Toxic traffic

Apart from the news that Bristol is one of the laziest places in the country, and the fact we seem to be overrun with snakes at the moment, this week has also seen the appearance of Bristol East's very own Old Market in Defra's Toxic Top Ten (OK, there are fifteen of them, but doesn't quite have the same ring) because of the level of traffic fumes. I suspect a bit of a cut and paste job from the Lib Dem spokesperson - insert 'Bristol Old Market' here or fourteen other locations as appropriate - but what caught my attention was the Friends of the Earth response.

Their solution seems to be (a) street closures, (b) 20mph speed limits in the city centre and (c) the exclusion of vehicles in some areas to tackle the problem. Well OK, if you closed Old Market and the Temple Way area to traffic you would certainly solve its pollution problem. It would mean complete gridlock for the rest of the city though, especially the M32 and A4 which are quite bad enough already.

A 20mph limit wouldn't make a blind bit of difference either, the average traffic speed in Bristol city centre being around the 16mph mark anyway. (And yes, I do support a 20mph limit in residential areas, such as the Dings Home Zone, which isn't a million miles from Old Market, but let's not pretend it's going to solve the congestion and pollution problems in the city centre. I also support street closures, maybe in some places just on a weekend, but in others full-scale pedestrianisation, but that's not the answer for Old Market).

So what is the solution? Firstly, it's got to be about getting more people out of their cars and onto public transport, or indeed, cycling/ walking. We have one of the Showcase Bus Routes running along Old Market now (funded from the £43 million Government money for the Greater Bristol Bus Network, which has to be pointed out to people every now and then). But the buses are still too expensive and Dawn Primarolo and I have written again to Sir Moir Lockhead of First Group only this week, to try to get an explanation of why fares continue to rise. Secondly, it's about less polluting vehicles. And thirdly it's about sensible traffic management. For example, at the Temple Way roundabout, why have the (numerous sets of) traffic lights running all through the night when there is little or no traffic around?

We missed the bus

Transport Minister Paul Clark joined me and local councillors Terry Cook, Mark Bradshaw, Brenda Hugill, and the ubiquitous Paul Smith in Lawrence Hill today for the launch of Labour's 'Brunelcard' campaign. We think an Oyster card type system for local bus and rail services would cut delays (no endless waits while the person in front fiddles around for change), be more convenient (no last-minute rush into the newsagents by the bus stop to buy a pack of chewing gum just so you don't have to try to persuade the driver to give you change from a tenner), cut the cost of journeys and encourage more people to use the buses and trains.

But it seems we've missed the bus. Big time. While we've been banging on about fare rises, unreliable or cancelled services, dirty buses, rude drivers and First's failure to bring fares down in lines with the drop in fuel prices, not to mention the need for a quality bus contract and an Integrated Transport Authority, the real scandal about First Bus in Bristol has passed us by.

We've been left standing at the bus stop while Cllr Woodman sails past on his way to Original FM to reveal the dreadful truth about First Bus. They don't know how to spell Colston! They spelt it with an 'e'! As Cllr Woodman says, 'it shows just how awful First Bus is'. And it takes a Liberal Democrat to tell us. We hang our Labour heads in shame.

Moaning about buses again

Just when you thought First Bus couldn't do anything to make itself more unpopular...

After my last meeting with the MD I wrote to him to follow up on an issue Dawn Primarolo and I had discussed with him (and got, we thought, a reasonably encouraging response), about introduced a reduced fare pilot scheme on one or two key routes, to see if it would encourage more people to use the buses. Had a frankly useless response today, which was basically along the lines 'you might think fares have gone up but actually they haven't in absolutely every case and not by as much as you think'. And no mention of the pilot schemes.

You may recall that two of First's favourite excuses for fare increases and lack of reliability were (a) the price of fuel and (b) difficulty in recruiting drivers. We all know what's happened to fuel prices lately, and I'm reliably informed that as unemployment bites, they're now inundated with applications from would-be drivers.

What do we want? A Quality Contract! When do we want it? Now!

BristolMatters on Twitter

Can I recommend BristolMatters on Twitter? Really good way of keeping up with local news. And yes, I'm still in Lusaka, heading to airport pretty soon, but have just been reading about the chance that other companies might compete with First to run the city's high speed bus network. Which can only be a good thing.

Update on buses (with no mention of snow)

Have been chasing up First Bus about whether they'd be prepared to run a reduced fare pilot on a key route - e.g. the A420 Showcase Bus Route - to see whether it increases passengers numbers and encourages more people to use the bus. They say they're keen in principle, but need to look at finances - a 20% cut in the fare would require a 25% increase in passenger numbers to arrive at the same cash value. I don't think a 20% cut would be enough of an incentive; we'd been campaigning for a flat rate fare of £1 between St George and the city centre, and it's £2.30 at the moment. Cutting it to £1.84 wouldn't be enough to persuade people to take the bus instead of driving.

