Westbury Road Bus Lane to be Removed - Sort of

Westbury Road, Durdham Downs, Bristol (Photo credit: brizzle born and bred)

Reports in this week's Evening Post of the demise of the Westbury Road bus lane have, it appears, been somewhat exaggerated.

The controversial bus lane came into being earlier this year between Henleaze Road and White Tree Roundabout on the city-bound side of Westbury Road. It has been blamed by campaigners for significantly increasing car journey times across the Downs at peak times, with motorists (and even buses) routinely backed up to the zebra crossing at the junction with Westbury Hill.

Following a high profile campaign by, among others, Westbury resident Simon Brookes, supported by councillor Geoff Gallop and local MP Charlotte Leslie, it was reported in the Post that the City Council had agreed to remove the lane and restore the road to its former state.

Not so, according to campaign group This Bus Lane is Madness. An update today on the group's facebook page describes the Post's article as "misleading." Tim Kent, councillor responsible for transport,

"has agreed to remove less than half of it."

The group claim that the actual plan is to modify the lane by shortening it. 

"This must be some attempt to save embarrassment as the remaining 120 meters is no use to man nor beast."

Trym Tales supports action to reduce car journeys in and out of the city centre (see photo), and wonders whether it has been possible to even asses the effect of the bus lane with so many other city-bound routes having been partially closed in recent months. Major road works on Northumbria Drive, and the continued closure of Wellington Hill, have meant that the only routes into and across the city centre in recent months have been via Westbury Road or the Portway. Has it, under these conditions, been possible to say how much of the recent congestion is a result of drivers avoiding the road works in favour of Westbury Road?

When the Henleaze and Wellington Hill roadworks are both completed, we may see a different picture emerging.

Or, we may then all conclude that the bus lane was just a white elephant.

What do you think?

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Related articles

• The Bristol Post published Scrap bus lane, say transport campaigners

FreeBus Bristol - Home

Image by express000 via Flickr

FreeBus Bristol - Home

Bristol's Free Bus project looks like it's gaining momentum.

The concept is simple enough: make bus services free at the point of delivery if those using the service cannot afford to pay.

There's obviously a lot of thinking gone into this, with the first service due to start in the Spring.

Check out the site, follow on facebook, etc.

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Related articles

• Passengers jumped at chance to travel on free Bristol bus service (thisisbristol.co.uk)

No Business Like Snow Business

Well, what a day.

Bristol's worst, or best, snow in somewhere between 10 and 350 years has taken the city by storm.

Today's whiteout began for me while still dark with the gleeful sound of a younger member of the Trym clan announcing, text message in hand, that school was cancelled and that the buses weren't running.

This second piece of information had me scurrying to the computer for confirmation from First Bus that the three centimetres of snow that had fallen overnight had in fact resulted in the total collapse of the public transport system of England's fifth city.

Unfortunately, the only information I could find on the First web site was a piece of PR on the recently unveiled fleet of new buses (which increase by at least 46 the number of places in the city where I can be secretly filmed under the guise of making me feel safer) and information on how to get to Cabot Circus by bus - a journey that those familiar with this blog would know that I would only take if the one marked "Death Leap Over the Avon Gorge" were already fully booked.

First's strange silence on the subject of whether it would be running a service today was broken in the early evening with this item, announcing that "On Thursday afternoon, the majority of services were running normally" - a fact that all but the visually impaired could have confirmed by looking out of their windows at the numerous buses running normally along the slushy streets.

The uncertainty in the morning on the state of the buses lead me to some considerable inner debate, only fully appreciated by those of us fortunate enought to be self-employed, as to whether to embark on a one-hour walk to my usual place of work (the car being used by another member of the Trymites) or to "work from home."

Five hours later, and having wrestled control of the car from its former user, I made the short journey to Redland. And what a happy sight greeted me on the way. With the majority of adults (teachers excepted) firmly ensconced in their places of work, the city had been taken over by several thousand of its bright-eyed and bushy-tailed youth, who were gleefully turning every available patch of public space into a winter wonderland of snowmen, snow furniture and ludicrously over the top snowball fights, of the type long banned by the kind of people who put secret cameras into buses.

I was amused to note that more than a couple of the ten thousand snowballs thrown managed to hit the numerous First buses now scurrying pele mele around the city. Oh the irony.

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Fat Boy Sim

Making my way to work yesterday on the number 1 bus from Somerfield in Westbury on Trym to Whiteladies Road, I found myself sitting just behind two passengers who were having a disagreement.

The larger of the two was waiting at the bus stop on Canford Road and boarded the bus with his mobile firmly placed to the side of his head. His conversation continued from entering the bus through to his departure on Blackboy Hill.

Tension arose when the gentlemen, who was of some girth, adjusted his position in order to fit more comfortably onto the double bus seat he had occupied. The woman next to him - well spoken and silver haired - clearly felt inconvenienced by this movement and proceeded to adjust her own position in such a way as to communicate her displeasure at being in quite such close proximity to her fellow passenger.

The phone man, who was continuing his conversation uninterrupted, expressed surprise through his facial expression at the movement of the senior citizen next to him. This gesture afforded his neighbour the opportunity to make her feelings more explicit:

"You're taking up too much of the seat. I don't want to move for you. You've got a problem," were, I think, her exact words.

Clearly surprised, her fellow traveller proceeded to explain to his mobile what was happening.

After an uncomfortable few minutes, during which my fellow passengers stared hard into their copies of The Metro in that way that made it obvious they were not reading them but were listening intently for the drama to develop, the two passengers exchanged unflattering opinions about one another while the larger (and younger) of the two provided a running commentary on the proceedings to his Motorola.

