This Thursday, members of Friends of Surburban Bristol Railways (FoSBR) will be out at stations along the line handing out postcards & leaflets for people to respond to Bristol City Council's Budget Consultation asking for a half-hourly service during the day between Temple Meads and Avonmouth.
The cost of this is £450,000 - compared to the cost of congestion to Bristol - estimates at £1million per week and road accidents over £1.8million each week (Bristol Local Transport Plan Update 2002) – this would be a small cost to pay – although it wouldn’t eradicate the costs, it would certainly reduce them over the course of the next few years.
The Joint Local Transport Plan, written by the four unitary authorities in Greater Bristol (former county of Avon) also proposes a half-hourly service in 2006-2011, with pollution & congestion at a high, especially on the Portway (A4), the Gloucester/Cheltenham Rd (A38) and Whiteladies Rd/Park St, together with year-on-year decreases in bus usage, surely there has been no better time to improve the service, and so improve ridership?
Greater Bristol outperforms Birmingham & Manchester in economic output, in fact, the City of Bristol is the only English city, aside from London which appears in the top 40 European GDP contributors, yet spends far less on transport than other Core Cities.
Support has already been proven, 3000 people signed a petition for a half-hourly service earlier in the year, together with 16 organisations, but now is the chance to influence the budget. The current peak trains are already very busy, and locals are willing to use the service they've got - Clifton Down station, for example has much higher usage than many stations on the Cross City line, in the former West Midlands county, which gets trains about every 10 mins!
If you are interested, and haven't got a postcard, then the Council welcomes letters, addressed to: -
Carew Reynell
Director of Central Support Services
The Council House
Bristol BS1 5TR
Or EMail: [email protected]
The cost of this is £450,000 - compared to the cost of congestion to Bristol - estimates at £1million per week and road accidents over £1.8million each week (Bristol Local Transport Plan Update 2002) – this would be a small cost to pay – although it wouldn’t eradicate the costs, it would certainly reduce them over the course of the next few years.
The Joint Local Transport Plan, written by the four unitary authorities in Greater Bristol (former county of Avon) also proposes a half-hourly service in 2006-2011, with pollution & congestion at a high, especially on the Portway (A4), the Gloucester/Cheltenham Rd (A38) and Whiteladies Rd/Park St, together with year-on-year decreases in bus usage, surely there has been no better time to improve the service, and so improve ridership?
Greater Bristol outperforms Birmingham & Manchester in economic output, in fact, the City of Bristol is the only English city, aside from London which appears in the top 40 European GDP contributors, yet spends far less on transport than other Core Cities.
Support has already been proven, 3000 people signed a petition for a half-hourly service earlier in the year, together with 16 organisations, but now is the chance to influence the budget. The current peak trains are already very busy, and locals are willing to use the service they've got - Clifton Down station, for example has much higher usage than many stations on the Cross City line, in the former West Midlands county, which gets trains about every 10 mins!
If you are interested, and haven't got a postcard, then the Council welcomes letters, addressed to: -
Carew Reynell
Director of Central Support Services
The Council House
Bristol BS1 5TR
Or EMail: [email protected]