Save the Railway Path

"Hello, I want to update you about rapid transit. To start with I want to thank the many people who have contacted me about possible use of the cyclepath route. I understand why so many people are anxious about this option and I share many of the concerns that have been expressed, particularly about not undermining the use of the path by walkers and cyclists and the loss of green space. As a city council, these will be vital considerations in any future decision. I also want to clarify a couple of points. There has been much speculation about who agreed what when and where

This has itself caused a great deal of alarm, particularly in the areas surrounding the cyclepath. As the executive member for transport since May 2007 I can say that no decisions have been taken regarding the detailed route. No decisions have been taken regarding appointing operators for the rapid transit services. And I am not going to take part in the party political point scoring being conducted by others. People concerned about the cyclepath want to hear the facts, not one group of politicians blaming another. So, no decisions have been made. We will continue to listen to the views being expressed. We are committed to full public consultation on this and the other options this summer. Also, after agreeing such a major shift of resources, in our budget, into smarter travel choices, to strengthen our ability to protect Bristol's quality of life I am not going to undermine this commitment.

This is about creating a network of services supporting the movement of people across Greater Bristol whether for work, access to education, healthcare, shopping or leisure. It is one of the most important steps to giving Bristol the transport system it needs and deserves and also to help support the creation of jobs and new homes and it is about reducing dependency on the car and combating congestion and air pollution In joint work with our neighboring councils, the need has been identified for rapid transit to serve major corridors, one between Ashton vale and Emersons Green, the new science park too, but also, one between Hengrove and the North Fringe. These are the main routes into and out of the city, particularly by commuters, and where the greatest congestion and pollution pressures exist. These are outlying corridors and much work needs to be done on the precise routing and options involved and we need to better explain these. The options will be measured by their ability to attract people currently using cars and in combating pollution but also the effect on existing and future levels of walking and cycling and wider environmental issues such as the loss of green space.

One thing is clear. From the analysis completed so far, the use of a route involving the Bristol to Bath cycle path is proving technically complex and challenging and building a road next to the cycle path is simply not an option and would be unacceptable to Bristol. This is what people have said to me and has been supported by the technical work done to date.

But we need to understand all the options, not least because of their impact on local residents and across the whole city. It is right and fair that all the options are understood and explained so that people can have their say and I am sure that many more people will want to participate in this debate. To completely eliminate one option without understanding what the alternatives are would be completely unfair to all our residents. We must provide a full picture of those options which do not involve the cycle path, those which are all road based, which means taking part of the existing road for use by rapid transit.

One of the main issues has been lack of clarity about exactly what is rapid transit. It is not a traditional bus but a radically different service. It can provide a wide efficient network of services at less cost compared to say a tram which we can simply not afford for the scale of network required. Looking at other cities across the world which have adopted rapid transit this provides a flexible quality and reliable service and as local authorities we would be looking for a greater degree of control over vehicle types, fares, ticketing and timetables, things we can't do at the moment with the bus services in our city. I want to see electronic ticketing, less (sic) polluting vehicles, and the flexibility to extend services to where the new homes, our new hospitals and schools are going to be built.

The best way to explain rapid transit is to get a service up and running so the full benefits can be seen and felt. Thats why we are committed to obtaining money to get a scheme in place as soon as possible within the West of England. This should be connecting Ashton vale and central Bristol because not only could this link to the proposed new stadium should a planning application be successful, but also the hew homes being planned for North Somerset around Ashton Vale. This service would connect to the City Centre with stops at Temple Meads, the new Cabot Circus shopping Centre and Broadmead. I will keep you updated as we make progress.
Rapid transit offers the prospect of a radically different transport network, the one we’ve all been waiting for."

• The seven-minute webcast is here. We strongly suspect that the news media only listened to the first few minutes and based their reports on the sentence "From the analysis completed so far, the use of a route involving the Bristol to Bath cycle path is proving technically complex and challenging and building a road next to the cycle path is simply not an option and would be unacceptable to Bristol".
• When you listen or read right to the end of the statement, a different picture emerges.
• Read The Message Within Bradshaw's Statement