Although I was not able to catch every word, I do recall him explaining to his friend on the other end of the phone that he was required, among other things, to attend the local police station that day in order to register his whereabouts with the officers - a detail which sent a frisson of nervous excitement through the attentive passenger body, who had now lowered their Metros and were fully attentive to the proceedings unfolding in suburbia.

The culmination of the discussion was when the portly passenger made his exit from the bus. Both travellers had clearly been preparing their final salvos for just this event. Hers consisted of, "You're a very rude and unpleasant person." His was more double-edged: "Have a nice day; though with a face like that I'm surprised you had the courage to come out."

A murmur of low level conversation around the bus followed the conclusion of these proceedings, during which time the senior citizen explained to a woman behind her that her former travelling companion had announced into his phone that he was suffering from a sexually transmitted disease - a claim I did not hear myself, but one which afforded me just that bit too much detail at that time of the morning.

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Bristol Balloon Bales in Back Garden

Was slightly bemused, while standing at the bus stop on the corner of Falcondale Road and Henbury Road this morning (the one just slightly up from the new Texaco/Somerfield) to see a low-flying hot air balloon cruise gracefully over Canford Park, Henbury Golf Course and the back gradens of properties on Southdown Road.

Nothing unusual about that, Bristol being a European centre of hot air ballooning and Westbury on Trym being on the flight path from Ashton Court.

I had not, however, previously seen a bolloon come down in theat exact spot before - just behind the row of houses on the bend of Henbury Road.





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No breaking glass heard, so presumably the golf course or Blasie Castle estate was the final landing spot.

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Bristol Bus Secrets

Returning home by bus this this week, I have twice found myself transported from my place of work by trainee bus drivers and have thus been able to observe (discreetly, from behind my copy of the Metro) part of the process by which a new driver is inducted into the profession, at least as far as employees of First Bus are concerned.

As a result of this eavesdropping, I have discovered the following tricks of the trade, passed on apprentice-like from an experienced driver to a novice:

• the way to remember the correct route when driving the number 20 as it passes through Bishopston is to think of the game of chess - "King ('s Drive), Bishop (Road)"
• when seeking to pull out of a bus stop, the procedure is to indicate right, check the mirror and drive on. Waiting for cars to stop is ineffective, apparently
  
• If your route takes you along a narrow road, indicating right while driving along it raises your profile before oncoming vehicles and encourages them to pull over to their left
• the Lake Road bus stop near the junction of Henleaze Road and Southmead Road is "tricky". Very few passengers there actually wish to board the 20 or 21 and are in fact waiting for another service. Pulling over at this point places your bus in the left hand lane of a short dual carriageway, immediately before you need to be in the right hand lane in order to turn into Eastfield Road for Westbury on Trym village. The policy, therefore, is to ignore the stop unless flagged down.
  

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Trym Tales TV - Local Video From North Bristol

Filton Road to the City Centre as seen by a visiting Spanish exchange student.

One trip in Bristol
Uploaded by BordeauxBristolBsAs

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Urban Car Share Clubs Come to Bristol

I don't normally write blogs about individual companies but I thought this one warranted an exception. Meeting up with an old friend on New Year's Eve who uses the City Car Club prompted me to give it a mention.

The idea is both revolutionary and simple, aided by developments in technology. Members of the club have access to a range of shared (but new) cars which are located across the city and which they can book (online or by phone) for their use, from as little as one hour to a week or more.

With rates from £4.75 per hour, the car club is a viable option for the urban dweller who does not need a car every day but who may need to use one less frequently without paying car hire costs. The cars are located across Bristol (here's the current list) and are accessed via a member's electronic pass card and, for added security, via an in-car computer that ensures that only members who have booked the car can drive away.

The club's web site claims that the presence of a well run car club in a city can reduce commuter traffic by up to 25% as residents who might otherwise drive to work choose public transport and use the car club for other uses. Their site also contains an extensive list of the "what about...?" kind of questions that we probably all have about such a scheme.

City Car Club is an interesting example of a business model that appears to be taking seriously the need to reduce car use in cities. Worth a look.

Bristol Traffic

Today I spent two hours (count them) in my car driving across Bristol.

The journey started on Westbury Hill, went down Muller Road to Stapleton and then down the M32 to Redcliffe, turning right into Ashton. I then returned to Westbury on Trym via Clifton.

The whole world and his brother had decided to take to the road today. The heavy rain during rush hour added to the woe.

I know - why didn't I use the buses?

Here's why.

First Buses - Questions Asked in Parliament

In light of the recent cut in bus services in North Bristol, Bristol West MP Stephen Williams has been making waves on the issue in Parliament.

The following extract is an Early Day Motion tables this week on the subject.

10.10.2007

Williams, Stephen

That this House notes the plans by First Group to reduce bus services in north Bristol; recognises that these services are used by a significant number of elderly and vulnerable people as their main means of transport; further notes that First Group holds monopoly on bus services in Bristol; and calls on the Government to do everything in its power to persuade First Group to retain these services and to open up competition in the provision of bus services in major cities.

Meanwhile, take a look here for the best article I've come across on why Bristol has such a poor public transport service and why merely asking First Group to be nicer and cheaper will not work.

Bristol Traffic News

WHAT happened to the traffic today?

Westbury Road was bumper to bumper from Badminton School to Black Boy Hill.

Whiteladies Road was heaving.

Muller Road was backed up all the way to the junction with Gloucester Road.

You expect this on a Monday when it's raining but Friday mornings are often clearer in town as people take a day off or work from home.

Then I realized. Bristol University and UWE have both started back this week.

Agh! Only two weeks till half term, though.

While you're chocking, take a look at this great article on the BBC Action network. It's the best article I've ever read on why Bristol has the worst bus service of any comparably sized city in Britain.