proposed Bath/Bristol BRT route: the campaign against
Discussion
is this affecting anyone in these cities? have a PH friend that is one of a few under threat of compulsory purchase order that will take pocession of her garden to run a seemingly unwanted bus/cycle route (BRT - Bus Rapid Transit) through it.
http://www.response2route.co.uk/?p=11
the proposed bus route (part of a £58M scheme) will apparently shave just 2-4 mins off a commute time from the edge of Bath to the centre and the cyclists are even against it due to having to share the route with buses that are potentially just as dangerous as being in normal traffic.
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:2Idc-5B1tmoJ:...
particularly if you are a Bath centre worker or resident please comment if interested.
http://thebristolblogger.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/...
BRT: It’s turning into rout! Labour Party in meltdown! Cabinet in tailspin! Bradshaw about to nosedive!
March 5, 2008 · 7 Comments
It looks like it’s game over tonight for Labour Transport boss, Mark Bradshaw’s plan to build a rapid bus route on the much-loved Bristol and Bath Railway Path.
Earlier today Bradshaw’s cabinet colleague and fellow Labour Party member, Rosalie Walker hammered a very well-placed nail into the plan’s emerging coffin when she told a constituent, “I will oppose [the BRT route] but I think you need to contact Mark Bradshaw about this as he is the executive member.”
It’s hard to see how the plan can possibly continue now that it’s been revealed that Bradshaw doesn’t even enjoy the support of his own cabinet colleagues and hasn’t even got the clout or authority to keep them quiet.
It is also clear from Walker’s statement that Bradshaw had gone ahead with the plan without even discussing, let alone getting agreement, from his own cabinet colleagues or party members.
And it’s yet another example - as if it were needed - of the weakness, lack of discipline and hopelessly poor leadership from Helen Holland’s embarrassing mess of an administration. This is a party in office not in power.
Walker joins a growing queue of politicians who are very publicly and very openly rejecting Bradshaw’s plan. They include MPs Kerry McCarthy, Labour and Stephen Williams, Lib Dem; Labour councillor Faruk Choudhury; Lib Dems Sylvia Townsend and Abdul Malik; Tory Lesley Alexander and Green Charlie Bolton.
At present a motion to reject the plan proposed by Charlie Bolton is set to be debated at the next Full Council Meeting on 1 April. But you have to wonder if it will go ahead now. Bradshaw is clearly on his own and this debate can surely only end in a very public and very personal humiliation for him.
Bradshaw’s only known supporters - so far - are faceless city council transport bureaucrat, Colin Knight, First Bus, some transport consultants who don’t know one end of the city from the other and are set to make a mint from the scheme and Cancer editor Mike Norton, who seems to live on another planet.
Perhaps Bradshaw needs to pick up that phone first thing tomorrow morning and tell West of England Partnership boss, Simon Birch, the plan’s cancelled? He can then publish a press release to that effect in the afternoon and all the campaigners can get on with their lives and he can start devising a proper public transport plan for the city instead.
Or he can go on with absolutely no support …
http://www.response2route.co.uk/?p=11
the proposed bus route (part of a £58M scheme) will apparently shave just 2-4 mins off a commute time from the edge of Bath to the centre and the cyclists are even against it due to having to share the route with buses that are potentially just as dangerous as being in normal traffic.
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:2Idc-5B1tmoJ:...
particularly if you are a Bath centre worker or resident please comment if interested.
http://thebristolblogger.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/...
BRT: It’s turning into rout! Labour Party in meltdown! Cabinet in tailspin! Bradshaw about to nosedive!
March 5, 2008 · 7 Comments
It looks like it’s game over tonight for Labour Transport boss, Mark Bradshaw’s plan to build a rapid bus route on the much-loved Bristol and Bath Railway Path.
Earlier today Bradshaw’s cabinet colleague and fellow Labour Party member, Rosalie Walker hammered a very well-placed nail into the plan’s emerging coffin when she told a constituent, “I will oppose [the BRT route] but I think you need to contact Mark Bradshaw about this as he is the executive member.”
It’s hard to see how the plan can possibly continue now that it’s been revealed that Bradshaw doesn’t even enjoy the support of his own cabinet colleagues and hasn’t even got the clout or authority to keep them quiet.
It is also clear from Walker’s statement that Bradshaw had gone ahead with the plan without even discussing, let alone getting agreement, from his own cabinet colleagues or party members.
And it’s yet another example - as if it were needed - of the weakness, lack of discipline and hopelessly poor leadership from Helen Holland’s embarrassing mess of an administration. This is a party in office not in power.
Walker joins a growing queue of politicians who are very publicly and very openly rejecting Bradshaw’s plan. They include MPs Kerry McCarthy, Labour and Stephen Williams, Lib Dem; Labour councillor Faruk Choudhury; Lib Dems Sylvia Townsend and Abdul Malik; Tory Lesley Alexander and Green Charlie Bolton.
