BRISTOL | Transport

[RupertSB]

Originally Posted by Delirium

Somewhat, but happily, surprised that Bristol airport continues to perform strongly, with passenger numbers up nearly 5% from last year. It's such an extreme contrast to the massive, unabated decline that's being experienced at Cardiff Airport; any sort of turnaround in the next few years at that airport will prove to be incredibly difficult methinks.

The unabated growth in passengers for Bristol airport is great news especially when you compare against virtually all airports. If they needed further reason to push on with the expansion plans this must be it. During difficult economic conditions to post 5% growth is slightly outstanding and must mean the supply and demand balance has not yet been obtained.

[RupertSB]

Is this anything to be concerned about guys?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-19270112

[bertyboy]

Great that Lulsgate is getting busier and busier.
Just a shame that all the GA and Biz traffic that will inevitably get pushed out doesn't have another airfield in Bristol to go to........oh, if only someone would build another runway in Bristol!

[BoyamIjealous]

Originally Posted by RupertSB

Is this anything to be concerned about guys?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-19270112

Hopefully not. The Invitation To Tender is a shockingly badly written document, and bears all the hallmarks of hasty revision at the door of the printing shop. Take a butchers at page 117 about Cornwall, for example:

However, stakeholders have stressed the value of this connectivity, and the Department is therefore this Priced Option requires the provision of the following specification: nine weekday through services each way between London and Penzance. These services can be provided instead of local services as long as the overall TSR minimum is met.

or the Stakeholder Briefing document:

The consultation document for the proposed Great Western franchise was issued by the Department on the 22 December 2011, and closed on the 31st of March 2012. The new Great Western franchise is expected to commence on in July 2013.

The Department for Transport announced the names of the four short-listed bidders for the new franchise on 29 [check] March 2012.

The ITT sets out the bidding process and the specification for the franchise along with the scope of the issues bidders will need to consider when formulating their responses. Bidders are required to submit their final bids to the Department on xx October 2012 and it is expected that the Department will make an announcement of the preferred bidder to operate the franchise in February/March 2013.

Clearly, no time for proof reading. The fact that the tender doesn't spell out every detail doesn't stop the bidders from making provision in their tender. The government has already put cash aside for electrification, and has offered to stump up for four-tracking Filton Bank. It will want the maximum use of that investment, and if the train operating companies (TOCs) think it will pay, they will make provision. The eagle-eyed amongst you will see that the ITT only mentions 2 trains per hour to London, whereas the capstone of electrification is at least 4 tph. I can't see any company offering 2 tph from Temple Meads to Paddington being taken seriously, even if that's all the ITT specifies.

One thing that really astonished me from reading the ITT (I am a civil servant, and would never include the initial of a preposition in an abbreviation, at least not in capital case) is that it seems that all those letters by ordinary members of the public to the DfT made a difference, as did the campaign website. The point is that we should now begin a lobby of the TOCs to tell them what we want, what would work, and why. We have the Severn Beach Line to show how things can be done, confounding the nay-sayers of Alistair Darling's period.

In re which, we owe a debt of gratitude to those stalwarts of FOSBR, the Portishead Rail group, and other indefatigable crusaders who have done so much to keep this campaign alive, and whose patience is about to be rewarded. We should help by writing to the TOCs, and let them know that this is something important to more than a few. The Henbury Loop will be a very big ask, given the freight traffic that is forecast to come that way when the deep water terminal opens at Avonmouth, as Bertyboy so correctly pointed out, but no harm in trying.

Originally Posted by bertyboy

Great that Lulsgate is getting busier and busier.
Just a shame that all the GA and Biz traffic that will inevitably get pushed out doesn't have another airfield in Bristol to go to........oh, if only someone would build another runway in Bristol!

Ah, Bertyboy! If only! When I was learning to fly at Filton, I usually called for engine start, then taxy, and was given both immediately on all but one or two occasions. Near the runway, I would do my power checks, then call "Ready for departure". If I wasn't given immediate departure or "via delta join runway 09" or similar, it was because something worth seeing was about to happen. Like an A380 being pushed back then taking off, or an arriving Spitfire or Harrier, or one of MK's 747s on short finals. My first instructor also taught at Bristol, where it is not unusual to sit, engine running, for half an hour or more, waiting for a gap in the traffic. If Filton was narrower and shorter, it might have survived, and I hope it still does. The possibility for business and maintenance is huge. What a waste.

Speaking of waste, Politburo member for transport Tim Kent says we should spend £3.6 million of the council's spare money on making every residential street a 20 mph zone, like this one:



with its floral covering.

