Known saboteur Redvee has a video up showing the taxi WR54KZX forced to drive on the pavement to turn left into Bridewell Street.
We say forced, as this is clearly due to the Metrobus roadworks going on further ahead on the road. Before Metrobus there were never any queues on the roads leading to the Centre, and so no need for taxis to drive on pavements in order to stop this city grinding to a halt. And, as this is a 2004 EURO3 Diesel taxi, the pollution from its engine is awful, even by the standards of the VW test rigging team. By driving up on the pavement, the Taxi reduced the amount of pollution the city experiences. This is why pavements cause pollution. No pavements: more lanes. No pavements: fewer people walking, no need for zebra crossings or pedestrian phases in lights. We must do more in our city to discourage walking —even more than the Metrobus works team are already doing for us.
One thing to consider though: the taxi did go up the blind spot of that bus. If the bus had turned left the taxi and its passengers could have been crushed.
We propose that every bus and lorry in the city should have a sign warning taxis not to drive up the inside of them to prevent such a calamity happening in future
Here's the nice new corner piece of Castle Park and Broad Weir where pedestrians can sit and rest after a hectic day of shopping in Cabot Circus. The Council have gone to all the trouble of landscaping a formerly naff patch of ground in an effort to make it a bit more appealing. And like flies to manure, the paveparkers have found out that you can dump a vehicle there all day, just behind the bus stop.But wtach out, that newly laid turf is a bit wet and the mud might get on your tyres:(
We've covered before how the ban on taxis caused needless problems on the approach to Union Street
Well, it's been fixed once and for all by painting the word TAXI on the ground.
Initially we suspected a militant spin-off from the Bristol taxi drivers association, but once it was clear that the signs had been updated too, it's clear this is official.
There's also a contraflow for people on bicycles to get run over by turning buses.
The very street names "Horsefair" and "Haymarket" remind us how at one time our ancestors, the city's gentry, went about their business on horseback, generously helping the city's economy by providing jobs for your ancestors, the city's poor, grooming the horses and cleaning the streets after them.
It's still the case today, as we motorists create useful employment in a range of workplaces from car-washes to hospitals. But the respect has gone. Even the city council will only allow tax-dodging cyclists and pedestrians the freedom to turn from Haymarket into the Horsefair.
Therefore we admire the driver of S988RVM who has asserted his ancient right to stop where he wishes in the centre, while forcing any cyclists to dismount as a demonstration of respect.
Someone took our photographs, and notified the bit of the council that licenses taxis, who then acted on the complaints. According to a letter which was forwarded to us:
Police and PCSO's monitored the road yesterday afternoon and fixed penalty notices were issued to City Council licensed drivers and to other motorists.
Further operations of this nature are envisaged, as these vehicles are in violation of the Driving Order.
The web site goes into more detail, saying that people got ticketed simply for driving down a road somewhere where they shouldn't.
This is mindless anticar persecution. Yes, if you look at the video one or two taxis appear to ignore the restriction on taxis, but as they are allowed on most other bus lanes, why not this one?
Look at the photo below and see if you can find any fault.
Honestly, this must be the most expensive bicycle stand in Broadmead.
It may be disguised as a signpost, but it's clearly not as there is a perfectly good lamppost next to it for any necessary signs. As the "Don't Feed the Seagull" and "No Lorry Parking" signs indicate.
Taxpayers money is obviously being squandered providing inappropriate facilities for cyclists (and headless Seagulls).
Bristol Traffic is a news channel. Maybe not quite the same as the MSM, like the Daily Mail or The Telegraph, but we like to think we compete with the quality dailies.
And the Bristol Evening Post.
So far we've co-existed well in Bristol, with BEP following our rabidly anti-cycling message almost every issue. There was a small shift in their editorial policy a few days ago, which we covered, but this was probably only a hiccup, although they did sponsor the Big Bike Ride. However, we're confident this was just an aberration, and we have photographic evidence.