At present a motion to reject the plan proposed by Charlie Bolton is set to be debated at the next Full Council Meeting on 1 April. But you have to wonder if it will go ahead now. Bradshaw is clearly on his own and this debate can surely only end in a very public and very personal humiliation for him.
Bradshaw’s only known supporters - so far - are faceless city council transport bureaucrat, Colin Knight, First Bus, some transport consultants who don’t know one end of the city from the other and are set to make a mint from the scheme and Cancer editor Mike Norton, who seems to live on another planet.
Perhaps Bradshaw needs to pick up that phone first thing tomorrow morning and tell West of England Partnership boss, Simon Birch, the plan’s cancelled? He can then publish a press release to that effect in the afternoon and all the campaigners can get on with their lives and he can start devising a proper public transport plan for the city instead.
Or he can go on with absolutely no support …
Edited by zed sump on Thursday 27th March 21:16
I live about 200 yards from the path - near Bitton - and I use it to cycle and to walk my dogs. The bus lane idea is ridiculous. If there is a need for public transport on the route it would make far more sense to restore the railway.
Unfortunately the enjoyment of living near the path is being rapidly reduced by many of the idiots that use it. Militant cyclists cream abuse at walkers, people with dogs (and children) don't control them properly and feral scumbag teenagers hang around at night intimidating people and leaving a trail of broken glass behind them. A microcosm of modern Britain I suppose...
Unfortunately the enjoyment of living near the path is being rapidly reduced by many of the idiots that use it. Militant cyclists cream abuse at walkers, people with dogs (and children) don't control them properly and feral scumbag teenagers hang around at night intimidating people and leaving a trail of broken glass behind them. A microcosm of modern Britain I suppose...
Thanks Pete for bringing this to the attention of PH`ers. I live in Bath, in one of the properties that the council needs to compulsory purchase most of the garden from in order to bulldoze through their bloody busroute. The council claim they need to do something about the congestion and pollution in Bath City; by adding more buses and installing more traffic light to slow you down a bit more!?! Where`s the logic? They also are adding 700 new parking spaces in town, how`s that for encouraging use of public transport? Fortunately there`s a lot of highly intelligent and resourseful people strongly against this shceme. We need more of you. If you live in Bath, if affected directly or not, or just dont like the fact that the Bath council thinks it ok to destroy over a mile of established wildlife and green space, in an already industrialised urban environment, to put down a strip of 11 metre wide tarmac exclusively for use by bendy buses, and cyclist and pedestrians, then come to our next meeting 31st March at the Dolphin Inn, Lower Weston @ 7:30 pm. Theres also going to be a more public meeting 23rd April, where there will be opportunity for interested parties to make their case, and question and answer sessions.
A GTS said:
They also are adding 700 new parking spaces in town, how`s that for encouraging use of public transport?
Really? Is that taking into account the spaces that are no longer there at Ham Gardens? Otherwise, agree entirely with you. The last thing Bath needs is this bloody bus lane.
thewurzel said:
It's a fantastic plan to get cyclists off of the nice safe cycle route and on to the roads, or in to cars, benefiting nobody.
understand your point. perhaps AGTS didn't make it clear that the section of the proposed route he is talking about isn't the existing cycle path but one of the few remaining green, generally untouched strips of land very near the centre of Bath. (for a start if it's going to be tarmac'd over, where's the water going to drain away?) there's 3 parallel, very close, main roads (A431, A4, Brassmill Lane/Locksbrook Rd) near the Bath centre end of the proposed route and they're wanting to squeeze another one in between, just for buses. the houses inbetween the resultant 4 routes will virtually have main roads at the bottoms of both their front and back gardens! Bit if you wanted to get from the centre of Bath to the Centre of Bristol, why would you not use the train?
Why not find a way of using less busses and manage the railway better to maximise its useage with more, smaller tram type vehicles.
IIRC I saw a train that was effectively a converted bus for justthis type of purpose.
I live about 10 miles or so to the east of Bath and this is the first I have heard of this nonsense.
Why not find a way of using less busses and manage the railway better to maximise its useage with more, smaller tram type vehicles.
IIRC I saw a train that was effectively a converted bus for justthis type of purpose.
