How much parking does the BRI have? 1.9 miles

One aspect of the greenwash letter on the new BRI multi-storey car park was its claim that the current multi-storey transport hub only had 200 spaces. That was a surprise, as if you ever spend any time in that part of the city you will know that UBHT property can be recognised by the way all garden areas have been converted into some form of parking.

Have the PR consultants forgotten to mention that detail? Hope that locals wouldn't pick up on that any more than they'd be expected to notice that you can't set an 8 floor car park into a hill when there's a child's play area right behind it? Whatever the reason, that failure to list all the parking spaces seems designed to make you feel sorrier for those who can't park -and again, by emphasising patients over staff, going for the maximum sympathy

Sadly, we are a data driven organisation, so set out to count up the spaces ourselves. Attempt 1 was on a Sunday afternoon, it took about an hour to get round and is too boring to share. What's surprising is how many little blocks and crannies they've managed to fit a car into. We estimate that in the combin f BRI and St Michaels hill hospital "campus", there are 400+ spaces, outside the existing multi-storey transport hub. That's not obvious to patients for the following reason: a lot of these spaces are dedicated to staff. As for the disabled? You get into double digits, but really -the majority of dedicated disabled parking is the double-yellow line areas on the council roads.

Here is our second attempt at a tour of the parking areas, starting in Dove St at the children's playground the BRI pretends doesn't exist, finishing off directly above it in Marlborough Hill place. This complete loop of the many transport hubs belonging to UBHT here takes 15 minutes, and covers 1.9 miles. That is not a typo. If you cycle round each bay in the car parks, one by one, the total amount of space comes in at just under two miles. There's a small amount of public road to connect all this together, but there's parking there -free form disabled, paid for visitors. How can the hospital PR team say with a straight face that it doesn't have enough parking when it has 1.9 miles worth?


What they should be doing is looking at the allocation of it: how much to staff parking, does facilities have theirs in the right places, how many people with disabled parking needs come a day -and are they satisfied. Instead, we get a grand plan to poison central Bristol, one which simply puts off addressing the big issue: why does everyone seem to expect unlimited staff and visitor parking at a hospital in the centre of a city?

Anyway, here's the video showing exactly how much parking there is for the UBHT to choose how to allocate. It's taken about 5pm on the first day any light drizzle had fallen from the sky, making the roads a bit skittery; you can hear the back wheel slide out at one point.


(Literal) High point: our (expendable) reporter discovers the base of the St Michael's Chimney. It just comes up out the ground, behind the asbestos waste skip and near the toddlers house. Maybe in future it will get the recognition it deserves as central Bristol's highest structure. We'll need a Banksy or two on it first though.

For those who hate our cyclists (expendable), skip to the end of the video and you can see them getting a "snakebite" puncture just trying to ride down one of the many potholed roads in the city. This is Bristol cycling. You can't even complete a two mile loop of the BRI car parks without getting a puncture on the small amount of council road covered on the ride. Interesting question though: given this is clearly filmed as happening on a council road, are the council billable for the replacement inner tube?

Finally, purists may fault us for not actually covering three of the for floors of the existing multi-storey transport hub. Can't get in there see: staff only. The secret that UBHT press releases dare not mention.

Persecution

Someone has put a letter on the car TOB773Y saying "Please Park less Selfishly"
 
Does anyone denounce the dustbin for taking up its bit of the pavement? Or that bicycle at the bottom? So what's wrong with that car's actions?

New BRI Parking Opportunities

there's a new area to park at the BRI -they've taken away a stretch of pavement to create this expanded parking zone

In theory it's for the free bus and some "drop off only" spaces. In theory

We know that the pavement space is now a new short-term parking area for vehicles such as office team KMIIUAL

while alongside that is a new "secret" disabled parking space
 

Y726HYD  is showing us the secrets of the BRI

Problems in the RPZ

Oh dear. More tickets.

