Bridging the Gap ? Not 'ere, mate!

The scene when Stockwood Pete left the Temple Gate consultation for a peak time journey home. The 3 mile trip took an hour, most of it spent here. The new proposals would do next to nothing to relieve the discomfort and delay of this and similar journeys.

'Bridging the Gap' looks like being a strapline for Bristol's year as European Green Capital. Not as a daring highwire act, but as a serious attempt to bridge the gap between our green rhetoric and what we actually do to green the city and the world around us. Because we have to.  And because it will make Bristol a better place to be.

At Temple Gate, the talk has always been about seamless interchange (add similar phrases of your choice) as well as the wider city ambitions to become a low carbon, healthy, pacesetter among the Core Cities.

Do the current proposals for Temple Gate bridge that gap? No chance..

If (a very big if) the plans now out for consultation do allow traffic to flow more smoothly, then that will help a bit. There's not much to suggest that will happen, though. We're told merely that 'The reconfiguration of the road will ensure the existing capacity is maintained'. That doesn't really sound like a step forward, and doesn't take into account whatever extra traffic is generated by the Enterprise Zone developments and the major modernisation of Temple Meads railway station to accommodate ever-rising passenger numbers.

By the same token, the conflicts between walkers, bikes, and traffic mostly remain... a double whammy because it not only discourages the first two groups, it causes delays and traffic build-up.

A huge problem for the city's planners is that they simply don't know what's going to be built on the various Enterprise Zone sites. The Arena and the new Friary-side station entrance seem assured, but the rest are just a gleam in the eyes of the LEP and speculative developers. How can anyone design a road traffic system to serve that?

The obvious answer would be to wait and see. Even the suggested improvements to a short section of the Brunel Mile, taking centre stage in the Temple Gate literature, can't form part of a coherent whole until the big decisions are taken about Plot 6. For the rest of it, the newly straightened Temple Gate – Temple Way alignment would provide no opportunities for better public transport access to the immediate station/interchange area – wherever it might be. Even the spanking new Metrobus gets no nearer than 300m to the station – and that's a single route in a single direction.

To 'Bridge the Gap' would be to provide that interchange. It's essential to absorb all the new travel demands of the TQEZ and the rising passenger numbers at the station. And it's got to be good – very good - if it's to persuade significant numbers to forsake the car.

Little local difficulties

For most of us, this was the first sighting of The Man from Stoke Bishop in Hengrove. At centre stage, too, as it turned out to be his turn to chair the Neighbourhood Partnership meeting on Wednesday.

It didn't start well. After inviting the other councillors to introduce themselves to those residents who'd bothered to turn up in the lecture hall of the Oasis Academy, Mike Frost took his own turn.... “I'm Councillor Mike Frost, the newly elected UKIP councillor for Hengrove....” To add a bit of emphasis, he then asked those present to raise their hands if they'd voted for him – and looked a bit crestfallen at the minimalist response. Evidently UKIP voters are rare among those who actually take part in local democracy.

It could only get better after that embarrassing intro, and it did, mostly because Cllr Frost generally deferred to the more experienced officers who really run the show in these parts.

There were a couple more fireworks in the box, though.

The threat of a new bus stop

Not just any old bus stop. This one, proposed for Fortfield Road, will not merely inconvenience those living nearby. Peeping toms (well, you know what bus passengers are like) will threaten privacy, walls will collapse under their weight, vandalism and rowdyism will be rife, road accidents will rocket, and civilisation as we know it will come to an abrupt end. ( Somehow Stockwood Pete hadn't realised this when he blogged about it over a year ago.)

Most of the residents present had come simply to alert us to this threat, so that we could act now to make sure it doesn't happen. And the newly elected UKIP councillor for Hengrove made no secret whose side he was on. He brought the topic straight to the top of the agenda from its lowly spot in 'Any Other Business'

The objectors were quickly reassured that the whole issue will be revisited, this time with extensive consultation through a couple of widely advertised drop-in sessions. That wasn't enough for the objectors, though. After they'd offered some pretty broad ranging contributions from the floor, the newly elected UKIP councillor for Hengrove closed the discussion and moved to the next agenda item. Cue a mass exodus by most of the objectors, loudly complaining they'd not been listened to. The newly elected UKIP councillor for Hengrove looked perplexed. You could tell he's not been around for long.

