Bristol Temple Meads Station Approach

[whole diary]

[ReWind]

Am I alone in thinking the forecourt/taxi ranks/short stay car park at Bristol Temple Meads is totally inadequate for such a large and busy station?

Taxi's are constantly causing traffic blockages, picking up and setting down anywhere they can outside the station.

The bus stops for the Airport Express and local 8/9 services are totally positioned incorrectly, with buses also often causing major traffic problems.

The short stay car park is far too small for such a large and busy station.

There is no-where officially appointed for "drop offs".

Surely, now with the current level of use at BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)), there needs to be some sort of redevelopment to better the traffic situation outside the station.  Maybe, as the approach is already ramped, a two level construction is an option, with public transport ( i.e taxi's and buses on one level and domestic cars on another, seperating the traffic and minimising jams.

Maybe its not possible, i don't know, all I do know is that something needs to be done because its a nightmare currently.  Took me no less than 35 minutes from when I started my car to when I went through the traffic lights at the bottom of the ramp today.

I know other parties are involved such as APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) and Bristol City Council are involved, someone needs to say something.

Could I ask what other users who are familiar with BTM hink about this situation.  It would be very interesting to find out if I am not alone with my thougts here.

[smithy]

i agree peak times an absolute pain in the ar5e,taxi's cause most of problems by blocking whole place up when waiting for fares.
as for the short stay only problem i find is spaces are too narrow.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm.

"Drop-offs" at BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) are usually done on the approach to the taxi pick-up point (cue much sounding of car horns from aggrieved taxi drivers) or in the Airport Express bus bay (cue much sounding of air horns from aggrieved coach drivers).

All of which cacophony of sound seems not to penetrate the walls of the adjacent BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) office - so nobody steps out to 'deal with it'.

C.

[JayMac]

Perhaps a solution would be to develop some of the land outside the Brunel trainshed (currently the long stay car park) to allow for dropping off/picking up. You could then ban cars from the station approach leaving it for the exclusive use of buses and taxis.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Actually, I do believe Network Rail / FGW^▸ (First Great Western) already have some such plan - if you give me a while, I'll try and dig it it out, and post it here. 

[inspector_blakey]

Believe it or not, the scrambled mess that is the bus/taxi/pedestrian/airport coach pick-up and set-down area at the front of Temple Meads was praised in a case study by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. Apparently the highways department made a "conscious decision" to use the "chaos" as a "safety device".



No, really.

http://www.cabe.org.uk/case-studies/temple-meads-forecourt

[ReWind]

Oh C'mon! No No No!!!   

[Chris from Nailsea]

Probably the same chumps who redesigned the whole of the Centre in Bristol, laying slabs that made it appear the whole area was a glorified brick paved drive. 

The result has been that quite a few pedestrains have been knocked down by buses, when they turned up rather unexpectedly, apparently 'on the pavement'? 

[Chris from Nailsea]

... and, for the benefit of any Portishead contingent here: should I even mention the planners' role in the Cabstand debacle?

No, I rather thought not! 

[JayMac]

Probably the same chumps who redesigned the whole of the Centre in Bristol, laying slabs that made it appear the whole area was a glorified brick paved drive. 

The result has been that quite a few pedestrains have been knocked down by buses, when they turned up rather unexpectedly, apparently 'on the pavement'? 

Those raised 'crossings' around Broadmead caused me a nasty injury one time when I was sat on the bus. I was busily slurping from a McD's milkshake when one of these bumps forced the straw into the roof of my mouth removing a chunk of my palate. Flippin hurt I can tell ee!

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

its the taxi drivers i was there for a while saw wheel spinning speeding one taxi even pretended to ram another to get him to move forward less than a meter beliving that would get him a fair faster just send the police up there to knock them into touch a few times

[John R]

... and, for the benefit of any Portishead contingent here: should I even mention the planners' role in the Cabstand debacle?

No, I rather thought not! 

For the benefit of those not familiar with "Cabstand", the local authority spent the best part of ^1m redesigning a junction, and installing traffic lights, only for gridlock to ensue. After about 4 years denying that they had cocked up, N Somerset Council finally agreed to switch the lights off for a trial 2 week period. Result... the queues evaporated overnight (as I can testify), and now the lights are to be removed.

[paul7575]

Those raised 'crossings' around Broadmead caused me a nasty injury one time when I was sat on the bus. I was busily slurping from a McD's milkshake when one of these bumps forced the straw into the roof of my mouth removing a chunk of my palate. Flippin hurt I can tell ee!

Is that the explanation for your display nickname then?  'Bigmacnose' already taken perhaps  

Paul

[JayMac]

Those raised 'crossings' around Broadmead caused me a nasty injury one time when I was sat on the bus. I was busily slurping from a McD's milkshake when one of these bumps forced the straw into the roof of my mouth removing a chunk of my palate. Flippin hurt I can tell ee!

Is that the explanation for your display nickname then?  'Bigmacnose' already taken perhaps  

Paul

  Well....my friends call me 'Mac' and I have a larger than average olfactory device. Explanation given....back to the topic 

[matt473]

Having been living in Bristol city centre for 2 months now,I understand what people mean about some poorplanning in the centre. As a bus driver pointed out, who came up with the smart idea of putting a bus stop in the middle of the bleeding road by Old Market.