West Of England Partnership Proposes 9 Guided Bus Routes

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

'Why Bristol doesn't need rapid bus system'

While the West of England Partnership presses ahead with plans to set up a high-speed bus link from Ashton Vale to Bristol city centre, some interested parties doubt that buses are the best idea for the new rapid transit system.

Pip Sheard, Friends of the Earth campaigner and member of the Greater Bristol Transport Alliance, says a light rail system would be cheaper, more popular and more environmentally-friendly than the proposed bus link.

Here, she lays out her argument to the Bristol Evening Post.

See http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Bristol-doesn-t-need-rapid-bus/article-482189-detail/article.html

[Lee]

Ashton Vale-Temple Meads route gets planning approval - http://www.bristoltemplequarter.com/blog/uncategorized/metrobus-bristol-best-city-cycling-increase/

Construction could start this summer, and the route could be operational by 2016.

[TonyK]

I am completely against this madcrap idea, always have been, always will be. I have read through this historical record spanning over 6 years, and will do some further research before producing my full arguments why.

In the meantime, I have realised that it is crucial that anyone posting a link from a public record or news source should also quote the article in question, or at least an extract. Too much of the argument has been lost to "Error - 404 This page no longer exists etc", and some of the twaddle we post on here may yet prove crucial to future historians. Speling isunt impotent, and nor am I.

I will add a note of respect for Cllr Mark Bradshaw, whom I have found, though I have never met him, to be approachable and keen to explain his ideas via social media. He is currently undergoing treatment for bowel cancer, so far successfully, and I wish him well in a full recovery. FT, N! underwent successful cancer therapy (different sort, full details on request by PM) involving surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, none of which I would recommend as a lifestyle option. This ended in 2002. I have suffered Mark's uncertainties, fears, and pain. He will in his turn share my sense of victory and fulfillment.

I wholeheartedly oppose his somewhat lukewarm support for BRT^▸ (Bus Rapid Transit), in the sense that I think it should be absolute opposition, which I think is driven by the vision of money, not improvement. It shows centralism versus localism at its Soviet worst, with the local commissar against it, but having to agree for the sake of his commune's share of the grain harvest. That is not a criticism of Mark's politics, but of the way things are done.