Pool plan should be a boost for Bishopston

“@gary_hopkins If that's what you're hoping to achieve, then it sounds like (finally) a good thing for public transport in Bristol. But surely it would have been sensible to gain more traction on this, the central issue, before spending all that time and money on GBBN, rapid transit, etc? Doing it this way around has meant that most of that money has actually gone towards helping First?”

“Correct me if I'm wrong Gary but you just want to hand that power back to the council...”

“It is a common misconception that the council puts the bus service out to tender.We have no power or control over the profitable commercial routes and until we do we are restricted to paying out subsidies for the non profitable routes or even non profitable times on otherwise profitable routes while first trouser the significant profits on the popular routes.

We were only able to put the subsidised routes out to tender which had limited success.

You might not like the council saying they are powerless to control the majority of routes but it is unfortunately a fact.
We have made routes more profitable to operate with better bus lanes,less hold up points and better bus stops etc. and this has meant a bit of competition on some routes from cheaper operators
London has the power to control and tender all the routes anmd control the fares and it is that that we want.
This will result overall in a significant reduction in fares wehich will lead to an increase in usage and a virtuous circle.
When the Tories privatised the buses they gave the power to the operators which is fine when you have 2 or 3 main operators in a city or even an operator with a more positive attitude to growing passenger numbers than First but it was a disaster for Bristol.
We need to be able to give the power back to the bus customer.”

“Any experience I have of Kingsdown residents thoughts on CPZ come from my relatives who live there and the few neighbours of theirs I know.

Not as many surveyed for your "citizens panel" I'm sure but it is still a proportion of the community.

Speaking with them there would appear to be many more thinking the same?

Anyway, most city councils will always have a report or survey to back up what they are saying

As for first bus I personally don't agree with the council stating they are powerless to break the monopoly of first bus which is basically what you allude to.

Sorry, not good enough. Do Bristol City Council not issue the contracts for Bristols Bus Service? Did you guys not put the contract out to tender in the past year or two? What happened? You cannot sit there taking the credit for areas you have improved and blame others for the areas you haven't.”

“I bet the residents of Kingsdown are over the moon about having to pay £30 for their first car, businesses especially when they're having to cough up £100.

Oh and thank you for calling my comments 'complete nonsense'. We all know you lot take this same attitude of childish disregard to our surveys, consultations and concerns to your crazy projects.

It makes me feel so happy to pay £1500 every year towards your salary, pension, benefits etc.”

“I am very comfortable with being dismissive of someone who posts complete nonsense under the name of Torysrule.The comments about libraries were just breathtaking even for that ludicrous handle.
In terms of some of the later comments by expat I am not saying that we have a good bus service. We have had improvements in reliability but until First change their approach of trying to squeeze the maximum fare they can get away with out of every journey then public transport will always face an uphill struggle.
What I said was that we had put in an infrastructure,(at central government expense), that with Bristol having the powers that London has (Transport for Bristol) we can now get a very good service.This must fit with BRT,Rail Metro and integrated smart card ticketing.
That is not saying we have a good service now-Far from it.People want lower fares.
Although we have chipped away at the First monopoly with some competitors providing good alternatives we must have the power to control the profiable routes as well as subsidise the loss makers.It would take too long in the present climate to change the balance without the new powers and First will fight hard to maintain their monopoly on the very many profitable routes in Bristol.
Transport for Bristol company is a central plank of Jon Rogers' campaign for mayor.

I take it Expat that you do not have much contact with Kingsdown residents as apart from anything elser you would probably not have renamed it but I have seen the responses and seen the hundreds of resident surveys conducted by the local Cllrs and the vast majority are chuffed to bits.
As it happens the feedback newsletter from the citizens panel just landed in my inbox and the 3 important things that most people were happiest about were parks,cultural facilities and waste?recycling.
On parks although we have made a lot of progress over the last few years we have a lot more to do.As an example over 70 playparks were lost completely under Labour and many more playgrounds and facilities were allowed to decline.Opposition politicians said we did not need extra money for parks but if you had been at the playpark in Easton that I was at last week which had just 3 items of ancient rusting equipment but is fortunately now 1 of the 20 new builds or complete refurbs we are doing you would not agree.
The favourable opinion of outside,national and international judges,especially when it agrees with our citizens views is not I would suggest just fluff.”

“Gary,

I can just about agree with your comments on recycling, but please don't insult our intelligence on the rest of your bull ****.

Kingstown residents most certainly are not happy with the CPZ. Some are no doubt but please don't make out it's a general feeling of love towards the CC.

The statement on parks is just fluffy soundbites

And why you brought up the bus service and try to make out it's some sort of benefit to the City I don't know.

Even you must have to agree (at night when you only have yourself to convince) that Bristols bus service and public transport in general ranks as one of the worst services for a city of this size in the UK.

More so you must also surely appreciate that the majority of people think it's pants.?”

“Gary Hopkins shows the calibre of some of our elected oficials with his insulting, i know better than you, so shut up comment to TorysRule "Could go on but as facts seem to confuse you....."”

“I almost never agree with comments TorysRule posts, but some of the "facts" in gary_hopkins' response here are really stretching the truth IMHO.

I know first hand that residents of Kingsdown are anything but happy with the CPZ or the way it was brought about. The introduction of the 20 MPH limit is fast becoming a farce, with extremely poor evidence for justifying its introduction, at huge cost, when welfare and other essential services are facing a serious funding shortfall. The bus service in Bristol has gone from dire to unfit for purpose, and I shouldn't need to point out to Mr Hopkins how the rapid transit system is generally regarded.

Just for once, I'd like to see a politician willing to accept their failures, listen to alternatives and act in the best interests of their constituents, rather than painting over the cracks and insisting that if you think things are wrong, it must just be because you're uninformed.”

“Smoke, rhetoric and blatent lies will never hide your utter ineptitude Gary. Same goes for your mate Tim 'chronically dim' Kent.

Incindentally I see he's now trying to pedestrianise the centre, no doubt just another step in your council's attack against the motorist.”