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Transport for Bristol -

ITA Campaign January /February 2010

click the image above to download a copy of our leaflet

Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance (TfGB) is calling on each of the Transport Executive members representing the four councils, Bath & N. E. Somerset, Bristol, N. Somerset and S. Gloucestershire and which comprise the West of England Partnership (WEP ), to support our proposals to improve public transport by setting up an Integrated Transport Authority (ITA) with a Quality Contract to take control of bus fares, routes and timetables and exercise rail powers

1) Support a review under the Local Transport Act 2008 which would assess the benefits of becoming an ITA and taking powers over bus and rail services

2) Bring forward the Portishead rail line reopening project and new stations at Ashton Gate, Portishead and Pill for programme entry for Government funding in April 2010 instead of the Combined South Bristol Link Road and Bus Rapid Transit

What can you do?

• Copy the proposals at 1) and 2) above into an email and send to your local council's transport executive member using the appropriate email address below:
  
  Bath & North East Somerset - Charles_gerrish@bathnes.gov.uk
  Bristol - jon.rogers@bristol.gov.uk
  North Somerset - Elfan.ap.rees@n-somerset.gov.uk
  South Gloucestershire - brian.allinson@southglos.gov.uk
  
  
• Attend one of our meetings to discuss the way forward and what local groups can do:
  Kingswood Friday 22nd Jan, Kingswood Civic Centre, 7.30pm
  Bath Thurs 28th Jan St Michaels Church , Broad St, 7.30pm
  Yate Tues 16th Feb, Parish Hall, Station Rd, 7.30pm
  
  
• Join our postcard campaign, and help distribute cards - contact us at info@tfgb.org.uk
  
  
• Go to our Impossible Journeys page and let us have your horror stories about local journeys which you cannot make due to lack of public transport, high fares or multiple connections.
  
  
• For further information on ITA powers visit our ITA Powers Bus & Rail page

Supporters at Prince St bridge 8th October 2008

Oppose Bus Rapid Transit/Support an ultra light rail tram

You can hear our case for the tram in our video on the Evening Post website. The deadline for the Rapid Transit consultation is 1st Dec. If you wish to respond to the consultation go to www.westofengland.org/transport or write to West of England, Rapid Transit, Freepost BS6529, Bristol BS1 5BR.

Our criticisms and comments on points raised in the consultation leaflet are in this document. We continue to assert that an ultra light rail tram could be constructed for the current Rapid Transit budget of 35 million pounds and it would be more popular with the public. We consider that the estimate given by the consultants of 20 million pounds for the Bus system is too low bearing in mind how much bridge and other work accompanies the two way running of the bus. For further details contact Pip Sheard on pip_sheard@hotmail.co.uk

We will continue to lobby for a tram rather than a bus based Rapid Transit. To view a Powerpoint presentation of the current ULR proposal click here (2.5MB).

On 28th Sept, the West of England Partnership announced that their consultants had recommended that the first section of the Rapid Transit system for Bristol should be bus based - it will be an 18 metre bendy bus which will run two ways through the centre to Cabot Circus and Temple meads but also along the Cut leaving the cyclepath alone but cutting into Cumberland road, continuing over the Ashton bridge near the Create Centre and running to the Ashton Vale Park and Ride site. A future route will run North Bristol to Hengrove. This is a high capacity system which will serve and therefore bring forward planning permission for the urban extension of 9,500 homes between Dundry and Long Ashton to which we are opposed. On Monday 20th October, the West of England partnership's Joint Transport Committee supported the consultants' recommendation and agreed to take the Bus Rapid Transit forward as the only option to public consultation in the city in November.

On 3rd October, the public consultation on the construction of the South Bristol Ring Road was announced in the EP. If built it will cut the communities of Hartcliffe, Highridge and Bishopsworth in half and introduce traffic pollution and congestion to thousands of homes that don't have it now. The current Ring Road is full and all that traffic is waiting to make its way through South Bristol. It will also enable WEP to say that they have 'planned transport' for the all the urban extensions to South Bristol in North Somerset and Banes. We have been told that the Road could be Bus Rapid Transit instead but we believe that the public might like a tram system instead.

Our group has proposed that the money allocated for the first phase of RT and the Road should be spent on an ultra light rail tram system instead and we brought a consortium of engineers prepared to build the first phase to Bristol to meet politicians and officers. The project was reviewed by private consultants and rejected on 28th on grounds of cost and deliverability, both of which we dispute.

Transport for Greater Bristol

A step change in powers and investment is required to meet Bristol’s transport needs and the challenges of congestion, climate change, quality of life and air quality, building on good practice from around the country.

In November 2006, the Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance and our Manifesto was launched in the local media.

The Manifesto introduces a practical, balanced, yet bold approach to start transforming transport in the city, providing genuine alternatives to the car as we move to a low carbon economy. As a result we are calling for :

• The creation of a Greater Bristol Transport Authority.
• Increased funding for transport in the city.

In May 2007, the Alliance lobbied all candidates in the Bristol Council elections and on July 24th, Bristol City Councillors voted unanimously for the creation of a Strategic Transport Authority.

For years we have been tinkering about and we believe that a bold new approach is needed. The current Joint Local Transport Plan and its better bus routes will only take up the extra demand for travel over the next few years.

The Local Transport Bill currently going through Parliament allows new ITAs to be created where they do not currently exist and provisions for ITAs to adopt a Quality Contract to exert greater control over their local bus network. Such powers are long overdue in Greater Bristol.

A Transport Authority for Greater Bristol would put transport at the top of its agenda and not balance it against Social Services, Education or council tax bills. The people in charge of transport need proper powers, as well as the bottle and vision to deliver real improvements.

The Alliance believes that the extra money for improvements would come from the £40m allocated for a south Bristol ring road, road user charging and other sources shown in the Manifesto.