Bristol Metrobus: Changes ‘can be made’

Transport campaigners claim changes to the controversial Metrobus scheme can be made, despite fears that alterations would jeopardise the entire project.

Councillors in Bristol and South Gloucestershire have approved the final stage of the Metrobus (formerly Bus Rapid Transit) scheme running from north Bristol through to Hengrove.

Opponents of the “white elephant” have criticised part of the plan, which will see a bridge built over the M32 that would lead to the loss of some smallholdings and prime agricultural land.

The mayor George Ferguson said his hands were tied over the threat to withdraw all funding for public transport improvements should the Metrobus project be scrapped.

He added that an option to remove the M32 bridge to protect neighbouring land could not be classified as a “tweak” to the scheme, in the same way as the rerouting of a previous section of Metrobus over the Prince Street bridge in the city centre.

But campaign group the Alliance to Rethink Metrobus said that in a meeting with Department of Transport officials they were told the government department would be willing to listen to proposals to change the scheme further.

They say an advisor to ministers told them changes could be made provided the “same outcomes” of the scheme were ensured.

An Alliance spokesman added they “were clearly told that the department consider that the mayor is in charge of the financial budget and transport, so that if he requested urgent changes to the Northern Fringe Metrobus, such as the removal of the bus only junction, they would listen to him”.

Belinda Faulkes, spokesperson for the Alliance says, said the fears about making changes to the scheme expressed to councillors from planning officers were “incorrect”.

“We will be asking the mayor, who the Department of Transport revealed to be the promoter of the scheme and our local MPs who opposed the bus-only junction, to express their concerns directly to the minister and request that the M32 bus only junction be removed. We have asked for an urgent meeting with all three of them.”

The North Fringe to Hengrove scheme is the third and final part of the £200million Metrobus scheme – formerly known as Bus Rapid Transit – to be decided on. The Ashton Vale to Temple Meads section and the South Bristol Link Road were both approved by Bristol City Council last year.

It sets out a major new bus network, which supporters say will provide fast, reliable public transport linking people to jobs across the city.

Cllr Brian Allinson, Cllr Mark Bradshaw and Cllr Elfan Ap Rees, members of the West of England Joint Transport Board said this morning: “No one has shown us an alternative to the M32 bus only junction that can give us the same time saving on journeys.”

To be faster and more reliable the Metrobus team say the scheme needs dedicated junctions and segregation from general traffic. The M32 junction is a crucial part of this.

The councillors added: “By 2017, the 73 service is predicted to take 48 minutes to travel from Bristol city centre to Bradley Stoke. MetroBus will make the same journey, using the bus only junction, in 26 minutes, a saving of 22 minutes.”