I live about 10 miles or so to the east of Bath and this is the first I have heard of this nonsense.
zed sump said:
understand your point. perhaps AGTS didn't make it clear that the section of the proposed route he is talking about isn't the existing cycle path
Ah, I was thinking of the similar BRT scheme nearer the bristol end of the cycle path - http://www.railwaypath.orgEither way, it would be a much better investment to increase the capacity of the existing railway - it's already so full at rush hour that you physically can't get on the train some days.
thewurzel said:
zed sump said:
understand your point. perhaps AGTS didn't make it clear that the section of the proposed route he is talking about isn't the existing cycle path
Ah, I was thinking of the similar BRT scheme nearer the bristol end of the cycle path - http://www.railwaypath.orgEither way, it would be a much better investment to increase the capacity of the existing railway - it's already so full at rush hour that you physically can't get on the train some days.
aren't Great Western one of the worst performing in the country? sure £58 could make them change?!
when i lived in Chippenham, 5+yrs ago the train was easily as quick as car to get right into the centre of Bath - has the service really gotten much slower/poorer than commuting by car?
Bus lane scheme hits the buffers
Sustrans described the proposal as "right idea, wrong route"
A plan to build bus lanes alongside the Bristol to Bath cycle path has been scrapped.
A protest meeting about the controversial scheme had been due to take place on Sunday.
Councillors now want to press ahead with plans for a Rapid Bus Transport Scheme to run from the city centre to Long Ashton.
Mark Bradshaw from Bristol City Council said it would now be focusing on other priorities.
More than 6,000 people signed a petition against the proposal.
Under the plans, a three-mile stretch between Lawrence Hill and Emerson's Green would have been altered to house a "rapid transit" bus lane.
At the time, sustainable transport charity Sustrans said the route, which is used for 2.4 million walking and cycling trips annually, was the "right idea, wrong route".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7320101...
Sustrans described the proposal as "right idea, wrong route"
A plan to build bus lanes alongside the Bristol to Bath cycle path has been scrapped.
A protest meeting about the controversial scheme had been due to take place on Sunday.
Councillors now want to press ahead with plans for a Rapid Bus Transport Scheme to run from the city centre to Long Ashton.
Mark Bradshaw from Bristol City Council said it would now be focusing on other priorities.
More than 6,000 people signed a petition against the proposal.
Under the plans, a three-mile stretch between Lawrence Hill and Emerson's Green would have been altered to house a "rapid transit" bus lane.
At the time, sustainable transport charity Sustrans said the route, which is used for 2.4 million walking and cycling trips annually, was the "right idea, wrong route".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7320101...
Mon Ami Mate said:
Bus lane scheme hits the buffers
Sustrans described the proposal as "right idea, wrong route"
A plan to build bus lanes alongside the Bristol to Bath cycle path has been scrapped.
A protest meeting about the controversial scheme had been due to take place on Sunday.
Councillors now want to press ahead with plans for a Rapid Bus Transport Scheme to run from the city centre to Long Ashton.
Mark Bradshaw from Bristol City Council said it would now be focusing on other priorities.
More than 6,000 people signed a petition against the proposal.
Under the plans, a three-mile stretch between Lawrence Hill and Emerson's Green would have been altered to house a "rapid transit" bus lane.
At the time, sustainable transport charity Sustrans said the route, which is used for 2.4 million walking and cycling trips annually, was the "right idea, wrong route".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7320101...
yay!!! (is this true?!!! Sustrans described the proposal as "right idea, wrong route"
A plan to build bus lanes alongside the Bristol to Bath cycle path has been scrapped.
A protest meeting about the controversial scheme had been due to take place on Sunday.
Councillors now want to press ahead with plans for a Rapid Bus Transport Scheme to run from the city centre to Long Ashton.
Mark Bradshaw from Bristol City Council said it would now be focusing on other priorities.
More than 6,000 people signed a petition against the proposal.
Under the plans, a three-mile stretch between Lawrence Hill and Emerson's Green would have been altered to house a "rapid transit" bus lane.
At the time, sustainable transport charity Sustrans said the route, which is used for 2.4 million walking and cycling trips annually, was the "right idea, wrong route".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7320101...
thanks Mon Ami for posting that news (just put on bbc site today!)
i must be confused? whats ever wrong with the bus route that goes down the A4? sure it takes a while but its quite regular and its not that expensive £4 return IIRC
there was a great deal of opposition regarding the proposed sharing of the cycle lane, particularly from the bristol end. sadly Farce Great Western seem to have the Council in their pocket so i doubt it would go away? why arent these things competed incidentally?!?
anyway, those in the council who even suggested it were obviously not users of the cycle path and have not seen it at the weekends in the summer, its packed. its quite popular throughout the year but in the summer its nice to see families on bikes and picnics by the river.
there was a great deal of opposition regarding the proposed sharing of the cycle lane, particularly from the bristol end. sadly Farce Great Western seem to have the Council in their pocket so i doubt it would go away? why arent these things competed incidentally?!?
anyway, those in the council who even suggested it were obviously not users of the cycle path and have not seen it at the weekends in the summer, its packed. its quite popular throughout the year but in the summer its nice to see families on bikes and picnics by the river.
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