Council should think again about Long Ashton BRT

Written by Pete Goodwin Thursday, 21 January 2010

As Bristol City Council prepares for its first Bus Rapid Transit route, only one member's voice is raised against it - Charlie Bolton, the city's only Green councillor. The controversial scheme would provide a second route into the city from Long Ashton Park and Ride to Temple Meads and around the city centre, to be operated by guided 'bendy-buses', replacing the present Park and Ride service.  It would also take other buses coming into Bristol from North Somerset, freeing up road space in the Cumberland Basin to more traffic.  It would make car commuting from North Somerset marginally more attractive.

Charlie explained the reasons for his 'No' vote to the council:

"Only the West of England partnership could come up with a public transport solution which so many parts of the green movement struggle to support.

Bus rapid transit as a transport solution has a number of disadvantages. I have seen the route in Cambridgeshire. It is ugly. It consumed large amounts of concrete in its construction. It is overspent and significantly late.

The route from Ashton Vale to the centre will profoundly change the nature of and the experience of the New Cut, for example. It will cut off Ashton Vale. And it will not really serve as a service for local people, more a quick route for commuters to get in to the city centre.

More importantly, I am alarmed at reports that North Somerset Council could turn the Portishead line into bus rapid transit route. I don’t know how realistic this is, but it would cause me considerable alarm if the approval and building of this route results in such a curious solution.

A second concern is that bus rapid transit becomes the only game in town. A range of technologies were considered for the original proposal, all of which have potential benefits over and above bus rapid transit. It would be disastrous if Bristol got tied in to the cheapest public transport solution, when other technologies offered a much better environmental solution. This is particularly true in an era of peak oil, where short term savings in capital cost, may lead to long term costs in terms of running costs.

I believe public transport solutions should be based on making the best use of existing infrastructure. In the case of the Portishead line, this means a rail route. And it has been a long held ambition to put passenger traffic on the line. More generally, it means putting buses on roads, and reducing road capacity. Not building a whole new system, which on its own, actually only serves to increase capacity.

From my point of view, I am damned whichever way I vote. This of course doesn’t matter. But you need to understand that there is a significant body of concern if not opposition to it from those who are the most passionate advocates of public transport improvements. "

Ends

Contact:  Charlie Bolton, 0117 966 1639 (work 0117 353 4580)