MetroBus

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

As if by royal command I have just taken a look at the Bristol Post website on my mobile and there is a repeat of the artists impression of the GPL^▸ (Ground Position Light) bridge that I referred to in an earlier post this evening. This does. as my earlier post stated, show a single decker travelling towards the artist but as if to validate the artists impression a double decker has been added in this published version. Looking at the headroom remaining over the top of the single decker I doubt whether the double decker would emerge the other side of the new GPL bridge without conversion to a. err. open topper. Also artists licence has given the artist responsible for this impression the vision to install the overhead catenary over the projected rail overbridge. seemingly, just one Metrobus length apart.

By the way, January 9th is the start date of route m1, brought forward a week to coincide with the start of the University's new term. It was previously announced as commencing on January 16th.

I agree. It's a shame their artist didn't hang around to imagine the subsequent carnage. Let's hope that when they build it, they choose to follow the plans - allowing 5.8m headroom - rather than the Evening Bristol's artistic rendering of them:



Image: Bristol Post

[martyjon]

Lowering the road that much does make me worry about flooding. I'm sure there are drains but even so, drain covers get overwhelmed by exceptionally heavy rain (the type of exceptional that seems to happen every spring), especially if they're bunged up.

Agreed and to add to your concerns, if you didn't know, there is a stream next to Station Road which leads from GPL^▸ (Ground Position Light) to Patchway station which is currently culverted under GPL. It then follows the curve of the embankment of the Patchway to Parkway line until the stream reaches a point where excesses can flow into a catchment/overflow reservoir adjacent to Hatchet Lane.  

[stuving]

Lowering the road that much does make me worry about flooding. I'm sure there are drains but even so, drain covers get overwhelmed by exceptionally heavy rain (the type of exceptional that seems to happen every spring), especially if they're bunged up.

Agreed and to add to your concerns, if you didn't know, there is a stream next to Station Road which leads from GPL^▸ (Ground Position Light) to Patchway station which is currently culverted under GPL. It then follows the curve of the embankment of the Patchway to Parkway line until the stream reaches a point where excesses can flow into a catchment/overflow reservoir adjacent to Hatchet Lane.  

You'll be reassured to know there is a drainage strategy among the plans. Mostly that is based on the existing discharges to the nearby watercourses, and perhaps you'd be a bit less reassured that they don't know where the existing discharges are half the time.

Water from the road under the bridge does currently go into that stream next to it, and that outfall will be reused. They identify the roadway lowering as meaning gravity won't suffice to get the water out fast enough, so there will be pumps. There will also be big pipes to carry water to the pumps, oversized to provide storage to buffer peak flows (aka attenuation). The actual sizes vary between documents, but one plan shows a pair of pipes of 1050 mm diameter - now that is really big. There are to be two pumps rated at 9 l/s, each with a backup, in a sump.

[TonyK]

Meantime,  word  reaches me that  two of the  MetroBust M2 buses  were  vandalised last night, and that the  replacement vehicles  can't use the misguided busway. Pasengers wanting to board at Cumberland Basin, Ashton Gate or Ashton Vale are advised  to schlep over to either the Long Ashton Park and Ride or SS Gert Britain. It raises a few  questions:
How many adapted buses are there?
If they cost best part of  £400K apiece, where are  they kept   overnight?
Does Tony (Formerly Four Track, Now!) have an aliibi?
(The answer to the last one is "Yes", and my EasyJet account will confirm it.)

[Bmblbzzz]

Lowering the road that much does make me worry about flooding. I'm sure there are drains but even so, drain covers get overwhelmed by exceptionally heavy rain (the type of exceptional that seems to happen every spring), especially if they're bunged up.

Agreed and to add to your concerns, if you didn't know, there is a stream next to Station Road which leads from GPL^▸ (Ground Position Light) to Patchway station which is currently culverted under GPL. It then follows the curve of the embankment of the Patchway to Parkway line until the stream reaches a point where excesses can flow into a catchment/overflow reservoir adjacent to Hatchet Lane.  

You'll be reassured to know there is a drainage strategy among the plans. Mostly that is based on the existing discharges to the nearby watercourses, and perhaps you'd be a bit less reassured that they don't know where the existing discharges are half the time.

Water from the road under the bridge does currently go into that stream next to it, and that outfall will be reused. They identify the roadway lowering as meaning gravity won't suffice to get the water out fast enough, so there will be pumps. There will also be big pipes to carry water to the pumps, oversized to provide storage to buffer peak flows (aka attenuation). The actual sizes vary between documents, but one plan shows a pair of pipes of 1050 mm diameter - not that is really big. There are to be two pumps rated at 9 l/s, each with a backup, in a sump.

Those sound like mighty pumps. Glad they're there! Would be even better if they weren't needed, but I guess the only other way to achieve clearance under the bridge would be to raise the bridge itself, which would surely involve more disruption especially to the railway.

[WelshBluebird]

Meantime,  word  reaches me that  two of the  MetroBust M2 buses  were  vandalised last night, and that the  replacement vehicles  can't use the misguided busway. Pasengers wanting to board at Cumberland Basin, Ashton Gate or Ashton Vale are advised  to schlep over to either the Long Ashton Park and Ride or SS Gert Britain. It raises a few  questions:
How many adapted buses are there?
If they cost best part of  £400K apiece, where are  they kept   overnight?
Does Tony (Formerly Four Track, Now!) have an aliibi?
(The answer to the last one is "Yes", and my EasyJet account will confirm it.)