The police have said they don't think they could enforce it. Is it a good way to spend scarce cash?

[Pickle33]

Will the bristol metro be branded like London Overground or merseyrail... stations and trians? If its not then won't the Bristol Metro just be throretical...just more trains and lines with no perceived cohesion. I can't get my head around what it will actually be. Whatever they do will be great and an improvment, but it won't have much of an impact if what we get is just more aged trains with First branding going around a network of ancient and battered stations with no ticket machines.

[CalumCookable]

Originally Posted by Pickle33

Will the bristol metro be branded like London Overground or merseyrail... stations and trians? If its not then won't the Bristol Metro just be throretical...just more trains and lines with no perceived cohesion. I can't get my head around what it will actually be. Whatever they do will be great and an improvment, but it won't have much of an impact if what we get is just more aged trains with First branding going around a network of ancient and battered stations with no ticket machines.

I've been wondering this myself. To be honest, I think it's a bit cheeky to be calling a half-hourly train service a "Metro" when it's clearly just commuter rail.

[Delirium]

As things stand, I think it's all pretty much going to be up in the air until November, if we're lucky.

£3.6 million of the council's spare money on making every residential street a 20 mph zone, like this one:

You can't travel more than 20mph at the moment anyway due to all the parked cars.

[Pickle33]

Originally Posted by CalumCookable

I've been wondering this myself. To be honest, I think it's a bit cheeky to be calling a half-hourly train service a "Metro" when it's clearly just commuter rail.

I grew up in Newcastle and used the T&W Metro to go to school every day. It's a clearly defined network with its own signage/branding and rolling stock, and I'm sure the trains ran every 10 minutes during peak periods and every 15 or 20 mins off peak. This sounds like light-years away from Greater Bristol Metro. I can live with that if the intention is to eventually move to something like the T&W Metro, with its own Bristol Metro branding and improved frequency. The severn beach line is very useful if you're armed with a timetable, but metro networks only work if you can turn up at a station and know there will be a train along "soon"... not in half an hour. essentially it should be a service that you use on the hoof and not something you should need to "plan" to use. Also, the trains are an embarrassment... 3rd world buses on tracks. Are there any plans to get something more up to date running on these "metro" rails?

[bertyboy]

Well, for a start, I don't think it will have anything like the frequencies of the T&W Metro initially. The problem is, it will be sharing track with other heavy rail services, so it will be more like a German S-Bahn.
No one knows if it will be separately branded yet (personally, I think it should be), but in terms of rolling stock, if they are going to electrify it (as I believe is the plan), there would be cascaded stock, probably from the SE.

[BoyamIjealous]

Originally Posted by bertyboy

Well, for a start, I don't think it will have anything like the frequencies of the T&W Metro initially. The problem is, it will be sharing track with other heavy rail services, so it will be more like a German S-Bahn.
No one knows if it will be separately branded yet (personally, I think it should be), but in terms of rolling stock, if they are going to electrify it (as I believe is the plan), there would be cascaded stock, probably from the SE.

Entirely agree, Bertyboy. There will be cascaded stock, as more and more areas are electrified, and that will form the backbone of the whole thing.

I agree that a plan to have a half-hourly service at every station doesn't look ambitious, but it will be a great leap forward from the present, which is itself a vast improvement on 5 years ago. Portishead should be accessible by rail within a few years, and I think the plan will be to have half-hour Portishead to Severn Beach, half hourly to Temple Meads, and half hourly Severn Beach to Bath. There will be other services over parts of the route, especially Bath, Lawrence Hill Stapleton Road, Parson Street and Bemmy.

The clever bit will be to use these as the proof that we can sustain a 4 trains per hour on the whole Metro system. Also, meshing it with buses, and providing a good fare structure, will be crucial to the success. As things stand, the conductors on the peak SVB trains have no chance of getting a fare from everyone, and the buses are slowed greatly by tickets having to be bought from drivers. SVB weekly tickets are very cheap - £9.00 for a weekly ticket from SVB to BRI is fantastic value. A weekly bus pass for zones 1 and 2, is over double. It would be good to be able to get on the train at Severn Beach, prepaid, then get off at Clifton Down or Lawrence Hill, and finish the journey by bus. That's what a Metro needs to have.

It also needs to have a chance of expansion, as our Mancunian friends will tell you. The current plans by the Politburo to rip up the line from Ashton Vale to M Shed for the stupid £49 million BRT2 route look to be a complete waste of an opportunity, as well as a waste of £49 million.