Luckily, the entire Bristol Traffic project is based in Clifton, where sights such as this are rare, even on double yellow lines.

We feel sorry for this poor driver, who has accidentally visited Cotham, and become ensnared in its Resident's Parking Zone. Three tickets in as many days.

With the registration EX11WVT, it's quite possible the driver lives in Essex, and may not be aware that it's always better to park in Clifton, rather than Cotham, especially if intending to stay in Bristol for a few days.

Bristol cyclist critical after crash with car

The BBC news is reporting that "a cyclist is in a critical condition in hospital after being hit by a car in Bristol."

Interesting they chose the phrase "hit by a car"; in London they tend to describe the bicycle as hitting the car, before going on to discuss whether they had a helmet on.

The location was describe as the junction of St Michael's Hill and Horfield Road. We've noted how this isn't that much fun in a car. This collision happened at 22:22 on a Friday, so congestion would be minimal -and there is more chance of cars driving around fast.

Judging by the signs, the collision wasn't with Park Row, it was further up the hill. There's no further details yet on what happened.

Some possibilities:

• Car and bicycle heading down the St Michaels Hill, collision.
• Car and bicycle heading down Horfield Road, collision.
• Bicycle heading up St Michaels Hill, collides with car also going up St Michaels Hill

Those are the normal two vehicles in the same-direction incidents. This junction adds some more, all of which tend to lead to side-on collisions:

• Bicycle heading down St Michaels Hill, collides with car going down Horfield Road, or up St Michaels Hil.
• Bicycle heading down Horfield Road collides with car pulling out St Michaels Hill and heading downhill
• Bicycle heading up St Michaels Hill towards Horfield Road, gets hit by a car going straight up St Michaels Hill

Nobody rational turns from St Michaels Hill into Horfield Road; its too tight. There are other options further up the hill.

The highest risk actions on a bicycle are probably

1. Heading down from St Michaels Hill, where you are exposed to vehicles heading in either direction. Gravity works in the bicycle's favour here, it pulls the bicycle forward and minimises the time side-on to traffic.
2. Heading up towards Horfield Road, where the bicycle rider is curving right and pushing slowly up something steep -any vehicle heading up St Michaels Hill in a hurry may turn over them. It's like a left hook only without the car making the left turn, it just goes straight on (hence faster), even though the road lanes turn rightwards.

On a bicycle, before the building works started, heading up through the BRI car park (the former Terrell Street) was apparently a lower hassle option. Follow the signs to A&E from Park Row, then head out to Horfield Road, or turn right to Marlborough Hill and a final bit of climbing.

 
We have no more details than the BBC article -and wish the cyclist a speedy and full recovery.

Absolute Vehicle Care Ltd, selling Alloy wheels to outsiders who inconvenience us

Dear info@absolutevehiclecare.com.

Thank you for posting your comment on our alloy wheels are for outsiders posting.

We are aware that we are the highest ranked site when you search blogspot for alloy wheels, and therefore that a comment with some banal chat and back links to your own site would help your page rank. However, as well as using nofollow links to remove them from google's PageRank scores, we have a policy that says if you spam us with attempted to links, we only make fun of you. Therefore, please accept this posting as a gift, but note that the nofollow tag above renders your link worthless and all that you will get is more spam to your email address. Sorry.

There is no point trying to push alloy wheel services to our readers, despite our broad readership in Bristol, because (a) you have a Southampton postcode and are therefore unimportant, and (b) we don't think alloy wheels have a place in the city.

Every driver who has alloy wheels values their wheels. Not only does this prevent them doing operations in the city, it holds up other traffic. Takes this video of the bottom of St Michael's Hill from last month.