The threat of a public forum

It was Stockwood Pete who lit the blue touch paper on the second firework. And did he really, as Stockwood Cllr Jay Jethwa claimed, twist her words? Or was he untwisting them when he said that at the last NP she'd rejected suggestions (broadly supported by the Hengrove councillors and most others present) to open up a new dialogue between councillors and residents. Whichever was true, neither was mentioned in the draft Minutes, so they could not be a true record.

Stockwood has long stood out as a ward where the councillors take pains avoid any kind of public forum where they can be held to account. And this new threat to their cosy position was a suggestion, put to the last NP meeting, that “we have a spot in the ward forum meetings...... in which councillors can report back on their activities and deal with any related questions from the floor?”

Whatever the truth of how she responded at the last meeting, this time Cllr Jethwa was unequivocal. She has NOT turned down the suggestion, and she told us so.

So maybe.... just maybe.... our next ward forum might see our Stockwood councillors tell us for the first time what they get up to at City Hall. They might even let us ask them about it. Watch this space.

Whatever isn't happening at Temple Meads?

Charlie Bolton's current petition (please sign it!) calling for direct bus links through Bedminster to Temple Meads, prompts a review of where we've got to on the need for a multimodal transport hub at the city's main station  instead of the tinpot links that we have now.

On Tuesday, Bristol's Cabinet is poised to give the nod to spending £21 million on improving transport access to, and within, the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone around the station. Well, Tuesday's Mardi Gras, isn't it? Spend it now, and pay back later..... from the expected business rates raised in the Zone. Same formula as the Arena.

This transport spend includes:  

• straightening out Temple Gate/Temple Circus. At £11 million, this takes up the bulk of the cash. As it will leave a smaller road footprint, some development land should be released too.
• A bit more (£6 million) goes toward access to the Arena site, 'to make the site more attractive to potential development', presumably the offices/apartments that are required to offset some of the Arena costs.
• The remaining £4m chunk goes to 'improved cycling and walking infrastructure on key routes in and through the TQEZ, sustainably linking residents with job opportunities'. This appears to include some unexpected but welcome projects like (at last) a cycle route along the Callington Road Link and, odder still, the Conham Riverside bike route.

But it doesn't include a multi-modal transport hub

A Temple Meads public transport hub has surfaced occasionally in the politicians' rhetoric for years. Only the Greens have made it a priority. But now that the high spending, low benefit prestige projects - especially the Arena and the Metrobus - have been pushed through, can't we look at something that really would bring about a step-change in the quality of the city's public transport network?
Despite all the half-promises, NEVER has the Bristol administration come up with a clear proposal, or even an outline brief, for what an interchange should provide.

So let me float one....

The Objective:

Overall, to make travel quicker and easier for all.

In particular, to provide a public transport system that is good enough to tempt significant numbers to choose not to use cars – thus freeing up road space for all travellers

The problem:

Every journey by public transport involves waiting time – and many trips involve transfer time from one mode or route to another. By and large, these things are done under sufferance. They're not a good use of time, and bus stops or station platforms are none too welcoming. There's the weather; often the darkness and insecurity; the doubt about when or whether a bus will turn up; and for many ongoing trips, a walk between the relevant stops and the doubt about which is the best one to use.

Of course these discomforts aren't the only downside of using public transport, but together they're a very big one – and until they're alleviated public transport is going to be second choice to the car for most of those travellers who have the choice.

The Answer:
That's where an interchange comes in, because it tackles all these problems head on. It cuts journey times by much more, and for many more travellers, than any Metrobus route could hope for.   And it does it efficiently, comfortably, and safely.

