Bristol is top!

[LordGrover]

Yay! Bristol has a new title: the most congested city in the country: click.

Good to see all our money spent on Transport & Planning has been proven beneficial.

[TDIfurby]

LordGrover said:

Yay! Bristol has a new title: the most congested city in the country: click.

Good to see all our money spent on Transport & Planning has been proven beneficial.

If ever I am coming south down the M5 and intend to go somewhere kind of Cheddar/S.E of Bristol I always look at the recommended route down the M32 and out the other side, and snigger... Ahem, no thanks!

[RemaL]

well not surprised at all. Money been thrown away on stupid things and not on what matters. Not that I know what is going to reduce the congestion. And it's not more bus and Cycle lanes.

[blearyeyedboy]

At least "Look At My F***ing Red Trousers" has gone...

[1ians]

RemaL said:

well not surprised at all. Money been thrown away on stupid things and not on what matters. Not that I know what is going to reduce the congestion. And it's not more bus and Cycle lanes.

The post's website recently has been interesting. So there were no operators prepared to run meteobus and the council had been paying NCP to run the Long Ashton park and ride even after their contract had ended back in 2002. A quick google reveals they overspent £5-6 million there. Doesn't really inspire confidence in the provision of public transport.

Cycling around Bristol has got worse (well for me) over the past year. The closure of the Prince Street Bridge and the Ashton Avenue Swing Bridge has probably added 7-8 minutes onto my commute for over a year so far.

Finally to top it all off the junior doctors want to cause chaos in tomorrow evening's rush hour.

[miniman]

Wait, there are no takers to run Metrobus? What about the bridge over the fckuing M32?! Who paid for that?

Gah!

[S0updr4g0n]

On the ring road Tuesday, the traffic lights at the Mangotsfield roundabout were dead - not a queue in sight and traffic flowing smoothly where at the same time normally, it's 6-7 deep at the lights on every entry. Funny how roundabouts work as intended when the lights go pop .. big waste of money imho.

The closer you get to the centre, the more car unfriendly it gets.

[1ians]

miniman said:

Wait, there are no takers to run Metrobus? What about the bridge over the fckuing M32?! Who paid for that?

Gah!

From what I've read there was some reluctance and there was talk of subsidies! Nothing has been agreed yet but there's now meant to be a few interested parties.

[BristolRich]

Re MetroBus: the bus stop outside Bradley Stoke is evidence of just out of touch with reality this whole thing is. Right next to the stop not even out of the way of the stop itself is a 3 hoop bike rack. So theoretically I can confidently ride to the bus stop only for my bike not to be there on my return having either been stolen or had the $hit kicked out of it and resembling a clowns bike.

Also certain stops are having ticket machines installed and looking at the Hambrook stop this appears to be one of those stops. Assuming the temporary plastic cap installed into the block paving is the location of the machine, then its positioned pretty much in line with the cycle track, current unlit and under trees.

I'm also wondering how the claimed journey times (benefits) are being calculated...if you chog up the city for long enough, slow it down to the point of gridlock then funny old thing compared with a historical view, then funny old thing of course there are improvements!

[1ians]

Aren't the time savings only in the region of a couple of minutes anyway?

[BristolRich]

Originally they were marginal improvements...this artical suggests otherwise.

http://m.bristolpost.co.uk/revealed-the-five-route...

[Allanv]

[quote]Fishponds, Staple Hill, Downend, Kingswood, Hadham, Oldland Common, Longwell Green, Hillfields, Whitehall, St George, Redfield, St Anne's, Brislington.... etc, etc. ALL not served by Metrobus.
I'll continue to use my car, thank-you very much.
Read more at http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/revealed-the-five-rou...
[/quote]

When I contracted in Stoke Gifford if the MB was complete it would mean that I could get the Metro bus from Emerson's green yet I was only 2 miles from the office.

As like the quote I am in an area that is not serviced by it.

I choose to work outside of Bristol due to the traffic issues. I can get to Oxford or Swindon in less time than it takes to get to Aztec in rush hour.

A few weeks ago it took me 2 hours to get home from town to Brislington, VIA A370 to Backwell and then through lanes towards Stanton Drew and back towards Bristol and then more lanes.

All due to the road works in Temple Meads.

40 minutes to clear Prince Street.

[GloverMart]

S0updr4g0n said:

On the ring road Tuesday, the traffic lights at the Mangotsfield roundabout were dead - not a queue in sight and traffic flowing smoothly where at the same time normally, it's 6-7 deep at the lights on every entry. Funny how roundabouts work as intended when the lights go pop .. big waste of money imho.

The closer you get to the centre, the more car unfriendly it gets.

Spot on. I think I went through that roundabout at around 8.45am and although cars were a little hesitant in approaching the island, it worked perfectly. I think every other roundabout on the ring road now has lights except the Dramway one and funnily enough, that flows well too although there is a slip road on it too.

[miniman]

For me, this sums up Bristol perfectly. The sorting office next to Temple Meads has been derelict for 18 years. Now, finally, it's coming down. But wait, not if the yoghurt knitters can help it - they've created a petition out of mung beans and despair.