The car in front of us is waiting to turn slide into the left turn lane -which has a green light onto Park Row. But it cannot do that as the car in front of it values their wheels too much to scrape against the kerb or to commit more aggressively and get both wheels entirely on the pavement, and they still have a driver-side wingmirror to lose. The selfish decision of the first car to have alloy wheels not only slows them down, it slows down the rest of the city's traffic. And this is on a Sunday! Imagine how much congestion one selfish alloy-wheel owning outsider would cause on a busy weekday morning!

Drivers who value their vehicle's bodywork and paintwork are as much an inconvenience to us locals as pedestrians on zebra crossings and cyclists pootling along. You may not realise this as you live in the provinces and dream of day trips to Portsmouth where you can see three cars in a row, but we city folk know the harsh truth: from a game-theory perspective, alloy wheels place you at a disadvantage. They are easily damaged and, as they are a visible status symbol, everyone else sees that you value your car, therefore are more likely to give way on high conflict roads, such as here, the Horfield Road/St Michael's Hill junction.

Please do not bother posting any more spam advertisement comments, as we will only continue to criticise you for your naive lack of understanding of modern driving techniques and issues, as well as your complete ignorance of game theory and its application in city driving.

Thank you,

The Bristol Traffic Team.

It's too late for bike parking or walking here -so add more car space

hDown at the BRI, again. Nowhere to park the car. Again.

First thought: the pavement at the entrance. But no, even the dropped kerb by the crossing was already occupied by DN08JYX. Pity: that's the last £0 parking area to the hospital.

Down into the A&E ambulances only section, again, all the parking spaces full, and the pavements occupied -this time by hospital vehicles..

Here at the newly built Bristol Heart Institute, there is no official motorbike or bicycle parking, so those troublemakers who motorbike or cycle in are appropriately penalised for their choices.

There is disabled parking, so this car WV03YKP, whose driver nearly knocked someone in crutches off as they turned in over the zebra crossing, does have somewhere to park. But even there, there is a no motorbikes sign. Presumably you cannot ride a motorbike if you are disabled, or if you can, you can still park somewhere else.

You see, by its very nature, the Bristol Heart Institute is going to get unhealthy, unwell, unfit people. People who drive and smoke, not people who cycle. There is no point providing any bicycle parking in this new building, because they are not the customers. No, what we need is affordable car parking for the patients.

Secret BRI Parking

If you ever get directed by the NHS helpline to drive a small child down to the BRI kids A&E, you are left with the problem of parking.  Assuming you do have an emergency, go into the ambulance only bit outside the Bristol Heart Institute, then -staying outside the warren of buildings- go down to the A&E unit. Drop the kid off and then nip out to worry about the problem of parking without getting fined.

Even if there is space in the parking area, it's minimum cost is £4, in coins, and if you are on an emergency run you may not have it to hand. Out in the street is cheaper as you can pay in smaller amounts. But pay you still do.

Which is why we are pleased to pass on some news about secret BRI parking places, this time credit to the Kingsdown Conservation Group for tipping us off.

Southwell Street. Between Horfield Road and St Michael's Hill (the direction the camera is facing). On the left, St Michael's Hill hospital, on the right, the BRI's new Southwell House. And what's that on the right? Parking. Big enough for a truck

Coming from St Michael's Hill, you can fit a van or estate car in. Even though you poke out into the road, the large yellow barrier ensures that there will no passing traffic, not even passing bicycles. Your paintwork is better protected here than in any nearby roads.

Here then, is our secret BRI parking. There's just one small problem, according to the signage that appears to have gone up as an afterthought.

YOU RISK

BEING FINED

IF YOU PARK

HERE

THESE SPACES ARE NOT
DESIGNATED AS
PUBLIC PARKING

This is where it gets complex.The hospital clearly consider these parking spaces theirs, and not for anyone else. Yet in a lovely worded letter from the Kingsdown Conservation Group, we are let onto the true nature of the parking spaces. They are, technically, pavement. As the KCG put it

UHB has appropriated the whole of the pavement for private parking. Photograph 1 shows the path on the north side of Southwell Street to be continuous. Buried in the modern concrete are the remains of traditional stone paving slabs. KCG is not aware of a Highways Act order that entitles UHB to block the pavement to pedestrians.