First Bus also defend recent fare rises, saying that from December 2005 to August 2007 (not sure why they chose this period - need to check that out) their fares rose by an average of 14%, whereas the consumer price index for transport produced by the National Office for Statistics indicated cost increases of 15.7%.

Still waiting on a response from Moir Lockhead, the Chief Exec of First, on the fare price issue - asking why, if fares had to be increased because of oil price rises, they don't get reduced when oil prices drop significantly.

Feet First

I'm sure I could have come up with a better title, given time... Anyway, First Bus are making 'eco'-boots out of their old seat covers and tyres. "They are a must have for the fashion conscious environmentalist", says the MD of First. So there you go, Glenn. £70 and they're yours. I liked this comment: "The perfect excuse for when you turn up late for work, blame the shoes!!!!"

Shame they've got leather in them, although it is from "re-purposed chequebook wallets from a high street bank". Re-purposed is a new one on me. Paul, you're the expert - explain the difference between recycled, re-used and re-purposed please. (Paul is, I assume, on his way to the Furniture Re-use Network's Conference in Cheshire at the moment so we might have to wait a few days for a response).

Given the economic downturn, I wonder if Smythson's luxury lizard skin credit card holders will be "re-purposed" for the ultra-exclusive, deluxe limited editions?

Excuses

Fridays are never a good day for blogging, as I'm either in meetings or rushing around. Started off by visiting Lawrence Hill Health Centre for an interesting chat with GPs, then met with some people from Bristol Civic Society to talk about their concerns about the Regional Spatial Strategy, then met the top man from BBC West to talk about Casualty and other matters, then over to Bedminster to meet Mr First Bus with fellow MP Dawn Primarolo, then back to the office... So - health, housing/ planning, media/ jobs, and buses all in one day. Plus signing Christmas cards (designed by a primary school pupil in my constituency - if all you libertarians post your full names and addresses on here, I'll send you one). Tomorrow it's an awards ceremony for young achievers, and on Sunday it's my first ever appearance on the Westminster Hour.

The meeting with First was quite productive, in that a 'full and frank' discussion took place, and various commitments were made, although the Blogger and his readers will no doubt be disappointed to know that no physical violence was involved. All will be revealed soon...

Ask and ye shall receive

Went down to Bristol this morning with Rosie Winterton, the Transport Minister, for the announcement that we're finally getting the £42m from the DfT for the Greater Bristol Bus Network. This means another 10 showcase bus routes (although I'm told the preferred terminology now is 'integrated transport corridors' - can't see it catching on somehow).

I was asked by the West of England Partnership a month or so ago to raise this with Rosie, as they'd been waiting for a long time for confirmation they were going to get the cash, and didn't know why it was being held up. So I did, in the Local Transport Bill committee; she promised she'd look into it as soon as the Committee was over and 10 days later, the cheque's in the post!

When Rosie moved to Transport from Health, where I was her PPS, I told her I couldn't join her at her new department because then I wouldn't be able to lobby her on transport issues. That decision has obviously paid off!

Paul Smith (Labour PPC) and I also met Justin Davies, the new MD of First Bus at the event. Had a good, albeit brief, chat with him about what he could do to improve performance. I asked about smart cards (he sees the benefits but there are some technical/ cost issues), and he also talked about driver recruitment, which is being stepped up. I also asked about the prevalence of the 'Sorry Not In Service' buses; as I suspected, it's because my office is near the depot, but he accepted that it doesn't look good when customers are stuck at bus stops and they see buses sail past. He seems on the ball, and keen to improve things - as they say, "things can only get better"!

First Group are doing rather well

Latest profits from First Group. Their annual operating profits in the year to March 31 were up 39 per cent on a year earlier. In the UK business, passenger revenues grew five per cent last year, while operating profits rose 18.4 per cent to £122m. So they're either charging passengers 5% more or have got 5% more passengers or a combination of both - but presumably spending less on the service? How else could you explain the rise in profits? "Efficiency savings"?

I'm meeting the new MD of First Bus next Friday. I've spoke to him on the phone, and think he may just be someone who is prepared to take complaints seriously and actually do something to improve the service - but we'll see. (Incidentally, it was noteable that of the MPs on the Local Transport Bill committee, at least four of us on the Labour side had bus services run by First - and my colleagues from Manchester and Sheffield were none too impressed with the service either). Now that the Bill committee is over I'm hoping that Rosie Winterton will get round to looking at the Greater Bristol Bus Network bid, and give us the £42m we've been waiting for - I'll keep chasing!