We support the RPZ plans for our business driving.

A lot of claims are made about the "cost" of traffic jams, pricing driver's time above that of pedestrians and cyclists. While we certainly agree that our time should be valued above those people who can't afford to pay road tax, we dispute the naive application of "value of time".

The worth of time of people who are stuck in traffic jams as they drive to work is essentially zero.

Why do we we conclude this?

• The commute marks a transition between work time (paid, valuable) and leisure time (no financial cost to society).
• The commute time is not part of working hours -it happens after, so is part of the leisure time.
• If the peak hour commute takes an extra 15 minutes, you can leave 15 minutes early and still arrive at work at the same time. And in the evening you get home 15 minutes later after leaving work at the scheduled time.
• If you have chosen to move to Bradley Stoke or Portishead, your leisure time is an empty void and so worthless regardless of when you travel.

Because commute time is really leisure time, it isn't costing you anything. The people it is costing are google, because you could spend an extra 30-45 minutes online. This is why Google, strategic partners of both us and the NSA, are so fond of self-driving cars. They could get an extra 1h30 of adverts in front of your eyes.

So: commute time: you can get up earlier and leave earlier to compensate -it doesn't cost business or the country anything.

On the other hand:

the worth of time of businesses who need drivers traversing the city is tangible and negatively affected by commuters in two ways.

1. The congestion they cause adds delays. This isn't just the jams on the A-roads, it is the cars driving round in circles looking for places to park.
2. The parking spaces -legal and non-legal- that they use up, create problems for the city all day long.

Bristol traffic has a broad dataset of the what it is like as a white van driver, with numerous problems clearly shown. 

The lack of legal parking bays forces us to park where we can. This can result in parking tickets

This photo was taken on a weekday in Kingsdown -the commuter parking has filled up all the spaces made free by residents, so forcing us to park here. We've also had to waste time driving around until we could find an empty space like this.

The lack of free parking bays costs us time -and hence money

Then there's the double parking. We have to do it whenever we drop off one of our premium entertainment products -especially in Clifton, where there is never any space. We don't mind doing that, don't care about the abuse -but we do care about being held up by other double parking delivery vehicles.

Double parking of short-stay vehicles creates delays that costs us money.

An RPZ provides parking for delivery vehicles, so simplifies our life -and stops us being held up.

Commuter parking can even stop us reaching our destination. Look at this photo of Kingsdown Parade


It's a weekday morning in Kingsdown, and our van is held up by a scaffolding truck that can't get past the parked cars. The crew had to get out, bounce the car out the way. This cost them time, and it cost us time.

Commuter parking narrows roads and eliminates passing places -causing delays and costing us money.

Now look at kingsdown post-RPZ:



Can you see the difference: the road is nearly empty. No more struggles to get wider vehicles past too many parked cars. With the passing places, we don't even need to drive aggressively at oncoming cyclists. Which we actually care about -a schoolrunning parent on Cotham Hill this morning actually put their hand up by their head and damaged our wing-mirror this morning. And now that cyclists are starting to wear helmet-cams more, our driving becomes more visible to the police and employers.

This shows how resident parking zones directly save us money

1. Providing long stay parking close to our destination, eliminating parking tickets and confrontation.
2. Providing short-stay parking for deliveries, eliminating double parking -and stopping us being held up by other double parked vehicles.
3. Effectively widening our roads in the narrow inner city.

The roads in our inner city are too valuable to be wasted on commuter parking.

This is why we strongly support the RPZ plans -it delivers direct business value to us.

Bristol Council reclaims Thomas St for Parking!

With the rollout of the Kingsdown RPZ, one of the secret parking places of the city was lost.

Rejoice though!

The residents of Fremantle Square have complained about its loss, and they have had their place returned,


No longer double yellow lines.

No longer (as it was before), a fading Keep Clear sign -still shown on Google Maps.. Now there is a sign proclaiming that any resident can park here on weekdays; anyone evenings and weekends!
  