[tpm]

I think this also has to be seen in the context of the new Enterprise Zone and all the jobs that are hopefully going to be created (or moved) there over the next 5-10 years. That's going to generate a huge amount of commuter traffic, and other traffic. Not all trains of course, but the numbers are large enough to make a real difference and should make things viable that aren't viable now. And once you have that baseline, you can build on that. I think there's a huge potential there once you get trains running every 20 minutes or so for most of the day. People will suddenly make trips they wouldn't even consider now because they can't be bothered and it's all too complicated.

And I'm sure there's a plan or at least an aspiration to have integrated ticketing for the Metro, BRT (or what's left of it by then) and busses. Fingers crossed.

[BoyamIjealous]

Originally Posted by tpm

I think this also has to be seen in the context of the new Enterprise Zone and all the jobs that are hopefully going to be created (or moved) there over the next 5-10 years. That's going to generate a huge amount of commuter traffic, and other traffic. Not all trains of course, but the numbers are large enough to make a real difference and should make things viable that aren't viable now. And once you have that baseline, you can build on that. I think there's a huge potential there once you get trains running every 20 minutes or so for most of the day. People will suddenly make trips they wouldn't even consider now because they can't be bothered and it's all too complicated.

And I'm sure there's a plan or at least an aspiration to have integrated ticketing for the Metro, BRT (or what's left of it by then) and busses. Fingers crossed.

Spot on, tpm. It's an indictment of councils and governments past that none of this has been done already. The blunderbuss approach to public transport hasn't worked very well. Spending £79 million on bus lanes and sticky-out bus stops is a case in point. The inbound bus lane on the A4 Bath Road is very worthwhile, and the buses, including the bendies from the park and ride are through in no time, and the A4 Portway is the same. The one through Fishponds caused outrage amongst the voters there. It helps the buses get stuck in Stapleton Road much more quickly than before. The sticky-out bus stops there actually slow the buses down, as well as everyone else. In Malago Road, bus drivers actively avoid the bus lane, as there is never so much traffic that it helps them to wait for the traffic lights to change.

BRT from the Northern fringe to Bristol will be very useful. There are lots of wide roads for it to go down, and barring the M32 stretch, much of the infrastructure is already there. The Hengrove route looks less beneficial, and may do no more to help than improvements to Hartcliffe Way and Parson Street would achieve. Will it really be quicker to get from the Wills roundabout to the centre via Ashton Vale than it is now? It will be a massive building programme, and will change the character of a number of residential streets in a very bad way. I'm not sure that everyone who will be affected realises it yet, and it may be set for a rough ride. And the less said about the stupid £49 million BRT2 route, the better.

The enterprise zone is coming for sure. As you say, it may relocate jobs, rather than create them, as happened in Temple Quarter. The area around Nelson Street shows how slapdash building and poor transport doesn't help, and companies will always be prepared to migrate to offices etc near a station. But at least investors and planners can assume the Greater Bristol Metro when making decisions. Network Rail have the funding available for four-tracking the line to Filton Bank, and signs of work on that will be a pointer to progress. Similarly, work on the Portishead line will give us some idea of timescale. The next step there, prior to GRIP 4, will be removal of vegetation along the whole 3-mile missing link, so that full engineering drawings can be prepared. That can only be done outside of nesting seasons, so unless it is started this winter, nothing much will happen until October 2013. I can find no clues in the WEP website. Any insider info anywhere?

[Pompey77]

Few drivers using £1.3m Stoke Gifford car park

An average of just 10 motorists a day are using a £1.3m car park built near Bristol, a council has admitted.

The facility, intended as a park-and-ride, opened in June 2011 but will not get a bus service until 2015.

South Gloucestershire Council said it was used by only 139 motorists in its first three months and raised £13,899.74 in revenue last year.

The council said it wanted to make local firms more aware of the Stoke Gifford car park, which has 200 spaces.

The new rapid transit bus route, scheduled to come into operation in 2015, is planned to pass the park-and-ride facility.

Council 'look stupid'
The nearest public transport is Bristol Parkway railway station, which is about five minutes walk away.

The council said that from September staff at the station would direct all overflow traffic to the car park while work was done to expand its own parking facilities.

"It's anticipated up to 400 cars will need to be redirected during the works," he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-19368355

What exactly are they planning with the carpark at Parkway? Adding another deck?

[bertyboy]

Originally Posted by Pompey77

What exactly are they planning with the carpark at Parkway? Adding another deck?

Yes, possibly two - I believe there will be a straight road between the current two-deck carpark and the new one, instead of having to drive in a loop around the back of it as now.
Of course, all this will make the SGC car park even more pointless! A Brian Allinson brainchild, I think.