Here I float my own idea about what the minimum on offer at the TM Hub should be: 

• Public transport (bus, train, or ferry) to all parts of Bristol, daytime and evening.
• A single covered, enclosed, waiting area with seating, within one minute of bus pick-up, three minutes of trains or ferry
• Real time information displays for all servicesTicket sales (all modes) before boarding 
• Good access on foot or by bike, with traffic-free signed access toward Arena, Bedminster, Brunel Mile, Castle Park, Railway path, St Philips cycleway 
• Toilets

Those are absolute minima; highly desirable additions would be:

• Public transport to outlying areas, not just those served by rail, eg Clevedon, Thornbury, Wells/Radstock.
• Retail, refreshments and other amenity on-site
• bike hire and storage
• Left luggage
• Wi-fi
• a dedicated and very frequent service to the Centre and Broadmead

Would it work?

Who knows... the psychological bond between driver and car is very hard to break. But an interchange of this quality would certainly do the job to an order many times better than any other single project.

Is it do-able?

The space is there. Plot 6, alongside the Old Station, is ideally placed (though rail electrification looks like it will need two further tracks, either adjoining or through it). There's also the cleared space around Bristol and Exeter House, and (less viable) around the derelict shell of the Royal Mail building. All of these, individually or in combination, have the potential to provide a real hub. All are that rare thing in a city centre, undeveloped sites. And all are part of the Enterprise Zone, enabling a joined-up development plan that can – if the will is there - provide joined-up transport.

Who's involved?

Principally, the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (self-appointed business reps and local authority nominees, including our own dear Mayor), along with Network Rail. The HCA own part of the land, too. Note that redevelopment of the station itself will be a Network Rail task; it will be major, involving new public access beneath the station, and a new concourse. Although all these bodies have public responsibilities, the public themselves are not a party to the plans.

Will they do it?

The broad intention is enshrined in the official planning frameworks.
The Central Area Plan (p40) promises:

The development of sites adjacent to Temple Meads Station will be expected to deliver improved public transport interchange facilities and new and enhanced walking / cycle routes as part of the development of Bristol Temple Quarter.

7.14 The precise location and type of interchange facilities that will be sought will be explored in more detail in the Spatial Framework being prepared for Bristol Temple Quarter. It is likely however that the development of the sites adjoining the station to the north will be required to accommodate this enhanced interchange function. Facilities will need to be fully accessible. “ 
The Spatial Framework that excerpt refers to is (as customary in such documents) quite flowery in its description (p35):

A 21^st Century transport interchange at the heart of a regenerated mixed use quarter. A destination, where people can meet their travelling needs, move easily and conveniently between transport modes and connect with the city centre and surrounding neighbourhoods.

And in the West of England's 'GVA of Major Transport Schemes' commissioned from Atkins, there's the advice (p35):

“...... given the large numbers of people commuting in future to Temple Quarter, a step change in the capacity of bus provision to the area will be required. This will require new services, with high frequencies and high levels of capacity, to address the access requirements of the area. Failure to deliver major improvements to bus access will substantially constrain the ability to unlock the development potential of the Enterprise Zone. “

The 'Simplified Planning Document' sums it all up (p2):

'At the heart of the zone will be a transformed multi-modal interchange at Temple Meads'

  

You'd think from all this that a major transport interchange at Temple Meads is a done deal.

You'd think it would go into the Enterprise Zone's infrastructure from the start, to be ready for the incoming workers. 

And you'd think that even before employers move in, the demand is there from the city's rail and bus passengers wanting a seamless journey.

So how come it's missing from the Cabinet's agenda on Tuesday?

515 survival

Finally got the news that

THE 515 IS PLANNED TO RUN FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER YEAR.

That's the hourly daytime bus service between Stockwood and Imperial Park, by way of Whitchurch centre and the hospital/leisure centre/college site at Hengrove Park. The initial year's contract is coming to an end. The tender is now going out for 2013/14. Passenger figures are said to be 'encouraging', slowly building up - as they should be for the only direct bus service between these key places.

Mr Grouchy, of course, still finds plenty to complain about. As an occasional passenger on the route, he's had to spend ages trying to confirm that the service will continue. His emails went unanswered. The 'public transport' phone number on the council website turned out to be the one that staff use to collect their voice-mail; and, hard though it is to believe, the BCC main switchboard's automated voice recognition system doesn't recognise the term 'public transport' - though it has to be said that Mr Grouchy hasn't mastered Bristolian, so there may be some excuse.