We do note that this is actually marked on the Bristol Cycling Maps as a recommended cycle route, and fear that without formally closing the road the markings are invalid -hence some tax-dodging troublemaker could get cars ticketed for obstructing the highway.

The minor bit of clearance at the corner may be the get-out clause here,

The front line of the RPZ

Freemantle Square, the council is happily making us pay even more for the right to park near the inner city, and ticketing those who resist!

Fortunately, just down the hill, the zone ends, and on Springfield road, you can double park provided you stay far enough away from the yellow lines as to not infringe them.

Cyclists coming up Ninetree hill should be grateful for this considerate parking by V281MGO

Kingsdown RPZ parking opportunities

Good to see that there are still some parking places hiding away in Kingsdown, like on Fremantle Square.

Although there are double yellow lines on each of the corners with Thomas Street, if you park your car right in the middle of the bollarded route, as BF02FVK has done, you aren't on any. It appears to be legal to park here. Why the bollards? Its a cycling city route, see.

Incidentally, for anyone who thinks that Kingsdown is now upmarket, what with the residents parking, we disagree. The Cotham Porter Stores pub is its very own bit of darkest Somerset, while Thomas Street boasts its very own Banksy. Here it is, framed.

Opposite, on a side of road that will soon apparently get yellow lines, that other sign of city life: someone has broken the window to steal something.

Question is, was it the classic -satnav- or was it one of the new resident permits?

Jan 30: republic day

We are the only mass media outlet in Britain campaigning for Jan 30 to be celebrated as the day Britain became a republic, or at least a Commonwealth. No-one else mentions that on this day, King Charles I of England was executed.

We will celebrate it with some photos of Freemantle Square, site of one of the city's Civil War forts.

First, looking to Purdown in the distance.

Nearby a terrace of houses, their road taken from commuters, bicycles proudly placed up on the veranda's by the smug victors in this campaign to make the city friendly to their abhorrent lifestyle.

Also nearby -and this is most odd- the Union Jack of the "unionist quarter" is now flying the Scottish Flag.

A leftover from Burns Night, perhaps?

Whatever the details, the fact is that Bristol started off on Cromwell's side, the city fell and was occupied by the royalists, who eventually surrendered and tried to escape to Wales. England became a Commonwealth -one of the first states in enlightenment-era Europe to decide that royalty was something we could do without.

There's a probably lesson there, if only we could think of it.

But for now, the next person you greet today, say "Happy Republic Day!". We can start a new tradition.

Kingsdown update

Shocking footage in Kingsdown, where we can see the paint lines for the resident parking zone going up, even though the zone isn't going live until 2011.

We even have video coverage of a drive-by review of Freemantle Square, showing two things

1. They've even yellow-lined the corners
2. The parking area is to narrow for a premium SUV -it's almost as if they want us van drivers to feel unwelcome.

That's OK, we are used to be hated. And we aren't scared of yellow lines on corners. Indeed, this fellow driver has managed to park on two corners at once

This is something to be impressed by.

If the council had not selfishly put bollards up by the double yellow lines , it would have been able to park on the pavements instead.

While admiring our own upload, youtube recommended this related video, which is quite entertaining, by one bristolcyclista, who is getting pretty irate at WR54HRW for turning over them.

Bristolcyclista -if you had not been on a bicycle, you would not have been nearly hit. Therefore, you are the cause of the situation. You may think "but what would she have done if I was in a car", but the answer there is simple: it depends on the car. Everyone gives way to a battered white van or a 1970s volvo.

Dangerous and inconsiderate

Some denunciations of random cyclists who got in the way of our drive across the city on a foggy day where they should have recognised the safety issues and stayed at home.

First, this one on Kingsdown Parade. It's too narrow to pass, and if I were to knock my wing mirror off, do you think he'd pay up? Unlikely.

Incidentally, up on Fremantle Square the PRSC had stuck some art, fortunately it's gone now.

