Cllr Jon Rogers, centre, with Cllr Mark Bradshaw, right, and Spud Murphy at the Bristol mayor hustings last night
The controversial Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scheme for Bristol has been attacked by most of the major candidates for the city’s elected mayor at a hustings last night.
The £200m plan ‘bendy bus’ plan for the city was described as a “terrible compromise” by independent candidate George Ferguson, during the event at the Broadmead Baptist Church.
When asked by campaigners from the Stop BRT2 group if they supported the plan, Mr Ferguson and Daniella Radice (Green Party) both came out against. Meanwhile, Geoff Gollop (Conservative) and Jon Rogers (Liberal Democrats) supported the plan but only with “significant reservations”.
Labour candidate Marvin Rees did not attend due to family commitments, but Cllr Mark Bradshaw – who appeared in his place for Labour – said he could not support the plan in its current form, as did independent candidate Tim Collins.
Only former Conservative Councillor for Avonmouth Spud Murphy came out in support of the plans.
Speaking at the event, Mr Ferguson said: “BRT2 is a terrible compromise – a system chasing funding, rather than a system worthy of funding. The wool has been pulled over the eyes of politicians in the city and the new mayor must use his mandate to renegotiate how we spend the hundreds of millions of pounds, so we can use the money for a system that is less intrusive and fits into the city’s history and geography.”
Mr Bradshaw added: “There is no evidence how it properly integrates with Temple Meads station, and it has the potential to cannibalise existing bus routes.”
All candidates for the November 15 election said transport would be the key issue of the campaign, and were questioned particularly on their plans for the long-mooted Integrated Transport Authority (ITA) – a body aimed to bring together different modes of transport and operators across the greater Bristol area.
Current deputy council leader, and former transport chief, Cllr Jon Rogers said he felt freed now to speak out about his attempts in vain to create an ITA. He said he had been blocked by cross-party opposition in neighbouring council areas, who feared increased fares and worse services while Bristol prospered, and attacked bus and rail operator First group.
“I was left a frustrated man after two years of being in charge of transport,” he said.
“I worked unsuccessfully with First to get cheaper fares and better routes. I was conned by them, but I know differently now. The frustration must now be changed into action.
“We need a Transport for Bristol authority, along similar lines to that in London, which can set fares, routes and services. We need to seize control of our transport system, and the elected mayor has the power to do that.
“I won’t wait for neighbouring authorities to work with us, by which time our transport network will have ground to a halt.”
Meanwhile, there was a split among the candidates over how the city should work with the existing West of England Partnership (WoEP) – the group of councils in the region which aim to work together on regional projects such as transport.
Mr Ferguson, Ms Radice and Mr Collins all agreed that the partnership had been a failure. But former Lord Mayor Cllr Geoff Gollop said the city had to work with its neighbours.
“I am committed to an ITA, but it needs to be integrated with the communities that come into Bristol for work and leisure, too,” he said.
“Our neighbours see Bristol as a threat. We must not only work with them, but prove that it is worth working with us.”
Mr Bradshaw added that anyone who couldn’t see that the WoEP had brought massive funding for infrastructure in Bristol was “not living in the real world”, but wanted greater transparency in its decision-making.
Among some of the other key pledges and statements made were:
Mark Bradshaw (on behalf of Marvin Rees)
- Smart card ticketing would be a ‘game changer’ in terms of integrating different modes and providers of transport
- Can’t allow the Local Enterprise Partnership to take over transport policy
Tim Collins
- Promised an ITA within the first term of holding office
- An urban metro system (light rail or tram) has the best potential of all plans under consideration
- A bus hub needed at Temple Meads
George Ferguson
- There was far too much dependency on the car, but not an anti-car candidate. He wanted to be a pro-pedestrian, pro-cycling, pro-public transport champion.
- City had been “cursed” by consultants. The ITA needed to be representative of the needs of different groups of people in the city
- Transfer BRT money to rail projects
Geoff Gollop
- A major priority for him would be to get funding for new rail services to Portishead and the Henbury loop line
- A need to change bus routes, so buses took people to where they wanted to go, not where the bus operators wanted to take them
Spud Murphy
- A New-York-style ticketing system, allowing people to buy tickets in far more places
- Need for more stations and bus stops, to allow more people to access services
- A rail ‘ring-road’ around the city
Daniella Radice
- Continuation of Greens campaign for a transport hub at Plot 6, Temple Meads
- Cheaper fares and a website where complaints about services could be lodged
Jon Rogers
- Continental-style switch-off of traffic lights at night to allow free-flow of traffic
- Spread 20mph speed limits throughout the city
- Said he had an advantage of having Lib Dem colleagues in government, as a way of getting national support for changes to transport
Bristol mayor’s salary ‘should be same as MP’s’
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If our new mayor cancels BRT and asks to spend the money on worthwhile projects, the Prime Minister can say either:
a) Oh dear, the mayor is undoing the cheap and nasty bus system that the Lib Dems seem so keen on. Maybe I shouldn't have had a mayor in Bristol; or
b) This is exactly the sort of thing that I could see needed a mayor in charge, rather than an incompetent council with no confidence.
