms the foundations of a bid, due later this year, for ^800 million of Government money under the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF^▸ (Transport Innovation Fund)).

Funding for the first route has already been earmarked by the Government, with an official bid expected in September this year.

If it goes ahead, the route from a new park-and-ride at Emerson's Green, along the Bristol to Bath cycle path, through the city centre and out to Ashton Vale could be in place by 2014 (see also link below.)
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=1479.msg9105#msg9105

All the other routes planned by the West of England Partnership would rely on TIF money coming through.

Mr Bradshaw has defended the plans to run a route along the cycle- path from the city centre to Emerson's Green.

He said:

"Doing nothing is not an option. We must find attractive and viable alternatives to everyday car use."

[Lee]

A petition against plans to turn the cycle path into a bus route has been signed by nearly 6,000 people (link below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19774066&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

The protest petition, standing at 5,737, dwarfs all the other live petitions hosted by epetitions, a Bristol City Council managed website, despite being less than two weeks old.

Action group Save The Railway Path will hold its first meeting tonight.

Organisers moved the venue from a pub to Easton Community Centre after a wave of interest from walkers and cyclists.

Despite moving the venue, they are still expecting it to be packed.

The meeting will start at the centre in Kilburn Street at 7.30pm.

Two opposing views on the issue can be found in the link below.
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19773794&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

[Lee]

Hundreds turned up to the meeting, with more turned away when it became too full (link below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144913&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231190&home=yes&more_nodeId1=144922&contentPK=19793739

A 12-point plan was drawn up as a result of the meeting, with a range of measures proposed as part of the campaign.

They include lobbying councillors and the West of England Partnership (WEP), which represents the four councils in the former Avon area - Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset.

A new website will be set up, leaflets distributed to areas not yet involved in the campaign and events held to show the popularity of the path.

There were suggestions at the meeting for direct action including driving a bus onto the path to show just how narrow it is in places.

And there were calls to get schoolchildren and people from ethnic minorities who use the path more involved in the campaign.

But David Redgewell of Campaign For Better Transport and also a member of the West Of England Partnership, defended the bus route proposal.

He said:

"The WEP has been working on this project since the beginning of last year.

"We've been looking at all the old railway lines around Bristol because the Government had asked us to look at the former light rail lines to see if they could be converted to guided transit routes.

"These aren't buses you'd see going up and down the Fishponds road. They are a cross between a tram and a bus."

[Lee]

But David Redgewell of Campaign For Better Transport and also a member of the West Of England Partnership, defended the bus route proposal.

He said:

"The WEP has been working on this project since the beginning of last year.

"We've been looking at all the old railway lines around Bristol because the Government had asked us to look at the former light rail lines to see if they could be converted to guided transit routes.

"These aren't buses you'd see going up and down the Fishponds road. They are a cross between a tram and a bus."

Campaign For Better Transport would like to make it clear that David Redgewell's comments do not reflect their official view. This can be found below :

We support the local campaign to keep the Bristol-Bath cycle path. A current proposal to put a guided busway on or alongside this path is completely misguided.

The Bristol-Bath cycle path gives people in the area real travel choices, by providing a quiet, off-road route for people to cycle and walk on. It is one of the most popular routes on the National Cycle Network.

Bristol City Council and the West of England Partnership are considering creating a guided bus route on the cycle path because they are finding it politically difficult to get priority for buses in the city of Bristol. Destroying a cycle path looks like an easy solution.

Local authorities need to realise that they don't have to choose between two wheels and four wheels - there are different ways to travel sustainably. It is entirely possible to run a good public transport network in the Bristol area, by investing properly in the local rail network and the Greater Bristol Bus Network.

As Pip Sheard from the Greater Bristol Transport Alliance has said: "The path is a fabulous example of green sustainable transport - a transport success story" and it must stay. Thousands of local people - and we - agree.

[Lee]

Interview with Steve Meek, one of the founder members of the Campaign to Save the Railway Path (link below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19822084&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

[Lee]

It has emerged that documents on the issue indicate homes might have to be demolished to make room for the Bristol to Bath cyclepath rapid bus route (link below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19842734&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

[Graz]

After walking along the cycle path on Saturday from Bristol to Bath, I saw how much use it gets, and how quiet and enjoyable it was for all. I am now strongly against this scheme.

[Tim]

Although I^d usually support attempts to improve public transport the Bath BRT^▸ (Bus Rapid Transit) scheme is misguided.  It would allow a faster route from the centre of town to the Park and Ride site at Newbridge.  Currently the P&R^▸ (Park and Ride) is served by buses that go along a road which is congested at peak times, but the non-stop journey still only takes 10 to 15 minutes.  End to end journey times could be improved more cheaply by increasing bus frequency (less time spent at the stop) or by selling tickets off the bus (faster boarding).

It is also unlikely that the council will spend millions of pounds on a scheme that only applies to the park and ride route.  To justify the expense they will seek to send all buses leaving Bath from the west through the new route.  This principly means the X39 to Bristol and the 337 to Keynesham.  The problems with these buses (and the X39 in particular) is that hardly anyone uses them for the whole length of the route.  I catch the X39 home every evening in the peak and it leaves Bath full but by the time it joins the A4 at Newbridge it is half empty because most people have got off in the outskirts of Bath.  Some people use it to get to/ from Saltford but it only starts filling up again in the outskirts of Bristol.  Loads of people get off at BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) and it then proceeds to the Bus station fairly empty.  Almost noone uses the X39 for the whole Bath-Bristol route (and unless you have a free pass why would you when you could catch the train which is much faster and almost the same price?) .  If you divert the X39 and 337 from the outskirts of Bath to the building site that is the Western Riverside site, far fewer people will catch the bus because it will avoid the outskirts of Bath that many of the passengers are travelling to. 

