Comments by Helen Holland, leader, Bristol City Council

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I listened to a brief talk by Helen Holland yesterday on sustainable transport and the future of it in Bristol.   It sounded impressive, but much of it went over my head and I wasn't very clear what it all meant - if anyone else who was there can help fill in, it would be great.

However, I did pick up on the fact that Helen was forecasting great things after a time of frustration - "We're on the cusp of seeing investment coming through" she said, and described how money was awaited (from government?) for key routes in Bristol, and for the Bath scheme.

Unlike the other guset speakers at TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) - Dave Ward of Network Rail and Mark Howarth of Western Greyhound - the audience response to Helen was only lukewarm;  I heard at least one muttering of "Buses won't do it - we really need improvements to the trains".   And the TWSW audience is far from exclusively a rail one - in fact it's a very fair crosssection indeed, where almost everyone appreciates that there is a requirement and place for both.

[devon_metro]

When I was in Bristol I was impressed by the bus network. Cheap, frequent and reliable. I wouldn't say it was quick though, the journey from Bristol - Bath took ages to get outof Bristol. Train is a far better option.