In favour It has already made journey's faster and roads safer
IF you want to see the benefits of the Greater Bristol Bus Network, Bristol City Council says, just look at Bath Road. Four months ago the Evening Post received a seemingly never ending stream of criticism of the changes being made along one of the busiest commuter routes in the city.
Drivers, bus passengers, traders and people using the park and ride from Brislington all said traffic jams were getting worse, not better.
But since it was completed, those complaints have all but disappeared.
The time it takes to get from Three Lamps to Hicks Gate has been cut from between 10 minutes and 40 minutes to between 10 minutes and 12 minutes, the council says.
The Evening Post visited the council's state-of-the-art traffic control centre in Stokes Croft to talk to the GBBN team about the £78 million project.
The centre in Wilder Street has access to hundreds of cameras all across the city. They allow the traffic team to monitor any jams or accidents and deal with problems in real time.
Using the cameras to show the whole of the Bath Road during rush hour one evening this week, one thing was quite clear – there were no jams.
Traffic was free flowing, and even queues at traffic lights cleared quickly.
There was no problem with vehicles being stuck on repeated cycles of red to green and back to red.
The council says it is all down to the changes they have been able to make through the GBBN scheme.
Adam Crowther, traffic signals manager, said: "Five or six years ago we had two cameras on the Bath Road.
"We couldn't really see, so we put fibre optics and cameras along the whole length of the route."
This allows the council to redirect traffic snarl-ups down side roads and alleviate problems.
The bulk of the works were physical changes to the junctions along the route, particularly around the Brislington Park and Ride.
Mr Crowther said: "There were two really bad congestion points, Sandy Park and the park and ride.
"On Sandy Park we took out a section of bus lane that was holding up traffic. It made a major change inbound."
The council has also taken the opportunity to bring forward road resurfacing so it's done at the same time as roadworks for the GBBN changes. Now the road will not have to be resurfaced for another 30 years.
All this has resulted in more reliable journeys on buses and the park and ride, the council says.
Passenger transport group manager Steve Bird said: "One of the biggest issues in Bristol is the bus service. People have been crying out for a decent bus service and now we're providing a decent offer.
"We're confident from our previous experience there will be, and is, a step change in the quality of public transport."
Bath Road is just one of the 10 routes that are included in the GBBN project.
The others are; A367 Bath to Midsomer Norton; Bristol to Cribbs Causeway; Mangotsfield to Cribbs; M32 bus lane; A369 Bristol to Portishead; A4018 College Green to Cribbs; A432 Bristol to Yate; A37 Bristol to Midsomer Norton; A370 Bristol to Weston-super-Mare.
Officers say they have provided bespoke solutions to all of the major traffic problem points along the ten routes, and have not simply taken a one-size-fits-all approach.
Mr Bird said: "Each of the corridors has different features. Whiteladies Road has a very large retail and residential area, so the primary purpose isn't to get traffic through as quickly as possible."
The GBBN project is not just about improving journey times though.
There are safety benefits as well. One example is the pedestrian crossing at the Emery Road junction, which means children can now cross safely to St Brendan's School.
A new bus stop near the ITV West studios means people do not have to walk along the pavement-free side of the road.
Businesses have also benefited, the council says.
Before the changes to the Bath Road, half of the row of shops by the Murco garage at Bristol Hill were empty.
Now they are all occupied and the council actually had to leave its consultation shop because a tenant was due to move in.
The scheme has seen 450 trees planted and 500 bins installed.
According to surveys, bus passenger satisfaction has gone up significantly from 2007 to 2011, although this relates to the whole network and not just the ten GBBN routes.
The council accepts there has been disruption but believes in the long term everyone will benefit.
Highway traffic manager Terry Bullock said: "It's been a difficult time for everybody but it's done now, so people can look forward to good journeys for many years to come."
21 Comments
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by frank1958
Tuesday, February 28 2012, 12:18PM
“What a load of rubbish”
by snowymalone
Saturday, February 25 2012, 7:50AM
“@ Morrissey9
"Bath road is a better, buses now sometimes actually turn up as they say on the timetable.. There were days of waiting 40 minutes for a bus, any bus, the X39 is meant to come every 12 minutes!"