Now down to Upper Cheltenham Place, Monty. We won't cover how to get from Kingsdown to Monty in a car, except to note that neither of the good options - Nugent Hill or Marlborough Hill- are technically legal. We remember the old days, when you could drive from Fremantle Square down Ninetree Hill, then tuck into Stokes Croft. Now you are forced to break the law.

At least these people have realised it is better to walk than cycle. But where do they walk? In our roads. And they smirk as they do it.

They didn't have any choice

This fine morning there is a van at the top of nine-tree-hill, as close as you can get to Fremantle Square without attempting to drive through the gap. It is positioned to prevent any bicycles getting through the gap.

The reason? Virgin Media working on one of the houses in remantle Square. The van RA54EVR is parked as close as you can get to this house without turning round, driving onto stokes croft by way of Jamaica Street, wait at four traffic lights and then go up Cotham Brow. That's a big detour, and even once they'd done that, there would be no parking in the square, other than blocking the bike lane from the other side.

Some subversives may argue that the van could have parked a bit further back, but why? Bicycle access is not the van driver's problem. If you can't handle the small problem of a vehicle in the way, you shouldn't be out and about on a bicycle.

Disabled vs Bicycles

Here's an interesting question.

Does having a disabled parking permit, as WK52UWH has, give you the right to block bike lanes?

Technically, yes. You can park on double yellow lines for a number of hours, access to bike paths and lanes is controlled by yellow lines, therefore you can park over them. Furthermore as this is Kingsdown on a weekday, there is nowhere else to park. Without driving all the way round to Dove Street and then up Nine-Tree-Hill, this is the only place anyone with a disabled parking permit -usually due to an inability to walk any distance- can park.

Now, morally? Again, yes. The driver would have to do a ten minute detour to get to the other side of the bike-only-barrier (best route: Horfield Road, past the BRI, then Jamaica Street), and that's a lot of effort. Whereas if you do park your vehicle here and stick the clock up on the dashboard, then only three-hours worth of cycling traffic will have to get off their bike, go over the pavement and then down the hill. Assuming 70% of the cyclists have mountain bikes, then if they have the ability to get their bike over the kerb, then they barely need to slow down. No moral dilemma at all.

Incidentally, from the cycling campaign there is a new handout for vehicles blocking bike lanes. This one says these facilities are best enjoyed on foot or bicycle, and asks the owner of the vehicle so tagged to come back and enjoy it properly on foot or bike. We fear the people in the cycling campaign are missing the point: bike lanes make an excellent place to park and can be enjoyed by cars, with or without a disabled parking sticker. We shall look out for these leaflets on vehicles in future, and try and come up with an experiment to assess their effectiveness -probably one involving Stokes Croft.

corner parking offences competition

There are two topics for the next few weeks photo contributors to keep a special eye on.

• Carol Voerderman parking in Clifton or elsewhere, especially somewhere she shouldn't, like outside the Tesco mini-mart.
• Cars not just parked on a corner, but going for a set of extra violations.

To begin then, the Fiat Punto X352DEP

1. corner parked
2. a long way from the corner
3. sticking out into the road
4. having possibly just driven down a one way street

That puts the count at: four. This part of Fremantle Square, incidentally, is outside the proposed RPZ, so the vehicle will be able to continue parking this way even as a non-resident.

contributions that equal or better this to bristol.traffic at gmail dot com.

Persecution

The latest copy of the Bristol Cycling Campaign magazine is out -it appears to be using some of the collected photos of this site. We give them permission, even if the article is somewhat critical of the cars featured therein. More to the point, the article speaks highly of infiltrating the police and community PACT meetings to push a subversive agenda. Kingsdown is one such area -though Bishopston is holding out strong.

Here we see the effects of such an infiltration. The car WR51PFG has a ticket for parking on a corner in Fremantle Square.