See that? Not hospital parking. Pavement. It may have concrete on top, but the slabs are still there. Which makes it our pavement. Open to any of us city tax payers to park on.

The KCG include some questions in their letter

We would like the City to answer a number of questions. They are:
1. Does UHB have a legal right to invite drivers to park across and block the whole of the northern pavement of Southwell Street?
2. Does UHB have legal authority to erect and to maintain a permanent barrier across Southwell Street?
3. Does the Highways Department have a right to approve the quality and appearance of a legally authorised barrier?
4. Does the Highways Department agree that vehicles emerging from the hospital car park into a Southwell Street are a danger to pedestrians and cyclists?
5. Does it propose to improve the safety of Southwell Street?

We have some of our own.:

1. If the north side of Southwell street is technically pavement, who is authorised to fine vehicles for parking there without permission?
2. In particular, does that "you risk being fined if you park here" sign mean that it is Bristol Parking Services, Avon and Somerset Police, or the BRI?
3. If you do park there, and the BRI do issue a fine, can they actually enforce it?

We await answers. We would also be very curious to know what happens when you do park here. Anyone willing to experiment would have an entertaining day. Alternatively, someone malicious could call Bristol Parking Services or the police and report a number of illegally parked vehicles. That would be fun too, especially if they hung around with a video camera to see what happened next.

In the meantime, we would like to draw attention to the fact that this popular student route suffers from bicycles on the pavement, just by the barrier. It seems that a wide yellow barrier and a chain on one side is not sufficient to prevent bicycles. We propose a low barrier at the height of a cyclists head. They may get knocked off, but provided they have a helmet it will do no damage -and they are at least outside a hospital.

Insensitive bike parking

The way this bike is parked, it is blocking all access to the pavement alongside the Scotsman pub. At the very least, this will inconvenience the driver of the Mercedes W679PBD

The vehicle to its left, is the Easy Runner store van, who are based across the road.

This shop, which proudly sports a "Say no to CPZ" sign, is the premier running shop in Bristol -the best place to by high visibility clothing to ensure that you are not run down by a car when running round the city streets.

Some people may feel there is something wrong with a running shop trying to enhance runner safety yet against plans to control city parking, and seemingly willing to park on the pavements themselves, but that is missing the point. Hi-Viz clothing is more than a defence against being run-over, it is a fashion statement!

Welcome to the C-zone

Bristol Dave has put up a proposed map of the Congestion Zone. This is the same blog that had the -accurate- resident parking zone maps before anyone else, so it certainly represents thinking by part of the team that was in power up until last Tuesday

The central zone isn't surprising, but the Northern Zone is.

1. All of that area but the Nugent Hill area will be in the RPZ. Assuming that goes ahead, and the residents get free entry (not guaranteed, because the RPZ map includes the southern side of Cotham Road, but this C-zone would only work with cameras on St Michael's Hill and Cotham Road South, those being the main entry points. A camera would be needed at the end of Kingsdown parade too.
   
2. With Horfield Road in the C-zone, there is no way to get from Cotham to the centre except via Whiteladies Road or Gloucester Road.
3. With Arley Hill and Elmdale Road in the C-zone, there is no way to get to Whiteladies Road or Gloucester Road except coming in further north (Aberdeen Road, Zetland Road) and then turning south.
4. So this removes all incentive to drive through the area to get to or from Park Row.
   
5. Given the area will all become RPZ, the through-drivers could be addressed by four ANPR cameras -at the St Michael's Hill/Park Row junction, Woodland Road/Park Row, Arley Hill/Gloucester Road and Elmdale Road/Triangle. Make them red-light/speed cameras too, for the fun of it.
6. It will be a tax on everyone from Cotham and Redland who drives to the North Fringe via Kingsdown-St James-Barton-M32, but not if they go on Kellaway-Avenue and Filton Avenue.
   
