Political row puts controversial Bristol Rapid Transit route in jeopardy

“Gary,

Who is this mysterious "business" that gets a mention now and then? Some phalanx of managing directors anxious to ditch the Jag? Not all businesses welcome this daft plan. Several around the harbourside, who have seen the opportunities in a quiet, relaxing, and attractive area, are dead set against this, because their trade will evaporate once buses start hurtling through there. More still are owned by people who think this plan is a hopeless and monumental waste of resources which is very unlikely to do much good, and extremely like to do a lot of harm. That has started already - the harbourside is blighted. No new "business" will start there, and houses and flats will be at best devalued, and at worst unsellable, whilst deriving absolutely no benefit from the buses.

Or is it some shady character with a concrete works, looking for easy money? Why is "business" so concerned with spending other peoples' scarce money on such a useless and unpopular lame-duck scheme? Will "business" come to the rescue when the costs overrun? I say "when" rather than "if", because every BRT project in Britain, most famously Cambridge, has come in late and well over budget.

Or is it a bus business? First have said they don't see the need for the AVTM busway, which mean a longer journey to work for many of their passengers. The same is true of the park and ride buses. The Cambridge BRT was planned along with two operators, signed up before work started. We haven't that luxury, yet you expect this to open in 2 years time, with an operator willing to pay for brand new vehicles. Isn't there a risk that we will end up with a perfectly great BRT (doubt it!), but with no buses?

I ask who "business" is so that I can talk to them. West of England Partnership in unelected, unaccountable to the local people, undemocratic, and frankly ungood. Spare me the monkey - I want to speak to the organ grinder, so I can tell him what a good idea an ITA would be. I surprised "business" hasn't demanded this, unless "business" is really just Atkins. A real strong body with power over all things transport and relative independence from political interference would do a far better job than WEP, and would be taken seriously by "government". Ask "business" - he'll know it makes sense.”

“Blimey, Gary, once is more than enough!

It's pure madness to dig up rails for a bus route, as has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt in Cambridgeshire.

I'd say more, but Brizz_Tony has it absolutely right.”

“I actually commissioned a report to see whether a switch to ultra light rail was possible about 3 years ago.Although I still believe that that technology has considerable attractions it did not stack up on the schemes we were progressing with government.
To be fair to North Somerset ,although it probably made them nervous, there was no public protest from them then.
The report is available through the west of England.
If there was any possibility of a switch of technology the mayor would have grabbed it with open arms. It was after all one of his election themes as earlier contributors pointed out.
He has instead chosen to look at a change of route.
He has assured us that government are happy with that approach but clearly North Somerset are not and business is nervous and anxious to avoid a costly collapse.
I sincerely hope that the alternative is successful and we will know shortly”

“I actually commissioned a report to see whether a switch to ultra light rail was possible about 3 years ago.Although I still believe that that technology has considerable attractions it did not stack up on the schemes we were progressing with government.
To be fair to North Somerset ,although it probably made them nervous, there was no public protest from them then.
The report is available through the west of England.
If there was any possibility of a switch of technology the mayor would have grabbed it with open arms. It was after all one of his election themes as earlier contributors pointed out.
He has instead chosen to look at a change of route.
He has assured us that government are happy with that approach but clearly North Somerset are not and business is nervous and anxious to avoid a costly collapse.
I sincerely hope that the alternative is successful and we will know shortly.”

“The real problem is that you can build a BRT but you cannot make people use it. BRT is a bus and people don't see that as an alternative to their cars. A proposal for an Ultra Light Tram system that fell within the BRTs budget was improperly dismissed by Bristol City Council without a fair hearing, largely on grounds that it had a lower hourly capacity. The point here is that given peoples dislike of busses the BRT looks doomed to run at well short of it's full capacity.”

“That so called "Artists impression" is just an image from the StopBRT campaign!”

“A bus that runs on train tracks - genius.

What next to waste time and money planning?

How about a wagon pulled by goats or maybe a submarine that sails up the river?

Or what about a 'rent a jet pack' scheme or hot air balloon shuttle?

Maybe better to just cancel the whole idea and spend the money on something worthwhile.

I think it the budget should be used to promote awareness around Female Genital Mutilation and what ever is left of the £49 million could be paid towards building new luxury waterfront housing for Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants.”

“I do like the artists impression above.
Just one issue, the double decker bus is running along the current train track, just off picture to the right is a low bridge. If you have ever seen the old James Bond film "Live and let die" you will see what happens if you try to pass a tall bus under a low bridge!
Was this the same artist who draws the "impressions" of stunning, tranquill Hotels seen in holiday brochures that turn out to be cramped poorly finished nasty accomodation once built?”

“The Post wrote, "The row led to the Government withdrawing the funding for a scheme which would have eased congestion on the M32 corridor."


If you want to ease congestion on the M32 corridor then create a new junction on the M4 between J18 (Bath) and J19 (Bristol M32). The new Junction (18a) should link directly with the ring road somewhere near the new Science Park.

Job done!”

“I never thought the day would come when I said this, but I partly agree with Gary Hopkins.

Nigel Ashton has overstepped the mark this time. So has Elfan ap Rees. What ap Ratt!

BRT is the worst transport idea ever dreamt up anywhere. That is the opinion of everyone except ap Ratt and the West of England Partnership. Now, it seems that Nige and the Elfan in the room have determined that mighty Weston super Mare will prevail over the village of Bristol. They will borrow the small tank of Colonel Grüber, and build the guided busway that no-one wants all by themselves. Now that they have stuck their heads above the parapet, and criticised the only politician to have been elected with a mandate about BRT, they may find that they will be blamed when the whole plan falls apart. I hope so anyway.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If it's a straight choice between having BRT or losing the funding, I'm all for the latter. BRT is the ugly love-child of Atkins and WEP. Forget not that Atkins advocated ripping up the Severn Beach line, soon to celebrate a million passengers a year, in favour of a busway as recently as 2005. The whole scheme is flawed, and would be a terrible waste of £200 million of other peoples' scarce money. I remain convinced that it was approved only because Chancellor George Osborne (another Quisling) needed some cheap "good" news in his first budget.

I hope I don't sound negative or overly critical about what I see as casus belli. These things apart, I agree with Gary. The mayor's stance is correct. Where I disagree with him is where I hope and pray for the downfall of the whole stupid scheme, whereas he thinks it might do some good. "Lame duck scheme with virtually zero public support" - best thing ever said about Bust Rabid Transit.”