1. It's a square, and full of corners. What do they expect?

2. You can hardly notice this car sticking out from the corner. It is perfectly in line with the vehicle in front.

The Cycling Campaign will be having their monthly meeting at the Cornubia Pub, 8pm, Thursday. Perhaps we should infiltrate it, sit in the corner drinking Hidden Quest beers and disrupting their whole plan to overthrow the city by asking questions about helmets and watching the fights.

Product placement policy

As one of the leading media outlets in the city, we are often asked what our product placement fees are.
1. Individual contributors are free to mention any local vendors of food, alcohol or other items of interest, with or without money or gifts in kind changing hand. If someone were actually to pay any contributor for a product placement, we could start think about tax deductable expenses, which could include cameras, computer bits and review visits to stokes croft massage parlours

2. We will also gladly advertise local companies and organisations that come to our attention. Here, for example, is a van WN05ZVB, from David Fear Electrical, across the bike lane at the top of Nine-tree hill.


That is David Fear Electrical Ltd, Back Stoke Lane, Westbury on Trym, Bristol, BS9 3QT, tel (0117) 962 1787, according to the information painted on the side of the vehicle.

No fee was taken for this placement.

Malicious Persection

At the end of Somerset Street, Kingsdown, a van with a police parking ticket. Why? Keep clear signs are just hints. It may be difficult to turn the corner, but you can go round the square if you have an issue with that. Someone is picking on vans.

A short distance away, on Montague Hill, another car has been ticketed. Yes, there is a sign saying that cars parked on the pavement will be ticketed, but it's never been done here before, according to our records. What has happened? Why has the local police started persecuting innocent motorists?

It could be Bristol is now officially anti-car, and it is a conspiracy from the council. But there is another possibility, one to strike fear into every law-abiding motorist who wants to exercise their right to park where they need to. Subversives are infiltrating the Police community groups. Last year: a righteous campaign to fine bicycles on the pavement. This year, at least in Kingsdown, the rules are suspiciously different:

1. Speeding vehicles - Dove Street.
2. Speeding vehicles - Cotham Road/Cotham Brow.
3. Environmental issues:
- Rubbish, various locations
- Dog fouling, especially King Square area.
- Discarded needles, especially King Square area.
4. Contravention of one-way systems:
- Nine Tree Hill.
- Nugent Hill.
- Marlborough Hill.

Crackdowns on vehicle speed and contraflowing. Anti-car priorities. Some drug problems. Nobody complaining about the quality of service in the Stokes Croft Massage Parlours .

Fortunately for loyal Evening Post supporters, Bishopston is still resisting this infiltration and retaining the priorities of the long war:

Agreed 5th February 2009
1. Match Day parking problems around the Memorial Stadium.
2. Inconsiderate cycling, Gloucester Road (A38) / Failing to stop at a red light, at junctions with Ashley Down Road and at junction with Sommerville Road / Pavement cycling / Cycling at night with no lights.

This is better. not just pavement and red-light cycling, but inconsiderate cycling. Presumably that means failing to get out of the way of cars, or refusing to stay in bus lanes, even when there are parked cars in the way.

People round the city need to keep an eye on their local PACT meetings and make sure no anti-car enforcement of petty rules gets encouraged. Push the real problems, like lack of parking, inconsiderate cycling and the lack of value for money we get in the city's massage parlours.

How to contribute

People say "How to contribute".

1. Park or drive in entertaining ways. It has to be funny, as we are running out of things to say about pavements, and will then have to retire, forever in third place in Venue's Best Bristol Web Site awards. Getting ticketed or towed is one option, but quite hard to pull off. Driving the wrong day down one way streets good, endangering pedestrian schoolkids while on the schoolrun yourself a classic. Blocking bike lanes is an easy way to participate, such as the entry to Nine Tree Hill in Fremantle Square.

2. Get photographed by one of our many contributors. Remember to be polite and thank people for their contribution. Contributors should send their submission to bristol.traffic at gmail.com . Its hard to get night photos, incidentally. Avoid reflective things and try and use bike lights and fast ISO settings over flash. We like registration numbers and street locations, for the database.