Based on some comments on Twitter it sounds like at least one of the buses was targeted whilst in service?
According to local media there have been recent attacks on buses in service, so would add up.

[TonyK]

Sadly,  for some inexplicable reason I am banned from MetroBust's Twitter feed, despite all the nice things I have  said about it over the years.

I agree. It's a shame their artist didn't hang around to imagine the subsequent carnage. Let's hope that when they build it, they choose to follow the plans - allowing 5.8m headroom - rather than the Evening Bristol's artistic rendering of them:



Image: Bristol Post

I  may be missing something, but that looks a lot less of a public transport scheme than it resembles a road-widening plan.  I have no objection to  GPL^▸ (Ground Position Light) having a bridge wide enough  and high enough to let modern traffic through. What I do not like is schemes such as this being loosely disguised as  MetroBust. There are funds for building roads, and funds for public transport, and using the latter as a Trojan horse  to pay for the former is dishonest, and means that public transport will not prosper.

[martyjon]

Image: Bristol Post

The element of cynicism in my brain suggests the developers of the former Rolls-Royce site beyond the bridge to the left planning section 106 contribution screwed out of the developer by South Glos Council will form a large proportion of the cost of this project.

[Red Squirrel]

I  may be missing something, but that looks a lot less of a public transport scheme than it resembles a road-widening plan.  I have no objection to  GPL^▸ (Ground Position Light) having a bridge wide enough  and high enough to let modern traffic through. What I do not like is schemes such as this being loosely disguised as MetroBust. There are funds for building roads, and funds for public transport, and using the latter as a Trojan horse  to pay for the former is dishonest, and means that public transport will not prosper.

That's the beauty of MetroBus - it's just a bus, and buses are public transport, and they go on roads, and the money's being spent improving roads so that buses can use them more easily... it's hard to argue that this does not constitute a proper use of the money.

For it to be improper, you'd have to spend public transport money to build a stretch of road that had failed to get funding for decades as a pure road scheme, in the full knowledge that no operator was ever going to run a bus down it. But surely that would never happen.

The element of cynicism in my brain suggests the developers of the former Rolls-Royce site beyond the bridge to the left planning section 106 contribution screwed out of the developer by South Glos Council will form a large proportion of the cost of this project.

Isn't it right that the developer of the adjacent site should make an S106 contribution to this? Presumably it'll improve the value of their site.

[simonw]

The widening of this road will probably add very little to the East Site development. That development will be finished long before this bridge is replaced.

One thing it will do is remove one of the main causes of some of the terrible traffic jams in the area.

[Bmblbzzz]

Removing traffic jams on your doorstep is going to add to property value, I'd have thought, though by what amount is arguable.

[simonw]

To be honest, I think the traffic jams will remain, just be moved to the traffic lights at GPL^▸ (Ground Position Light) on the A38.

The only way to eliminate the traffic jams is to persuade people not to drive, and for that we need the carrot of good, reliable and affordable public transport, and the stick of congestion and pollution charges. This is now the job of WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about), I believe!

[Red Squirrel]

To be honest, I think the traffic jams will remain, just be moved to the traffic lights at GPL^▸ (Ground Position Light) on the A38.

The only way to eliminate the traffic jams is to persuade people not to drive, and for that we need the carrout of good, reliable and affordable public transport, and the stick of congestion and pollution charges. This is now the job of WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about), I believe!

For road journeys originating to the west of the SWML^▸ (South Western Mail Line), the quickest way to the motorway network will most likely be be via the A38 and Almondsbury; this traffic, as you point out, will still have to negotiate the Gipsy Patch - A38 junction. That suggests that the biggest benefit of the new bridge is that it will be possible to fit a 'decker under it; the current bridge is limited to 4m which is too low. So (for fear of banging on!) this is to a large extent a public transport improvement, with the additional benefits that it will make things safer for cyclists and pedestrians too.

There are many ways to reduce traffic jams, the best of which is to use the planning system to reduce car dependency. This takes decades to have an effect though, and for the moment much of what is happening in South Glos seems to be heading in the wrong direction, with low-density dormitory suburbs connected by big roads still being built. As to carrots and sticks: sticks are cheap, and carrots are expensive - so expect more of the former, and precious few of the latter!

[WelshBluebird]

A couple of articles on the Bristol Post site that seem to concur with the vandalism of the Metrobus buses happening in service with rocks being thrown at buses. A few photos showing the damage, including broken windows too. Looks like the yobs who have been attacking the 75/76 buses and the A4 Bath - Bristol Airport buses have found new targets.

[Bmblbzzz]

A couple of articles on the Bristol Post site that seem to concur with the vandalism of the Metrobus buses happening in service with rocks being thrown at buses. A few photos showing the damage, including broken windows too. Looks like the yobs who have been attacking the 75/76 buses and the A4 Bath - Bristol Airport buses have found new targets.

Worrying.

There are many ways to reduce traffic jams, the best of which is to use the planning system to reduce car dependency. This takes decades to have an effect though, <snip>

Though local effects can be felt immediately on completion. That was the case with Gorgeous George's RPZs, for instance, and it might be the case with this bridge too, at the bridge itself.