Below is a copy of the letter sent to Bristol City Council and Travelwest regarding proposed changes to Wells Road to support improved bus journeys along the Number 2 route.
Wednesday 11th January 2022
RE: Response to Proposals for Number 2 Bus route improvements
Bristol City Council and Travelwest have submitted a series of proposed improvements to the route of the Number 2 bus along the A37 through Totterdown. Many of these proposals are within or immediately affect the TRESA area. TRESA has engaged with local residents and wishes to provide the following feedback on the proposals.
Overall objectives
TRESA recognises the overall aim of improving bus services along this key route. We support the aim and the improved services that may result. We are concerned that the proposals miss key opportunities and they suggest several changes which will adversely affect some Totterdown businesses and residents without offering supporting data to justify the proposals.
Temple Meads to Three Lamps
We note with disappointment that no mention is made of the route from Temple Meads to Three Lamps. This route is well known for having substandard and dangerous shared pedestrian and cycles provision. There are three to four lanes of road traffic but pedestrians, cyclists, scooters, and all others must share a narrow pathway. This often leads to conflict and we believe this undermines attempts to increase walking and cycling on the route.
TRESA would welcome improvements to this stretch and separation of cyclists/scooters from pedestrians.
Three lamps Section – Bellevue Road
There are proposals to block off the road from Bellevue to Wells Road. This will adversely affect the ability of people who live in the Bellevue Road area of Totterdown from entering and exiting their streets, and will only leave two access points into the area of Totterdown bordered by Wells Road/St Johns Lane/St Lukes Road. All motorised traffic will have to use Oxford Street or Windsor Terrace and we anticipate this will cause difficulties for some residents and businesses. We understand the reason given for blocking the Bellevue/Wells Road junction is that merging traffic onto Wells Road can cause delays during busy times. We would be keen to see the data supporting this claim and how the proposed road closure will make a positive improvement. The junction does currently have timed restrictions to prevent drivers coming on to the Wells Road. These are not currently well enforced and perhaps this could be a more cost effective solution for controlling traffic flow at key times.
Three lamps Section – Bath Road on to Wells Road Light Control
Adding traffic light controls for traffic merging onto Wells Road is welcome as this junction can often be obscured for drivers so lights will make it safer. Vehicles often stick out onto the cycle path (presumably trying to get a better view on oncoming traffic). We would suggest that the new controlled crossing should ensure cars are held sufficiently away from the cycle track.
TRESA and others have consistently asked for this junction to be changed into a roundabout so that traffic coming down Wells Road can turn right onto Bath Road. Currently traffic must go down to Temple Meads before doubling-back on Bath Road. The proposed CAZ also forces drivers to enter the zone when taking this route.
Three lamps Section – Footpath widening
We welcome the widening of footpaths. We would like more details on how this looks and what the cycle routes will look like. Are these to be segregated from both pavement and road, or is this just painted lines on the road? How wide will the footpath and cycle path be?
Three lamps Section – Upgraded Bus stop
This is welcome yet we are not aware of any current issues with the bus stop so are not certain what problem is being solved in this proposal.
St Johns Lane Section – Cycle lane
The proposal mentions an improved cycle path along Wells Road towards St John’s Lane. We would like to see more details on this. How wide is the path? Is it separated from the pavement? How is this path any different to the current path which is painted on the road?
St Johns Lane Section – Controlled crossing on St Johns Lane
The proposal includes a new controlled crossing across St Johns Lane close to Bushy Park. We question the reason for this. Few people cross at this point so adding a crossing will have limited benefit. TRESA has been pushing for some time to have a controlled crossing installed on St Lukes Road where there is considerable demand. Perhaps we could use funding from this project for that location – Neither has any bearing on the Number 2 bus route.
St Johns Lane Section – Cycle Transition
The proposals include a “Cycle transition” onto Bushy Park. TRESA has worked with local residents to improve this area and we are concerned that this could be damaged by digging it up and adding more patchworks of tarmac. We would like to see more details of the proposal.
St Johns Lane Section – Winton Street One-way
We object to the idea of making Winton Street one way. Currently this road has little traffic but the two way nature does cause cars to drive more slowly. Making it one-way will only increase speeds.
This route is not currently a problem for cyclists so we do not understand the justification behind this proposal.
Furthermore, the residents in 48 flats at Barrington Court (all with designated parking spaces) as well as those with homes and garages in Winton Lane, will be forced to drive up Winton Street, left into Knowle Road, onto Wells Road and turn left at the traffic lights in order to access St Johns Lane – rather than the current simple access from Winton Street/Bushy Park. We fail to see how this will help in reducing motor traffic on the proposed Wells Road bus lane – rather it has the potential to increase it.
Bayham Road section
Many of the proposals for the Bayham Road area lie outside of the TRESA area. However we question the overall aim for these items and how this affects the bus route. The purpose stated is to make the route more cycle friendly yet it remains a steep hill with cars parked on both sides and no segregated cycle route. Is there any evidence that cyclists will even use this route when many will still cycle up the Wells Road?
Taking the plans as stated, we welcome the inclusion of new street trees which will create an improved streetscape. The pavement build outs will stop corner parking making the local areas safer.
Bus Lane on Wells Road
The proposal suggests making the existing bus lane active 24hrs a day. Currently it is active during the morning rush hour. As with previous suggestions, we would like to see some data that supports this proposal. Is there really an issue with bus schedules outside of rush hour peak?
We know that local traders rely on this area for their customers to park. So any change to this will have a material impact on their business. Some traders have suggested better enforcement of the existing times (e.g. cameras that can then issue fines for parking violations). Furthermore, many of the smaller traders have no rear access to their businesses and must have an opportunity to load and unload. There are designated loading bays for Tesco and the Co-op supermarkets – yet smaller, independent businesses will be undermined by this proposal. This goes against current Bristol City Council policy of supporting local high streets.
Missed opportunities
We are sad to note that these proposals miss so many opportunities for our area.
Continuous pavements – We would like to see continuous pavements installed along the Wells Road on all the side roads. This would make the whole route better for walking, as well as slow down vehicles from the side roads.
Cycling up Wells Road- Rather than tackle the difficult issue of improving cycling along a key route, the proposal simply hopes that cyclists will use an alternative route, despite it being significantly “out of the way”.
Bath Road cycle route – As noted above, these proposals mention nothing about the route from Temple Meads to Three Lamps, despite this being a significant pain-point for anyone other than cars.
Whilst we support the overall aims of the scheme, we currently find the proposals lacking in ambition and not addressing core issues. The lack of supporting data makes it difficult to fully assess each proposal and understand the reasoning that may have been applied.
Given the amount of money being spent, we believe the Totterdown area could be better improved with continuous pavements, and improved cycling routes along the main road.
Yours faithfully,
Simon Hobeck
Director of TRESA
www.tresa.org.uk