What if traffic scheme for Bristol is too popular?
Each day, 23,000 vehicles pour into Bristol's city centre from the M32.
Small wonder, therefore, that our city centre streets are constantly clogged with traffic.
We've all known for years – even decades – that something needs to be done to ease congestion.
And we've had schemes that have come and gone in the past but never made it further than the drawing board.
Now highways experts are working up a network of rapid transit routes – bendy buses which use a guided track or their own bus lanes – to provide a workable alternative to using a car.
They are the first to admit that rapid transit is not necessarily the best scheme. But it works on two counts: deliverability and cost.
Deliverability means that it is a scheme which is not just a pipe dream. It's a scheme which has been tried and tested in other parts of the country. And it has been shown to be a fast and reliable service which will encourage commuters to leave their cars at home.
Many people argue that it would be much better to have a tram system. They are probably right but the costs are just too enormous.
Just to give some idea, the route from the Long Ashton Park and Ride into the city centre and around a loop to Bristol Temple Meads is expected to cost about £40m for a rapid transit scheme.
If a tram system was used instead, it would cost more than an estimated £2 billion.
The entire budget for transport improvements in the greater Bristol area for the next ten years is only £1 billion so this just goes to show how costly a tram system could be.
Maybe the biggest problem for the bendy buses will be their own popularity.
There might be so many people wanting to use them, they won't be able to cope with demand.
6 Comments
by Tim, Bedminster
Monday, October 19 2009, 9:34PM
“"If a tram system was used instead, it would cost more than an estimated £2 billion."
What utter nonsense! Where does the £2bn figure come from? How about applying some common sense?
The West of England partnership study estimated the following (google for "Rapid Transit Technical Review July 2008" to find the documents):
BRT - £40m + x
Light Rail: £103m + x
TramTrain: £126m + x
And just for comparison: in Hamburg, Germany, they're building a new underground route (U4): 4km of tunnels 30m underground running from the central station through the city centre and then underneath the harbour. All that costs ca. ¿320m. The Long Ashton - Temple Meads route is ca. 7km (but would probably be slightly shorter if it ran underground).”
by Bob de Bilde, Bristol
Monday, October 19 2009, 4:35PM
“"Why bother with bendy-buses when road pricing is the only solution? "
Oh dear, Bristol's leading cycling plumber, Chris Hutt, is at it again with his love affair with CONgestion Charging.
Chris adores discredited market mechanisms to control congestion in our city.
Simply by allowing the rich to drive and forcing the rest of us onto First's dire buses, Chris believes that this is the solution to Bristol's traffic woes.
It isn't.
Improving Bristol's public transport until it's a viable alternative to the car is the solution, not by imposing yet another extra tax on those unwilling/unable to afford it.
Chris, for a moment, stop pontificating about the CONgestion Charge and take a look across the Channel and see what our friends in Continental Europe have done.
They have invested heavily in public transport. They have not bothered with CONgestion Charging because they don't need to.
This is the direction we should be going.”
by Bob de Bilde, Bristol
Monday, October 19 2009, 1:09PM
“"Just to give some idea, the route from the Long Ashton Park and Ride into the city centre and around a loop to Bristol Temple Meads is expected to cost about £40m for a rapid transit scheme.
If a tram system was used instead, it would cost more than an estimated £2 billion"
Nonsense. Where on earth did £2 billion come from?
Must have been from First Group as they don't do trams.”
by paul, bs3
Monday, October 19 2009, 11:52AM
“£2billion! where did that figure come from???”
by Paul, Bristol
Monday, October 19 2009, 9:38AM
“Because road pricing just means the roads then become a place reserved for the rich.”
by Chris, Bristol
Monday, October 19 2009, 8:13AM
“"There might be so many people wanting to use them, they won't be able to cope with demand."
Or maybe not. It all depends on pricing. If you subsidise the bendy buses enough they will be overcrowded at peak times.
So why not use the pricing mechanism to balance supply and demand. It's what Easyjet and Ryanair do all the time.
In fact you could use the pricing mechanism to eliminate congestion by charging more to use roads at peak times.
Why bother with bendy-buses when road pricing is the only solution?”