The councillors for the two wards - who you might expect to act as a link between the council and the consumers of its services (including the 515 passengers) - haven't said a dicky bird about it, even in the unlikely scenario that they're aware of the importance of the route. But then they don't do e-letters or websites, and they boycotted the NP website that was set up for just this sort of thing. We must wait for the next pre-election newsletters for news like this!

Bus miscellanea.....

The BristolRider. A bit late, but it's arrived...

The AvonRider, about which I wrote last September, has just been joined by the BristolRider, a multi-operator ticket that covers the built-up area of Bristol plus Long Ashton and Keynsham.

It costs £4.50, only 50p more than the equivalent First Day ticket (though ominously that's described as an introductory price). Better still, both AvonRider and Bristol Rider now include Bristol City Council's fully contracted services, 501 to 515, and the Park & Rides. At last the city and the operators have agreed on something!

It means, say, that a 515 journey from here in Stockwood to the new Hengrove Hospital can continue in to town on one of the First routes – and return on Abus's 57, all on the one ticket.

The Hengrove Bus Stop Gamble

Losers

If you're lucky enough to live round Fortfield Road, and fancy a bus trip into town, there's a choice of two buses, the 51 or the 20. Their routes share the stretch between Oatlands Avenue and Wharnecliffe Gardens, so that's the place to be sure of getting whichever one comes along first. Except for one thing – there's no bus stop. Go south, beyond the 51 route, and you can get the 20. Go north, off the 20 route, and you'll get the next 51. Only the fleetest of foot stand an above average chance of getting whichever comes first - by scanning for approaching buses from the Fortfield/Wharncliffe junction and racing for the relevant stop.

My comprehensive user survey found 100% of the sample (that's me, once, and a student, daily) to be seriously inconvenienced by this layout.

Luckily,  someone's alerted the Neighbourhood Partnership to it. Now it seems that common sense might provide a shared bus stop along the shared Wharnecliffe Gardens – Oatlands Avenue stretch, thanks to a windfall of cash from development around Loxton Square. Watch that space.

How Long Blues

For passengers heading back from Temple Meads to Knowle, Filwood, Hengrove, Whitchurch, or Stockwood, or further down the A37 into Somerset, the starting point is the bus stop on Temple Gate beside the Old Station.

This, according to the transport authorities, is the beginning of Showcase Route 6; part of the Greater Bristol Bus Network that will transform the quality of public transport in this city.

Passengers in Belluton or Temple Cloud will know of the benefits this brings – proper bus stops with real time information displays that tell you if you've got time for a smoke, or to nip behind a hedge for a call of nature, before the bus comes.

No such luxury here at Temple Meads, which must host more waiting passengers than any other stop on this 'showcase' corridor. For some reason, the upgrade promised by the Cabinet's decision in December 2009, was never implemented here. 

Is it too late to spend a couple of £K to give hundreds of passengers a day the convenience of knowing when the bus is really coming?

Clevedon Express?

OK, I know nothing about this... just came across it here . A firm called BristolGreyhound preparing to run an X7 express service to Clevedon from Temple Meads? From 25^th March, according to the robot-builders.

57 Variety – on the way out

From November 5^th, Stockwood's other bus route into town will be pared right down. Abus is cutting the daytime frequency of its 57 service, via Bath Road. Peak services will remain, but after that it will be every hour at best, with a much longer gap in inward journeys during the afternoon. The new timetable is here.

It's bad news for Stockwood, because for years Abus have offered a far cheaper trip into town than the exorbitant single fares on First's 54 service, and the only short access to the eastbound bus corridor along the Bath Road, toward Keynsham and Bath.

One contributory factor must be the national concessionary fare pass. For pass holders, fare differentials are not an issue, so First's more frequent buses have been able to draw more custom than they deserve, especially in the off-peak hours. 

For those travellers who do have to pay, First have the economies of scale that allow them to offer more attractive deals like the First Day tickets. They've also looked after their own monopoly interests by resisting, for years, any attempts to launch similar city-wide tickets that are valid on services operated by other companies.    And, in a mini 'bus war' when Abus were running the 57 service on Saturdays, First ran so many buses on the alternative 54 route that the smaller Abus couldn't command the passenger share to keep their buses running.

Thank you, Mrs Thatcher – and all the administrations of every colour that have followed in your footsteps.