3. If you can, give us some commentary in the style of the blog. Criticisms are not usually appropriate, unless they are of bicycles having the audacity to cycle through out the narrow gap left in the new zig-zag junction without even looking. Better to observe that this bit of Fremantle Square is outside the CPZ, which begins at the car to the left. Therefore this van N581PCG sill still be able to park here when the CPZ rolls out and has nothing to fear.

Don't expect an immediate reply; the blog is filled up with a few days postings at a time, from our own and other people's pics. We like pictures that cheer people up. We can't handle downbeat "oh look the range rovers in Montpelier are here" photos unless you can come up with a new way to make it entertaining or positive. We know they are there. They are always there.

We don't just want parked cars, stuff about the general Bristol traffic situation goes in. We like photos and text, and try and do one or more postings a day through advanced posting scheduling. You don't really think we were up and online before 8 do you?

Cornering

Only last week, we saw a blue honda receiving some criticism from a Kingsdown local, who was upset that they were parking on the keep clear bit of Somerset street.


Two days later we can measure the effect of such a note. Here the car R462BAE is no longer parking in the Keep Clear area; it is in Fremantle Square instead. Thus it is no longer "causing great inconvenience and is a hazard to builders trucks and other's vehicles." Well, not in Somerset street, anyway.

Bike Lanes are not that important

This Nissan, N839SFT is making it a bit tricky to get into the Nine Tree Hill bike cutting and so descend at speed down to the People's Republic of Stoke's Croft.

Well, most cyclists heading up the hill push their bikes up, and as for those descending, they get to go on the pavement and do little jump off to open up the descent. All we need is that pavement behind the car to have a bit of a ramp on it, to avoid the snakebite puncture risk when you hit it at speed.

There are hints -from the residents- that this area may embrace the CPZ. It will be interesting to see what effect it has on the area, and the vehicles that use it. It will also be interesting for the neighbouring areas, that may not embrace the CPZ so joyfully.

one way parking

Fremantle Square, Kingsdown, has effectively conceded that the one-way signs only apply to through traffic, not parked cars such as this little Honda, WP05BWL.

What's interesting is how the trend is spreading, here to Aberdeen Road, Cotham, just before child dropoff time at the school in the road.

Which is why it is justifiable. As a parent, parking the wrong way and walking your kid to school ensures that you get there in time, reducing the time and pollution costs of driving up to the St Michael's Hill mini roundabout, down Hampton Road and then in on this road in the proper direction. While for commuters, their parking at this end of the road ensures that they do not endanger schoolkids walking down the rest of the road.

Remember, one-way streets are not only put in "to benefit cars", they are there to benefit through traffic. For residents, parents and commuters, two-way streets make it easier and faster to get to your destination. Hence the sign is now considered optional.

Proud to be a rebel

Another shot of a car parked facing the wrong way down a one-way street.

There's something about Fremantle Square, Kingsdown, it brings out the rebel in people. It would be trivial to drive another 6 metres and do a quick turnabout to park facing the right way, but then the driver of the VW polo H954FPK wouldn't be making a statement. Namely "I don't believe in one way streets".

Not intimidated by signs

Perhaps because of its dark history in the Slave Trade, Bristol now takes a strong stance against discrimination and intimidation.
Here a driver shows that it will not be intimidated by "NO ENTRY" signs, by driving down and parking the wrong way.

To park the wrong way shows how proud you are to stand up to oppression!

One way streets are optional when parking

One-way streets. No entry signs. These are meant to say "do not drive down here". But if you listened to them, if you drove round the square here, the parking space might be gone. What can you do? Well, you could be sneaky, you could reverse down the road and park -nobody would no anything better. But why do that? Why hide. If you are going to drive the wrong way down a one-way street, you should show off to everyone how brave you were! And how better to do that than to park, facing the wrong way? Even better, at the end of the day, when it is time for this green kia V489 ETC to head home from Fremantle Square, you get to carry on down the wrong way down the one way street -as it is the direction in which your car is pointing!