Down behind the Bearpit, in Broadmead, Bristol City Council are undertaking an experiment in The Horsefair and Penn Street, by only allowing through disabled badge holders, buses and taxis or emergency service vehicles. The experiment started on 11th December 2009 and was due to run for 18 months. It's still in place, so now seems permanent.
It was interesting, therefore, to find Western Dail Press vehicle WU07XES parked up in a bus stop in The Horsefair, towing a trailer with an advert on it. It seems the driver needed a bit of refreshment - it's hard work driving around all day, pulling an advert.
What did the advert say?
Well, it invited you to purchase the Evening Post so that you could "WIN THIS CAR".
The editor here at Bristol Traffic was beside himself when he saw this, and immediately sacked the entire marketing team for not thinking of it first.
But he's happy that the Evening Post are once again in the pro-motorist lobby.
UPDATE
The driver was spotted later in the week, loading another Burger King into the car...
We've been getting more traffic recently, some from people who again, fall for the malicious lie that we are some kind of satire. The photographs are all genuine, the commentary pretty much lifted from Bristol Evening Post comments sections as is. Not fiction. The reason we are critical of cyclists is not just because of our affiliation with the Daily Mail group, but because ofcom requires it as part of their balance-in-reporting scheme. Every time someone in the Guardian or Independent pens a short article praising walking or cycling, Bristol Traffic or BBC local news is required to produce an in depth posting or TV/radio broadcast showing the truth.
The other source of recent traffic is people searching for "Bear Pit Bristol" or "Bristol Bearpit", for which of course we are one of the highest ranking results. Why so many visitors? A sudden urge to spend a quiet hour enjoying the peace of this urban idyll between buses? No: the Stokes Croft Street Fest. Our reporter "quercus" descended into the pit itself, for a bit of giant chess while listening to the bands -none of whose music is yet available on ABD-approved driving CDs.
Some people may denounce us for encouraging some kind of people-walking-around event, but they miss the point. Any event which celebrates Stokes Croft brings customers to Ritas and Stix takeaways, so benefiting us all.
But it's more profound that that. These people, by making the bearpit a place to visit, have reintroduced a whole new generation to the original bearpit goals: a roundabout for the whole family to enjoy!
We've been a bit critical in the past of people who talk about attractive pedestrian walkways, underpasses, and roundabouts people to visit, but that's because today's uses of the Bearpit, Lawrence Hill roundabout and other inner city parkland areas haven't lived up to the vision.
Remember the mid 1970s, when the M32 Parkway was open? Dad could drive down from Filton, park the beige Austin Allegro at Castle Park -when it was proper parking, not this green stuff, put his driving cap and gloves in the glove compartment -that's what it was for- and you could go into Broadmead to stare in wonder at the shops. Yet mum and dad would keep you away from the centre of the 'mead, and go back to the shops they saw at the end of the M32. Mum and the kids would go into Allied Carpets to see if any new plush green nylon rugs had come in, dad would go to the sex shop a bit further down to get one of his magazines. And where would the family meet up afterwards? That's right: The bearpit!
We could get together, eat and drink our wimpy takeaways, dad would flick through his purchase in its paper bag, mum look at the carpet brochures. Everyone would gather there, the giant-chess game had a queue of people waiting to play, whole families would have picnics.
What killed it? Progress. The Broadmead planners took Allied Carpets away. The Internet took the sex magazine shop customers away. The chess pieces vanished one by one. The Austin Allegro vanished; the Austin Metro and Morris Ital never gained quite the same cachet. Bristol City Council turned Castle Park into green space, and started charging too much to park in the Galleries car park. Opec and central government made the journey down the M32 costly. This is why the bearpit died: it became too hard, too expensive to pop down from Filton for a quick hour in the bearpit, especially once the important shops were gone. Nothing has brought them back.
This is why we celebrate the Stokes Croft Streetfest, why we got the Allegro out for a special trip back into town!
The continued presence of traffic lights here not only holds up buses and bicycles, it holds up taxis too.
Such as Taxi 107, SD06HSC photographed on Saturday March 18 2010 at 14:57.
