Bristol connections: Metro, Bus Rapid Transit, PTE, ITA and local councils - discussion

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

The roundabout next to St Mary, Redcliff(e) is Redcliffe Roundabout.

The other roundabouts you refer to are Bedminster Bridge Roundabout (which spans the New Cut, so it isn't exactly 'the other side' of the river) and the Temple Circus Gyratory (which thankfully will be replaced by a crossroads soon).

Incidentally the Redcliffe Way Bascule bridge has never swung, not even occasionally - bascule bridges lift, in the manner of Tower Bridge.

[Bmblbzzz]

Well, when it lifts, it swings up in the air, doesn't it? 

The Temple Circus gyratory doesn't seem to have lasted long. Or probably it's been there longer than I'm thinking, but it does seem to have been a short-lived intermediary between the old roundabout with flyover and what's to replace it. I think I once cycled over that flyover, for more or less the only reason that it was banned. 

[Red Squirrel]

The Temple Circus gyratory doesn't seem to have lasted long.

It was a nonsense from the day it was conceived - a bit like MetroBus, really, only cheaper. Sadly, in Bristol the Powers that Be seem to have tin ears.

I think I once cycled over that flyover, for more or less the only reason that it was banned. 

That seems like a very good reason. I once drove over it at 50mph, for the same reason. Very exciting to judge the apices of the curves, given the threepenny-bit nature of its construction.

Wait a moment: you think you cycled over it? Surely you'd know? Unless...

[Bmblbzzz]

  Well, I know I rode over it on my motorbike on several occasions ^ that could be thrilling enough, even at legal speeds ^ and I certainly thought about cycling over it. On the whole, I'm glad it's gone, though. Make that, I'm wholly glad it's gone.

[TonyK]

I was once meeting with someone in a room on the third floor of the Grosvenor, when a truck of some sort went past, scraping the side of the flyover. Like chalk on a new blackboard, it's a sound that remains in the unpleasant part of the memory.

Do you remember also the army of traffic wardens deployed at strategic junctions at rush hour to help keep the traffic gridlocked? Or the day they were redeployed instead to book drivers parking where they shouldn't, on which day I got to work early? It started as an experiment that lasted a week before an army of arm-wavers was replaced by a couple of sets of traffic lights.

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Bristol Metrobus services 'reduced to three an hour'

Services on a planned "rapid transit" bus route in Bristol could be reduced from five an hour to three, documents seen by the BBC suggest.

The ^200m Metrobus scheme is due to begin in 2017, with buses using segregated lanes.

But a draft contract drawn up suggests services are being cut from the original plan.

The West of England Partnership (WEP) said three per hour was the "minimum requirement".

Tim Kent, the Liberal Democrat transport lead when the scheme was first agreed in 2011, said the current contract had "backtracked from four years ago".

'More ambitious'

He added buses would be "a lot less frequent on certain routes" with a "scheme not living up to what was promised".
The ^200m project has been devised by the WEP - an alliance between the four councils in Bristol, Bath, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.

The scheme involves three routes: Ashton Vale to Temple Meads; Cribbs Causeway via Emersons Green to the city centre; South Bristol link between the A370 Long Ashton bypass and Hengrove Park.

The contract, seen by BBC Radio Bristol's Chris Brierley also suggests fares could be up to ^7 a day, and buses less environmentally friendly than first agreed. Currently a day pass costs ^4.40.

A consultation on the agreement is under way.

Labour's former transport lead, Mark Bradshaw, said: "What we need is a really high quality, higher frequency network which connects key destinations across the Bristol city region."

He said he wanted operators to "come back with something more ambitious" than the minimum of three services and hour.
Campaigners against the Metrobus scheme recently occupied allotments alongside the M32, which will be built over for the north Bristol route.

The councils have spent more than ^250,000 on keeping protesters away from the site.

[Red Squirrel]

My mother always used to say:

If you can't think of anything nice to say, don't say anything

...so I say:

[Timmer]

My mother always used to say:

If you can't think of anything nice to say, don't say anything

...so I say:

You may not be we know someone who certainly will...paging Four Track Now!

[TonyK]

My mother always used to say:

If you can't think of anything nice to say, don't say anything

You may not be we know someone who certainly will...paging Four Track Now!

Sorry I'm late!

My grandma told me: "If you can't think of something nice to say, say something nasty!" She was from Lancashire, see, like me.

The chickens seem to be coming home to roost. Councillors Tim "Working up BRT^▸ (Bus Rapid Transit)" Kent and Mark "Lame duck project with virtually zero public support" Bradshaw took to the airwaves to blame somebody else - anybody else. The whole thing is heading from disaster to calamity, as predicted by many, but not by the unelected unaccountable oligarchy that is our Local Enterprise partnership. They can still get on with signing other people's cheques.

It wouldn't be so bad if there was any remote chance that this might help sort Bristol's traffic problems. It may speed up the bus from Temple Meads to the airport by a couple of minutes, whilst removing a service to people in Bedminster, but that's as good as you get for your ^200 million.

The whole business is a shambles. I will defend the Mayor's stance. He described it as a project chasing funding, not one worthy of funding, and said he would seek to transfer the money to rail projects. It is pretty clear he was told "No" when he asked. When he was later asked when MetroBust became unavoidable, he said "Before I got here". He is clearly no fan, but has been able only to move the route away from the harbour.

This was a shambles. It is becoming a catastrophe.

[Timmer]

Your response FTN did not disappoint. Sadly this scheme certainly does disappoint...in spades!

[TonyK]

Your response FTN did not disappoint. Sadly this scheme certainly does disappoint...in spades!

Wait until the Tramadol wears off. I am currently looking at other responses to this entirely predictable news. Nobody else seems to have a good word to say about MetroBust.

[Red Squirrel]

Wait until the Tramadol wears off.

Is Tramadol the drug you take to numb the pain of living in a large city with no light rail system?

[TonyK]

Is Tramadol the drug you take to numb the pain of living in a large city with no light rail system?

Just as far as "numb".

The proposals to hand responsibility for transport to local authorities elsewhere - Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire etc - and the progress made so far in those areas show the complete inertia in the Greater Bristol area. The root cause of this is the major employment area - Bristol - being directed by the local parish councils.

[JayMac]

Recent posts on the decision to scrap plans for a Henbury Loop Line service have been moved and merged with a dedicated existing topic:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=7178.30

[Red Squirrel]

Apologies if I've been thick, but I've just realised that (presumably at FT, N!'s suggestion) the MetroBust logo now actually includes a stylised terminal 't':