Come and Celebrate the Path -but don't declare victory!

bristol | transport | event notice Sunday March 30, 2008 08:54 by SteveL - railwaypath.org

March 30th cycle path ride/walk/rally is on!

Given the news that the council has apparently halted plans to run Bus Rapid Transit down the Bristol-Bath Railway Path, you might think we can declare that we have won and that our work is done. This not yet the case. We want as many people as possible to come out Sunday March 30, to show they like the path left alone.

Given the news that the council has apparently halted plans to run Bus Rapid Transit down the Bristol-Bath Railway Path, you might think we can declare that we have won and that our work is done. This not yet the case. We want as many people as possible to come out Sunday March 30, to show they like the path left alone.

Although the press are saying that the plans to run BRT down the path have been "shelved," we need to find out exactly what this means. If it comes off that shelf and into the funding tray in two years time, we are in trouble. "Off the shelf and in the bin" should be our rallying cry for the BRT plan.

We also need to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. No traffic consultant should picks up their Sustrans route map and discovers a "disused" railway to turn into a bus lane, nobody should try to take a bit of the railway path away for some reason, such as bit more bypass, or some house-building project. And that is a risk. The dangerous Z-bend at Clay-Bottom, the destruction the A4174 Northern Ring Road made of the path, these are things we don't want to see repeated, any more than some more plans for buses down the route ten or fifteen years from now.

1. We want as many people as possible to come out and celebrate the path on Sunday.
2. Remember the clocks change: put them forward an hour or you will be late!
3. If you are cycling, come to Queen Square from 11:00 in the morning; we depart at noon precisely.
4. If you are walking, the procession begins from Fishponds (by the fish!) at 2:30pm, crosses Devon Road at 2:45, and reaches the end of the path around 3pm, with a walk through town to College Green afterwards.
5. The stewards were all out in Saturday's rain and the cold to walk the route and plan how to negotiate each crossing carefully -please work with them and we will all get to the green safely.

There is still going to be a vote on Tuesday, April 1, about leaving the path free of buses. It's been amended, and we have more support promised. We still want this vote to win! If it goes through, it becomes much harder for that plan on the shelf to be picked up and used. Meet on Tuesday evening, 5:30 pm, outside the Council House. There will be leaflets on this being handed out during the celebration, so pick one up.

The forecast for Sunday is "sunny spells and scattered showers, some of them heavy." Come out and have fun, and celebrate the fact that the campaign is winning. We haven't won yet, but the fact that the council have had to issue last-minute video announcements, is a sign that things are going well. We just need to show everyone how much we love the path as it is, at this, the FIRST Railway Path Celebration.