Learning from Cardiff's transport mistakes

Cardiff (under its temporary branding, Coca-Cola) is welcoming international guests to the only Welsh Olympic venue, hosting some of the football events,

On the face of it, visitors to the city should have no trouble getting around when the delights of the city centre and the Millenium Stadium begin to fade. The 'valley lines' provide a local rail network far more comprehensive than we have this side of the water.

On the roads, there's a publicly run bus company providing most of the city services. Oh joy!

Crucially, there's a central 'hub' of bus station and train station right by the city centre and the stadium.

The sort of thing that Plot 6 at Temple Meads could provide here, along with an extra bonus of access to the ferry network too.

As in Bristol, Cardiff's buses are hooked into a real time tracking and display system, so passengers get the great benefit of knowing when the bus is coming. And, better than Bristol, there are various day tickets covering the city and beyond, valid across different bus and rail operators (not the sort of thing that FirstBus encourages here..... ). Cardiff buses are 'exact fare', which reduces dwell time at bus stops.

Seamless movement, you'd think. But in spite of a head start, Cardiff has messed up, and Bristol can learn from that before it makes the same mistakes at Temple Meads.

Truth is, Cardiff doesn't actually have a hub. It has two, next door to each other, but divided by a rather bare no-man's-land decorated with artificial trees. There's nowhere where you can get a readout of bus departure times, let alone do it under cover!

The 'information' display is very difficult for any visitor, uncertain of the city's geaography but wanting to explore, to make any sense of. Within 12 hours we twice found ourselves boarding city centre buses, with the right destination, heading off on wide city centre loops before coming back to the same place for the real journey.

Lessons for Bristol:

Put it under cover.... share the ticket/information/amenity services that go with a major exchange between the different modes. One hall can provide the departure boards, the directions, the fare and ticket information. That's what 'seamless' interchange is all about. And it really does provide the step change in the quality of using public transport that might actually make it more attractive to more people than using the car.

It was (maybe still is) an option in Cardiff; it's certainly there for the taking at Temple Meads. If, that is, a new mayor can go beyond the tokenism of previous administrations and landowners and really make it happen

Buses – and this time it's good news!

Destination Hengrove: It's finally happened!  The 515 has started – an hourly daytime (Mon-Sat) service from Stockwood serving the new hospital at Hengrove (not to mention the Leisure Centre, the Skills Academy, and the shops at Whitchurch and at Imperial Park. From the hospital, it's also a short walk to the 'destination' playpark and the cinema. The newly contracted service is run by Wessex, so First's Dayrider tickets won't be valid (a fine illustration of how competition provides a public good!), but it's good news anyway. The time table's here.  

Family First Day SouthWest for a tenner: Through the summer holidays, First Bus are offering a familyticket for up to 5 people (max 2 adults) on all their off-peak services in SouthWest England for a mere ten pounds.

379: Racing down to Radstock

I never quite understood why Radstock and Midsomer Norton are so badly connected by public transport to Bristol. Just one 'direct' (but in practice circuitous) bus route, taking well over an hour for the journey.

The good news is that the gap is about to be filled with the completion of Corridor 6 of the Greater Bristol Bus Network.

The 379 route, we're promised, will be an hourly service by way of the A37 through Pensford. It means, of course, that those of us living in Hengrove and Stockwood will be able to make the trip to Radstock (including its excellent Co-op, which – on our last visit, at least – was far better stocked that any of its CRS big brothers in the Bristol area) and without a change of buses, in around 45 minutes from Whitchurch village.

There's no evening service promised for the 379, though. According to the BaNES press release, if homegoing commuters miss the 5.35pm from Bristol, they're stuck with little choice but to head for Bath and try from there. I wonder if tickets will be valid on both routes.   That's the kind of detail that sometimes gets forgotten in the rush to present spanking new road layouts, buses, and shelters

The new service starts on April 2nd

(added 29/3/12)  New timetable is at http://www.travelinesw.com/swe/TTB/JP02__00003a54_TP.pdf

There'll be a knock-on effect on our own Bristol buses sharing the same route along the Wells Road. We should expect real-time information at (marginally) more comfortable stops, and a little bit more bus priority. Which can't be bad. I hope it doesn't get a 'Fishponds' reaction from the motorists.