[Pompey77]

Guess its this;

Bristol Parkway multi-storey car park – First Great Western
The project will deliver a new three-storey car park in the existing north car park at Bristol Parkway station which will provide an additional 710 bays. The car park will be integrated into the existing single deck car park providing a single structure. The current drop-off points and taxi rank will be relocated to provide an integrated transport hub, including cycle parking and a bus interchange.
http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co...egoryID-2.aspx

[BIGcider APPLE]

Just a little update on the 'managed motorway' scheme which will frame Bristol's northern and western flanks on the m4/m5...

Nearly all the gantries are up now, and most ground works are complete by the look of it. Think we must be close to a staggered re working of the tarmac and layout of the lanes, so am expecting section closures and contra-flows to be appearing in the coming months.

[RupertSB]

This is looking extremely positive!! Also, if anyone is on LinkedIn you can comment directly on Jon Rogers profile by following this link.

http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?vi...S_DISC_N-nd_mr


http://www.businesswest.co.uk/news/2...36877730136124

£100 million Bristol Metro train network by 2016

THE £100-million Bristol Metro train network which will bring massive improvements to local railways is to go ahead with the first services running by 2016.
It comes as a result of the City Deal agreed between local council and the Government which was announced yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. It will mean the line to Portishead being re-opened and trains running to the town again within four years. The Henbury line will also re-open in 2018 as part of the plans. The list of new and re-opened stations include:
• Ashton Gate
• � Horfield
• � Ashley Hill
• � Saltford
• � and Henbury
They will form part of a local rail network that supporters hope will see trains running every half an hour.

The dramatic improvements are part of the £1 billion deal, which the Post revealed yesterday, and which was confirmed by treasury minister Danny Alexander on a visit to Bristol.

The City Deal has been agreed between Westminster and councils in Bristol and the surrounding area which promises to revolutionise the way the area is run.
The plans also include the re-opening of the so-called Henbury Loop in north Bristol.

The fine details of the deal, which will see money raised in parts of the city through business rates kept in Bristol, were still being worked on as late as Wednesday night.

Mr Alexander claimed the deal represents a revolution in the way the city is run and financed and will see power shifted back from Westminster to the West Country.

The minister said: "Local leaders and strong leadership are essential to the future prosperity of Britain's cities. These new powers will allow Bristol and the surrounding area to decide its own priorities for local public transport and flexibility on skills training – benefiting both employers and young people.
"By allowing Bristol to keep the business rates growth in its Enterprise Areas, this deal will support up to £1 billion of investment locally.
"This unique deal will hugely benefit ordinary people and businesses in Bristol. It also marks an important step in Government's commitment to decentralise power and re-balance local economies."

The Enterprise Zone set up around Temple Meads station is set to be at the centre of economic growth for the city. All the money raised in the area in business rates will be kept in the city to fund major public projects and improvements to the road network in the city centre.

Talks are taking place to bring the BBC to the Enterprise Zone and to build a 12,000-seat indoor arena on vacant land close to the station.
Around £500 million would be raised but the four local authorities in the region have been given permission to raise loans against the expected revenue with immediate effect.

Mr Alexander believes the City Deal and Bristol's decision to opt for an elected mayor will give it a major advantage over other regional rivals. He said: "What we are doing is giving Bristol the chance to shape its own destiny, and an elected mayor will certainly help in shaping that process. This is a deal and of course we expect something in return in terms of jobs and economic growth but what we are doing is putting the building blocks in place for the future of Bristol and the region."

The deal has seen Bristol council working alongside North Somer- set, South Gloucester- shire and Bath and North East Somerset councils. There are also plans to create a new public body or company to take control of transport across the Bristol region.

The Local Enterprise Partnership, the organisation which replaced the South West Regional Development Agency, has played a key role in the negotiations.
Colin Skellet, the chairman of the organisation, said: "I think this is great for Bristol and the surrounding area and has come after a lot of negotiations. This is the first time the benefits of economic growth will be ploughed straight back into the city rather than being redistributed elsewhere."

He added: "This announcement is a massive vote of confidence from Government in our region's businesses to drive growth and create jobs. It is also an excellent example of what can be achieved by the four local authorities and business working together so effectively. This is a deal for hi-tech growth that builds on the West of England's strengths in engineering, the digital and creative sectors. It gives us unprecedented input into the skills training of our young people to ensure we're meeting the future needs of businesses across the city and region."

Bristol City Council leader Simon Cook said: "The package represents a historic devolution of powers from Whitehall that we have long argued for. It is very good news that business rates will be back in local hands and that we will be able to borrow against those revenues to invest in development. For the first time we'll have the ability to drive our own economic strategy and make the much-needed investment in our infrastructure, in particular in our rail system which is in urgent need of more capacity."