Or taxi #686, WV57FRU, seen on Saturday March 18 2010 at 14:57.
Or indeed, taxi # 711, R329YON , seen on Saturday March 18 2010 at 14:57.
Because the taxis also need to make use of this road, the traffic lights should be adjusted to increase the scheduling time on this lane rather than just assuming one bus every minute. With this taxi flow rate, three vehicles every minute, the entire fleet of Bristol's taxicabs (at least 711, we would guess), would pass through this junction every four hours. The traffic lights do nothing but hold up taxis driving down the buses-only lane.
There: congestion analysis, no need for city wide GPS-instrumented taxis. Which is good for the taxi drivers, as it may log them doing things they aren't meant to.
Whenever you monitor humans, you have to worry about The Hawthorn Effect; the fact that people behave differently when being watched. This is notorious for skewing the results of many experiments, and you should always ask experimenters how they compensated for it, to make sure they knew what they were doing.
We solve this problem by not telling the cyclists that it's a camera. They think its a light. Of course, having the bicycle with lights on would effect the experiment too, so to avoid that it doesn't actually work as a light.
By monitoring without them knowing, we get to see the world from their point of view, hear their complaints, then dismiss them.
Today's video: Dove Street Kingsdown to Broadmead, by way of the Marlborough Street Bus station.
Notice that in Dove Street, those vans parking 3/4 on the pavement ensure that passing bicycles do not get hit by open doors, and make it easier for passing vehicles to get by them.
The Honda LG57XPV that appears to pull out without indicating before veering across the road is not victimising the cyclist, it would behave the same regardless of whoever was behind it. While driving along, had its brake lights on, "tourist lights" as we call them, which warn the vehicles behind that it is planning something.
Pulling in to Dighton Street at 1:00 we see a line of bicycles using this road to avoid the St James Barton Roundabout/Bearpit options, or to head over to Clifton without cycling over the big hills. [Incidentally, we hear a rumour that the Bristol Cycling Campaign, as well as promising free drinks at their EGM on Thursday, are planning a Bastard-Hills-of-North-Bristol ride that will not avoid those climbs].
At 1:20 the instrumented cyclist and another cyclist both slide past a taxi to occupy the remaining half of the ASL. This does not leave room for the two other cyclists following. What will they do?
At 1:28, the cycling-chic woman passed earlier appears to be having braking problems, as her bike only stops after she has shot halfway over the junction. Notice how she stops by putting both feet on the ground. That means fixed-speed or broken brakes. Given that cars are still heading across this road from the right hand side, only three sets of lights/two junctions from the M32, everyone anticipating a bit of speed, this is a brave things to do, she has earned her ghostrider label.
At 1:35 we see that the vehicle waiting to turn right is in fact a police car. Presumably our little ghostrider was too busy looking for cars from the right to worry about what cars were waiting to turn.
At 1:41, the police car pulls forward, and by 1:45 is parallel with the rider. Is she going to get told off?
No, it turns right, as do the vehicles behind. Even the lorry at 1:57 doesn't clip her, despite her being positioned on the inside of the bend
At 2:02 the high speed sprint of a van through the lights tells us that they have just gone red for that lane, and that the bicycles will now get a green light, which kicks in a couple of seconds later.
At 2:06 our camera enhanced cyclist sets off and never sees the ghost rider again. She had not only tried to cycle across the red light and the lanes of traffic, she had positioned herself so she could not see the lights, and so missed them changing.
Our cyclist uses the bike lane until it ends, and is then forced to turn off the road, to go down Whitson Street to the bus station. There then follows 30 seconds of dullness.
Where things get entertaining again is 2:44, where the bicycle is in the bus and bike only lane heading towards Broadmead. They have a red light. Will they wait? Or has the previous junction given them ideas?
They wait for three seconds, then veer over to what appears to be a pedestrian crossing -but actually has a bicycle on it. Therefore we must sadly conclude that this bit of crossing on bike is legal, and we can not report it to the police.