And why is there still no sign of upgrading or re-equipping the miserable apology for a bus stop at Temple Meads?   Aah....  it must be  the imminent decision to turn Plot 6 into that city-wide transport interchange we've been promised.

Smart Cards on the Table

Suddenly, they're all talking about bringing in smart cards for use on Bristol's public transport. The BBC story is here.

Wonderful! Is it for real.... or is it just more politicking?

Anyone who's recently used Oyster Cards in London, then found themselves on a First Bristol bus, will know it makes sense.

Take the 54A into Bristol from Stockwood (for instance), and you'll find a big part of the journey time is spent stationary, while the driver takes cash and prints tickets for every passenger. Even at stops where few passengers get on, the wait can be extended, as the driver keeps to a slow timetable based on the probability of long stops.

Compare it with the cheaper 57 route, run by Alan Peters' Abus. That one's ticketless, there's a flat fare of £1, so boarding is pretty quick.

Compare either with Oyster in London... well, there's no comparison. Oyster can be used on trams, buses, tubes, and increasingly on the suburban rail network. The day's fares are capped at the price of an all-day network ticket.

The story was first spotted on Kerry McCarthy MP's blog. She mentioned how Labour launched its campaign for something called 'Brunelcard' on Friday morning, during a visit by Transport Minister Paul Clark. Nothing to say what Brunelcard is all about, though. In fact the core of the item was to expose some rather silly LibDem opportunism at slagging off First, not to tell us about Brunelcard at all. There's nothing on the web, nothing in the papers, so we'll wait and see.

Of course, the hype about it being a Labour project was nonsense. In the Green Party we've been proposing it for years (eg in our 2005 recommendations for the Joint Local Transport Plan, and more recently in our current policy summary). The same morning as Labour was launching 'Brunelcard', I'd heard the current LibDem transport portfolio-holder commend much the same thing at a West of England meeting - and in the past I've heard even the Tory transport spokesman backing the same ideas.

I've since caught up with the news that a cross-party committee on the city council gave 'smart card' ticketting its endorsement at its wind-up meeting last Tuesday. The Sustainable Travel Select Committee, chaired by the Greens' Charlie Bolton, included it in its final recommendations to the council.

Even so, the signs are not good. We have an existing scheme that goes part way to doing the same thing... the free bus passes for pensioners. In Bristol, a ticket must still be issued by the driver for each journey, and there's no guarantee that the bill presented to the council by the bus company will be anywhere near accurate. But the cards could be automatically read on the bus, giving much better tracking of their real use, and speeding up the journey. Cambridgeshire, Chester, and the West Midlands are all well on the way to making this happen. Not Bristol, though.

Smart card ticketting (and the faster, more efficient bus service that goes with it) should not be reduced to a party issue. There's something approaching a consensus about it. The potential benefits are huge, and are for everyone (unlike, say, the Rapid Transit, which is essentially for a bunch of North Somerset motorists wanting to get into the city a minute or two quicker). The barriers to progress are not political, they're institutional. There's First's reluctance to take on anything that mean co-operating with other companies (or even its own companies!). There's the lack of any strong West of England commitment to make it work. There seems to be no informed debate about exactly what's technically feasible or desirable.

Can the key players get together to push it forward? We can only hope. And vote, of course.

Let's take the kids to our Destination Park!

It's holidays, a nice clear crisp day, children ready for a bit of the great outdoors! Let's go to that superb playground at the Hengrove Leisure Park. It's under two miles away, here in South Bristol.


And it's free. Not an easy walk with children, though.....

Check the journey planner, Stockwood to Hengrove. A 54 to Wootton Park, then a 36 to Hartcliffe Way. Then a walk, crossing the dual carriageway.... 749 metres!

Maybe a bit easier coming back? Hmm... 90 from Cineworld to Inns Court. 36 to
Wootton Park. Then back home on the 54.

That's five buses and bags of optimism to go less than 4 miles.

Still, could get a First Day ticket to keep the cost down. £7.70.

Or we could just stay at home.

Moral: Destinations are made better by being reachable.