I don't what he says, so long as BRT2 is cancelled. The northern fringe to Temple Meads and the centre makes sense, as the infrastructure is largely in place, and rail links from Emersons Green etc look highly unlikely. BRT2 would remove any last chance of a light rail or tram-train link to Ashton Gate and Portishead, whilst wrecking the ambience of the Harbourside, and ruining the quality of life of the people living in Cumberland Road. And the less said about BRT3 the better – anyone expecting a smooth ride there will be in for a surprise when south Bristol wakes up to what it will mean.
BRT2 is not better than nothing!
Please can you include quotes from all the main candidates. You quote the independent Mr Ferguson, the Lib Dem candidate and the spokesman for the labour candidate (not the candidate himself). I would like to hear what the Green party candidate had to say directly or in more detail in addition, since I am interested in their transport policies for Bristol. Please try to include equal coverage in future articles if possible.
Question is: is redistributing the BRT money to e.g. rail even an option? The City Deal has a bit at the end about "flexible delivery" of the BRT scheme, but my understanding is that just means the city gets to keep any money saved if it manages to deliver BRT cheaper for some reason. How do we make sure that the BRT money doesn't just go somewhere else, but stays in Bristol? Do we just hope that David Cameron wants to see one of his pet policies succeed?
Jon Rogers – 'Continental-style switch-off of traffic lights at night to allow free-flow of traffic'
You tired this before Jon. And even though it was a success you decided to ignore the positive results. More talk from a person who failed to act.
What Jon Rogers was actually proposing, because I remember debating it with him at the time, was a continental style switch of traffic lights to flashing amber proceed with caution at night-time.
However, it was not possible to proceed with this in Bristol as a change in national road traffic legislation would have been needed for such an experiment to take place in Bristol.
Yes, I was there last night and was thinking this – any change to road traffic signalling will surely need to be done nationally, and I'm pretty sure I've seen somewhere before that DfT investigated this and rejected it. It's simply not something that is in the control of the Mayor of Bristol.
It was a shame that the questions last night didn't corner candidates into answering some more of the difficult questions about funding, road pricing, public debt etc. Too much scope for them to all give "I agree with you" answers, that I suspect they couldn't honestly commit themselves to….
The reason I am raising this again is that the Government has made clear statements that if Bristol chose to have an elected mayor, which it did, then Government would look favourably on "mayoral asks".
I have already stated that one ask will be to support a Transport for Bristol approach so that Bristol sets fares, routes, standards, integration, etc. At present First Bus control 88% of the services.
Another "mayoral ask", is that Bristol be allowed to pilot flashing amber traffic lights when they are not needed for clear road safety or congestion control. This would not require primary legislation. We have already had significant innovative flexibility from DfT Department for Transport over contra flow cycle lanes and cycle signing, for example.
I voted against a mayor, but if we have to have one, we should keep costs down, continue to devolve power to wards, neighbourhoods and communities, and use the mayoral asks to get things Bristol should have had years ago.
The reason I am raising this again is that the Government has made clear statements that if Bristol chose to have an elected mayor which we have, then the mayor can make "mayoral asks" of Government.
Transport for Bristol and amber flashing traffic lights are two of my asks. The are others, which I will detail as the campaign progresses.
Just turn them off. Remember the trial you ran? The successful trial? The trial that perhaps tackled congestion too well, so was never fully implemented, after all, don't want to decrease congestion do we?
http://askbristoldebates.com/results/traffic-sign…
So can we assume that Marvin Rees actually adopts Mark Bradhaw's statements as policy or does Marvin remain "policy free" ?
Marvin has made a very important can do, Bristol story we need to be telling statement today for the benefit of the Bristol identity.
He's proposing an official civic reception for the Bristol athletes who participated in the Olympics and Paralympics: http://www.marvin4bristol.com/bristol_atheletes
Woo, steady fella …