The problem with public transport in this country is that ^23 million on a new BRT scheme is seem as investment (good) whereas spending ^23 million on reducing bus or train fares is seen as subsidy (bad) even though reducing fares would benefit more people and do more to reduce the number of cars on the road.

As a very rough calculation, ^23million invested in a savings account gives ^1.3 million per year in interest.  I seem to recall that 500,000 people use the X39 per year so perhaps 1 million in total use all the Buses leaving Bath to the West.  ^23 million pounds could therfore be invested and the interest be spent reducing every bus fare to the west of Bath by ^1 for ever.  In my view a much better use of money.   

[Lee]

The problem with public transport in this country is that ^23 million on a new BRT^▸ (Bus Rapid Transit) scheme is seem as investment (good) whereas spending ^23 million on reducing bus or train fares is seen as subsidy (bad) even though reducing fares would benefit more people and do more to reduce the number of cars on the road.

^23 million would also comfortably re-open either the Portishead or Tavistock lines to passengers.

If you will forgive the shameless plug, dont forget that there is a related poll running in the link below
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=1688.msg11379#msg11379

[Lee]

A poll conducted by the Bristol Evening Post found that almost 95 per cent of people do not want part of the Bristol to Bath cycle path to be shared with buses (link below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19873456&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

Of the 495 readers who responded to their poll, 464 - or 94 per cent - voted against it, and just 31 - six per cent - were in favour of the plans.

Steve Meek, a founder member of the campaign Save The Railway Path :

Clearly this is very welcome news for the campaign and reiterates what we have said all along, that people do not want this.

"Our own petition has almost 7,500 people signed up to say that they do not believe the BRT^▸ (Bus Rapid Transit) should go down the path.

"But the scheme represents poor value for money as well. The WEP's own estimates are a cost of ^49 million for six buses an hour.

"If you assume that there are 50 people on each bus, that is 300 commuters an hour.

"That does not really scratch the surface of the problem of congestion - it would be cheaper to pay these people to stay at home.

"It is a shame that people weren't consulted before the WEP started spending taxpayers' money developing the scheme."

John Grimshaw, chief executive of sustainable transport charity Sustrans :

"We are not surprised to hear that Evening Post readers have almost unanimously voted against the plans.

"Over recent weeks public concern has been building, with thousands of people signing petitions and joining the campaign to save the path.

"We sincerely hope that, as decisions are made over the coming months, the views of Post readers and many thousands of others are given due consideration."

Mark Bradshaw, Bristol City Council's executive member for transport :

"The council, with our partners, will want to do some more work to explain how it and the other options might work.

"It is still a work in progress, and the other options involve a combination of road-based schemes, including one on Fishponds Road."

Kate Hartas, spokeswoman for the West Of England Partnership :

The West of England Partnership is considering a range of options for a rapid transit route in east Bristol.

"All routes are to be examined in full detail before any one option is chosen. The partnership welcomes the initial comments of residents, cyclists and commuters who responded to the Evening Post's poll."

[Lee]

If you want to read the argument (largely) in favour of the guided bus system, click on the link below.
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19937167&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

[Phil]

I saw that, and couldn't help wondering if the "Andrew" quoted was in fact Andrew Haines 

First have caused enough travel misery in Bristol and the last thing that should happen is for them to be rewarded with more contracts.
Andrew, Bristol

[Lee]

I saw that, and couldn't help wondering if the "Andrew" quoted was in fact Andrew Haines 

First have caused enough travel misery in Bristol and the last thing that should happen is for them to be rewarded with more contracts.
Andrew, Bristol

The quote was repeated (in error) I believe....

[Lee]

If you want to read the argument (largely) in favour of the guided bus system, click on the link below.
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19937167&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

From an FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) member regarding the Bristol Evening Post article :

"He said that soon after the system started running the number of bus passenger journeys on the routes rose by 60 per cent, although this has since levelled off to a 15 per cent increase."

That is incorrect. The modal shift has been estimated by pteg to be a negligable 2-4% because a large number of routes were diverted to serve this new corridor, which has a top speed limit of 20mph versus the 30mph on the adjacent road."

Further related article link.
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19947683&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

[Lee]

Campaigners and residents will be given a chance to vote on plans to develop the Bristol to Bath Railway Path as a bus route (link below.)
http://thisissomerset.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=147472&command=displayContent&sourceNode=242195&contentPK=20020195&folderPk=113662&pNodeId=251478

Bristol City Council's executive member for transport, Councillor Mark Bradshaw, is determined that running buses along the former rail line will be among options in public consultation.

He has told leaders of the Save the Railway Path Campaign that the public will be asked to vote on three choices for a new rapid transit bus route - using the M32 and A432; using the Bristol and Bath Railway Path; or combining the two. He has instructed a London firm of transport consultants to work on the options.