Bristol Gridlock

[whole diary]

[simonw]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Bristol is reporting, from James Freeman head of First West of England that Bristol traffic is gridlocked and the worst it has ever been.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-35015151

Whilst I don't agree with him that MetroBus will fix everything (Richard Cotterell's Bristol Metro, and the Bristol Tram plan 15 years ago would have been a lot better), the lack of MetroWest is disheartening.

[Bmblbzzz]

I don't think Metrobus will make much difference directly, but in the long term it might improve things by providing a plausibly viable alternative to driving and allowing other changes, such as closing the roads in the city centre, which bring about a greater shift. But without that shift, it will do very little indeed.

[Red Squirrel]

The pedant in me wants to point out that Bristol, like most old world cities, is not capable of being gridlocked as its streets do not form a grid - but that would be a digression, so I won't.  

If Dr Steve Melia is to be believed ( see 'Urban Transport Without The Hot Air', http://www.stevemelia.co.uk/urbantransport.html ), even a high-quality tram-style transport system would probably have little impact on congestion - and of course MetroBus is anything but a tram system; rather, it is a trojan horse for road-building.

Ironically, though, it is largely the lane restrictions that have been put in place while The Centre is remodelled for MetroBus that are making congestion worse than normal.

[Bmblbzzz]

The pedant in you would be both digressive and not entirely correct.  Grid plans are rare in Britain but common in many parts of the Old World, particularly in towns established under Magdeburg Rights, which covers most of the old Holy Roman Empire and large parts of Poland, Czech, etc.

[Bmblbzzz]

http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Broken-train-near-Keynsham-causes-45-minute/story-28360804-detail/story.html

Broken down train near Keynsham causes 45 minute delays between Temple Meads and Bath Spa
By Tim_MacFarlan  |  Posted: December 14, 2015

Bath Railway Station

 
Travellers between Bristol Temple Meads and Bath Spa are being delayed by up to 45 minutes this morning.
 Comments (1)
A broken down train near Keynsham is causing delays of up to 45 minutes to journeys between Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads.

The disruption is expected to continue until 10am, according to Network Rail.

As an alternative passengers can use First Buses on routes 231: Bath (Bus Station) - Chippenham (Railway Station) and 38, 39, X39: Bristol (Temple Gate) - Keynsham - Bath (Bus Station).

You can follow this incident on Twitter using the hashtag #Keynsham

Just putting this here because it strikes me that, while every car crash is reported with strong emphasis on the traffic delays caused, we much less frequently hear similar stories on the railways. So I'm choosing to interpret this as a positive sign that train travel is getting to be treated with similar importance!

[John R]

It looks as though signallers put in place wrong line working to get things moving on the down line. Although for the unit right behind it at Oldfield Park, it was a bit of a long wait (an hour actually).

[TonyK]

The blame for the worst of Bristol's problems last week lay with the malfunction of the computer system that synchronises the traffic lights. This was augmented by having so many crucial routes either closed or restricted at once.

And no, MetroBust will do no good whatsoever. Simon Cook said

...the trouble with public transport systems is that they take forever to deliver.

In this case, we have to get MetroBust out of the way first before we can even start on public transport.

[JayMac]

The blame for the worst of Bristol's problems last week lay with the malfunction of the computer system that synchronises the traffic lights.

Was there a jolly looking, slightly pervy, fat bloke seen putting jamming devices in bins near traffic signals? And were three Mini Coopers seen darting around side streets?