BRT on the railwaypath is back on the table

bristol | transport | news report Wednesday April 02, 2008 10:36 by SteveL - Campaign to Save the Railway Path

-After ony four days "on the shelf"

We knew that putting the plans for BRT down the railway path "on the shelf" meant they could be picked up in the future -we just weren't expecting it to be so soon. At Tuesday night's Bristol City Council meeting, the green and lib dem amended motion to keep BRT off the path got watered down enough to leave BRT-on-path as an option.

Given that Mark Bradshaw and other labour councillors were at the Celebration on Sunday, you'd think they would have noticed that a lot of the city's residents were utterly opposed to running buses down the bristol-bath railway path. Maybe they did, but they still watered down a green motion, lib-dem amended, which would have told the West of England partnership to "get off my path". They replaced it with weasel-words that promise to protect any changes to the cities paths which reduce cycling/walking numbers.

This may sound good, but it still allows them to cut down all the trees, move the path to one side and run buses alongside a narrow tarmac strip, as long as their simulations show that the path will remain popular. Presumably these will be by the same consultants that didn't think the original proposal would harm the path. But the council is still looking at BRT-on-path.

Mark Bradshaw: "No decision has been taken to share the cycle path with Rapid Transit. No awards have been made. Full and fair consultation will take place on all the options. BCC have no preferred option other than the goal to bring BRT to the city at the earliest opportunity."

Now, the final amended motion may seem cycling friendly, but it isnt path friendly. And the West of England Partnership is still briefing councillors in favour of the path, as evidenced by the conservative councillors who spoke, councillors who are clearly in favour of running buses down the path, especially now the WoEP have convinced them that we will welcome it in exchange for easier links to temple meads:

Councillor Lewis (conservative): How many have been to briefing sessions offered, probed the figures? If BRT is to run alongside the path. There will be advantages. The cycle path will be widened to 4m along its length he missing link between lawrence hill and temple meads will be added."

Well, the apparent back-down by the council on Friday seemed too easy. It was. At least now we know that it was nothing but a bit of hand-waving.