That's the point as much as anything else though - they SOMETIMES turn up when they say on the timetable. There still are days of waiting 40 minutes for a bus (Mrs Malone and my son still have to set off at least 30 minutes earlier than the timetable would imply to guarantee not being late to work and college respectively).. and yes, the X39 is MEANT to be every 12 minutes (as is the no 1, if they go to Sandy Park instead.)
So, if the improvements have been that successful (and the car park that is Bath Road outbound at evening rush hour is therefore clearly a mirage) then why are First buses still unreliable?”
by Dingslady
Saturday, February 25 2012, 1:50AM
“I've read the headline to this article 42 different times and it doesn't make sense to me. Since no one has mentioned it, I wonder if it's me. "In Favour It has already made journey's (why the apostrophe??) faster and roads safer". Has anyone who works for the BEP ever had an English lesson?
By the way, I used to travel every Saturday from my home in the Dings to my sister's home near the Downs, and avoided Whiteladies by nipping up Pembroke Road, thereby avoiding the traffic - which was bad even then, before all the GBBN nonsense.”
by PJ1979
Friday, February 24 2012, 5:25PM
“The GBBN improvements to the Bath Road have been successful. I'm not that familar with the changes on other routes, but i'd imagine that the objectives and therefore changes might be different to those on the Bath Road. The Bath Road doesn't have many shops etc running along it (except at Bris Village and near HTV) and the route is really about ease and speed of flow for buses and general traffic. The route already had a decent amount of in and outbound bus lanes so the improvements at Three Lamps, Totterdown bridge, Sandy Park, Hicks Gate and to a lesser extent Brislington Hill have been more fine tuning rather than radical improvements. Real time and new bus stops will always be welcomed for bus users”
by DM_Fishponds
Friday, February 24 2012, 4:00PM
“@_Mat_ - "DECEPTION Yeah, cos the council have nothing better to do with their time than set about deceiving us..."
Yeah, cos the council are going to get to the end of a £78 million project and then say, "D'you know what? We think we've made a mistake here and there's no advantage in all these new bus lanes. Let's change it all back again."
Sarcasm! Easy isn't it?”
by _Mat_
Friday, February 24 2012, 3:49PM
“DECEPTION
Yeah, cos the council have nothing better to do with their time than set about deceiving us...”
by DM_Fishponds
Friday, February 24 2012, 1:06PM
“Where is the "Cllr Tim Kent Q&A session" that was promised this week?
I hope the BEP is not giving Cllr Kent fore-warning of the questions.
As Judge Judy says, "If you tell the truth you don't have to remember what you said last time!"”
by smoosername
Friday, February 24 2012, 1:01PM
“Would it be too much to ask for Tim Kent to substantiate his dodgey improvement claims?”
by Morrissey9
Friday, February 24 2012, 12:47PM
“Bath road is a better, buses now sometimes actually turn up as they say on the timetable, but I probably would rather have put up with the previous service than the 6 months (or more) of horrendous delays in order to get where we are now. There were days of waiting 40 minutes for a bus, any bus, the X39 is meant to come every 12 minutes!”
by sp1975
Friday, February 24 2012, 12:36PM
“I don't normally comment on this site - I think it promotes the views of very few and sways thinking that everyone in Bristol thinks like that, but now GBBN is coming to an end thought I'd make a point.
As a car, bus, and pedestrian, GBBN has been nothing but good for me. People forget that areas such as Fishponds, Whiteladies Road, Gloucester Road etc are centres for people, not just to allow cars to travel through them as quickly as possible. I like traffic lights - they help me cross the streets safely, especially at roundabouts etc where people need to get across. As a car driver I have no issue with waiting at a set of lights as long as I know that people are now crossing safer. Whiteladies Road now looks lovely with beds and islands in the middle and I would rather see that and have a slightly delayed journey time than having it returned to some massive wide thoroughfare that frankly used to look like a motorway had bulldozed it's way through - it's a shopping area with lots of people around so of course it should look nice and have safe island areas!
Even if the changes do result in car journey's total journey time being slightly delayed - is it really an issue adding 5 minutes to your journey knowing that actually with reduced speeds there are less accidents (Bristol and surrounding area's stats speak for themselves), and a generally nicer environment to be in? Stop measuring everything by a car's journey time and start seeing the wider picture. Congrats everyone who worked on this, I for one am pleased with the results, and although I don't for a second claim to represent loads of people, those I have spoken to have also seen the benefits”