Business leaders also welcomed the announcement. Michael Bothamley, president of Bristol Chamber of Commerce, said: "This is fantastic news, it provides a huge boost for business and our wider community and will help stimulate investor confidence in this area. Investment on this scale into our local rail infrastructure, to boost skills and help create the space for new jobs, are things business has been asking for and are what this deal is all about. It's proof that government is backing what we have all been saying – that this city region will deliver substantial new private sector job growth.

"Very significantly, it provides the financial incentive for our local authorities to further support economic growth and job creation. It's also another success for close partnership working between business and local government through our Local Enterprise Partnership."
Bristol is one of eight cities across the UK to have agreed a deal with the Government. The city's MPs were broadly supportive although Labour's Kerry McCarthy declined to make a comment.

Charlotte Leslie, Conservative MP for Bristol North West, said the announcement was a "game-changer" for the city. She said: "This is obviously fantastic news. The Government has recognised just how central proper transport infrastructure is to Bristol. It really has been lacking in relation to other cities."
City leaders will need to work with neighbouring local authorities to manage the investment, which ministers said would boost the economy by up to £1 billion.
Kingswood Tory MP Chris Skidmore said: "This is a milestone moment for Bristol and the surrounding region. Never has so much power or funds been given back from Whitehall to the local community.

"This deal is about trusting local businesses and organisations who know how the region should be run best, giving them freedom to decide our city's destiny rather than the old-fashioned top-down 'We know best' approach of the state. This is an exciting time for Bristol."
Bristol West Lib Dem MP Stephen Williams added: "This deal will give local leaders the power and money to grow the Greater Bristol economy and transform our transport. I'm pleased to have helped in the negotiations."

The fine pine print of the package includes:
• A new growth incentive and the economic investment fund, which will allow West of England to keep 100 per cent of growth in business rates over 25 years to invest in projects, allowing authorities to deliver an investment programme worth £1 billion over 30 years.
• Ten years of major funding allocation for the Greater Bristol Metro; flexible delivery for the Bus Rapid Transit Network which will allow savings to be recycled locally; and new powers over rail planning and delivery.
• A Public Property Board will manage up to £1 billion of city council assets and an estimated 180 land and property assets to unlock more land for economic growth or housing and to lever in additional investment.
• A city growth hub with up to £2.25 million of government funding which will provide additional support to inward investors. This will be based in the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone and will work closely with UK Trade and Investment.
• The business community and local enterprise partnership will have more influence in skills provision in the city region, in particular the £114 million Skills Funding Agency funding for Further Education colleges for post-16 provision, to help capture employer demand.

[BoyamIjealous]

Originally Posted by RupertSB

This is looking extremely positive!!

Positive? I'll say!! Thanks for posting this Rupert - this has cast in reinforced concrete the biggest leap forward in transport in Bristol since 1957, when the wheel was introduced to the city. The Henbury news came as a surprise to me (Bertyboy too, I'll wager) because of the freight traffic. The real beauty of all this is that it can be done mainly by National Rail and its subcontractors, leaving the local authorities to argue about the colour of the shelters at the stations, rather than falling out over important matters, spending time and money on arguing amongst themselves, and making a dog's breakfast out of a gourmet dinner. Our new mayor will be busy cutting ribbons and unveiling plaques., but will still have much to do with this scheme. He or she will be able to lobby for more frequent services than half-hourly, once demand can be demonstrated. In the case of the Portishead line, that should happen by the second week of operating. Then there is also the matter of integrating it all with the buses (and ferries?), to give a cross-modal smart ticket.

On the negative side, it makes BRT look even less value for money. The stupid £49 million BRT2 route will be a white elephant if the nice people of Portishead don't need to use the Park and Ride any more. There are far better options for the link from Cribbs Causeway too, once Filton Airfield closes and the Henbury Loop reopens. So, Mr New Mayor, what will you do?

This is getting interesting for many reasons.

[RupertSB]

I got rather overexcited earlier and posted stuff twice, sorry. I will edit it later today, It was such a long article it didn't all fit in and i tried to copy and paste though notepad to get rid of the strange coding and have been a bit silly.

I will edit it later today as on a train to London right now which I connected via Clifton to temple Meads early this morning, i love this metro expansion but it does need electronic ticketing and integrated with buses and ferries as pointed out by BoyamIjealous. 25 per cent of people didn't pay this morning which is lost revenue for expansion.

100 per cent behind the metro, for me it's chew chew all the way!!

[bertyboy]

I presume this will be all electric?