We are not so sure, however, about the pavement riding they do afterwards. They do not go straight on, where they would encounter the car, but instead veer left past some phone boxes, over the bus lane and then on some more pavement. We were beginning to get hopeful again, but then saw that they were actually riding up to some bicycle specific traffic lights -which were going green- and then they set off again, into Horsefair and hence Cabot Circus.
As you can imagine, we are unimpressed by the cyclist who ran the first red light. Not only was it dangerous, it didn't gain anything. At least when we speed in a car we get something in exchange -the feeling of speed, reduced journey time. She got nothing, and forgot to keep an eye out for police cars. The second junction though, leaves us confused. The bicycle clearly went up on the pavement, over a pedestrian crossing, on some more pavement and then up to some lights. We do not whether to be
Upset about the behaviour of the cyclist
Upset that an anti-car council added these features
Confused by the fact that these features seem to not be at all rational. Surely to make it easier to get from the bus station to broadmead, the crossing lights would be on the left of the junction, so the bicycle would not have to zig-zag everywhere? We suspect the lights were put in on a budget to help tax-dodgers head the other way.
We have decided to go for all three options. Bristol Traffic: confused and upset.
Apparently miffed at now playing second fiddle to Carboot Circus, which was designed without provision for cycles, it appears The Mall Galleries has decided to keep up by also removing cycle parking.
Maybe the managers have all just completed courses in estate management at Bristol University?
Car C930HET looks like it is blocking this bike-only entrance into Broadmead and Cabot Circus But looking back you can see that it is parked far enough out for bikes to come past, and angled to give bikes a good route in without slowing down. By stopping where they have, they force buses round it. so reducing bus/bike conflict.
Admittedly, bikes going straight on have a challenge, but that isn't a fun road to do; this car provides a little "swerve" to give it a bit of an urban singletrack flavour
Joe Evans posts in a set of clips of motorbikes taking advantage of the facilities in Bristol, and says: Bristolian motorcyclists are a selfless bunch. Here we can see them in action as this biker risks getting a fine for parking a motor vehicle on the pavement in order to show cyclists exactly where the stands are located by placing a bright green motorbike beside them. This new ‘Green Motorbike’ scheme is very useful of foggy days when vision is restricted. There is, however, one slight disadvantage to this means of alternative signage since the motorbike often needs to be parked as close to the stand as possible, but not exactly touching it (one nano-millimetre is preferred) and thus reducing the space available for cyclists. This poor harassed motorcyclist just couldn’t decide which bike stand to block..er..use. Up and down the pavement he went on his motorbike..er, sorry, that should be ‘Alternative Hydrocarbon-Fuelled Powered Two Wheel Vehicle’ (official government definition. Makes it sound a bit like a bicycle so that cyclists won’t mind them racing in the bus lanes or taking short cuts through cycle lanes). Eventually, after riding up a one way street, he eventually found a cycle stand to not use and was relieved that he wouldn’t risk the possibility of receiving a fine by parking a motor vehicle on the pavement due to Bristol City Council’s cash cow policy of milking poor innocent motorists of money In a hurry?. Use those cycle lane things
By driving right behind this bus entering the buses-and-bikes-only stretch of broadmead, this car manages to be hidden from the rear view mirrors of the bus. Which means that it is no longer there, and free to drive down this road.
One unmentioned beneficiary of the Cycling City initiative will be Bristol's motorbikes, who can take advantage of the bike parking in Gloucester Road, thus avoiding having to block the bike lane the way cars need to. In broadmead, a couple of bike park slots provide a great place for a bike. Some people may argue that there are areas for motorbikes, areas marked Solo M/Cs, but as these are used by cars, motorbikes only have one remaining option: the cycle stands.
There are also lots of motorbike friendly short cuts You can recognise these by the drawing of the motorbike with the red ring around them.
Ghost Rider: someone on a bike who has chosen a path of action for which the outcome may tangibly result in death. Here we see someone cutting across the lanes of the inner ring road/lewins mead while cars approach. The cars are moving pretty fast here. And he's across, alive. All hail the brave!
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