7. The proposed C-zone also targets one group not affected by the proposed-RPZ -university car parking in the A-B-C car park zones and nearby pavements, and BRI staff.
   

Given the university have just clamped down on bicycles parked out of their -overflowing- bike parks, it's hard to feel sympathy. To be fair though, to get a staff permit to use their parking spaces costs a few hundred pounds a year, and the permits are limited, so a lot of staff don't bother, they park-and-walk for free. As for the BRI, it's pushing for extra staff parking. They may get it -at a price.

Running Work

Contributor "IW" posts these in, cars parking on the extended parking area at the junction between Horfield Road and St Michael's Hill, alongside that fine tavern, the Scotchman and his Pack.

"IW" thinks that they may be associated with the running shop across the road, and while the car X385BHT may be parked on some bit of cobbled driveway, the other one, WN06OHH is on the pavement.

Well, that's one that will take a close looking at 1:1500 maps or something similar, but anyway, it's moot. If they are associated with the running shop, they are parked there for a reason. When you get shoes from that shop, you can go out and run up and down the hill to see if they work on your feet. The uphill/downhill stretch tests the shoes absorbance and springiness. Which is not enough for urban bristol running -you need to be able to swerve round cars on the pavement, which means you need good turning abilities, adequate traction, but not too much friction.

By parking cars on the pavement, the shop may be providing a more realistic test facility for their customers.

The St Michaels Hill Party

The University Lecturer who got to ski down St Michael's Hill managed to get a call of help out to the rest of the city -everyone else was stranded on the summit.

With the roads to the city closed, and the Herbert's Bakery delivery van failing to make it up from Montpelier, the only sources of food were Cafe Gusto, which serves good sandwiches but no beer, and the Highbury Vaults, which serves good beer, but no pies for vegetarians.

Cafe Gusto was overflowing, but it had food and coffee and managed to prevent the locals from having to fall back to cannibalism to survive, Donner Party style. There hasn't been a cannibalism incident in Kingsdown since the heavy-rain storm of 1992, when four centimetres of rain in 24 hour period forced the locals to eat household pets and elderly relatives to survive. this time, everyone was hoping the emergence of a set of cafes by the University would provide sustenance alongside Somerfields, and that such incidents would not be repeated.

By lunchtime ski conditions were sub-optimal, so for entertainment I sent the small child I own down the hill on a sledge. Note this is the side of the road with steps; gives it the same entertainment value as a grade 5 rafting route. It seemed passable, adding more pubs to the set of food-options for the area.

The other food source was the fish and chip shop on Horfield Road. These motorists who (wisely) abandoned their cars at the top of the hill had somewhere safe to go in and live of cod and chips with curry sauce until the police came to show them how to walk to work.

Hiver sur la rue des champs des putains

Our contributor TG manages to get up and over l'alpe des neuf abres, and in six minutes is viewing trouble on Horfield Road. Someone has put a warning sign up. Clearly it is discouraging traffic. It is also making the cusp of the hill extra tricky for the little car that has just managed to get all way up the steepest stretch.

Just to the left of that photo is this scene, where somone has managed to skid into the railings. While normally those railings appear to be an inconvenient bit of anti-car council planning, there to stop you parking on the pavement, today they keep the pavement and the car separate with reason.

That car going past this crash, carrying on down the hill has its brake lights on, as they say in the French Alps "les feux touristique" - tourist lights. You should be using engine braking down here, not the brakes, though with ABS they are somewhat better at stopping than they used to be.

CPZ questions?

This golf is parked in front of its garage, leaving room for a camper van in front.

Were the CPZ to roll out to kingsdown, there would be no room for the camper van. But what about the car? Does the pavement in front of a garage constitute an off-road parking area? And if so, is this house already above quota for cars, so have no ability to get a ticket for camper van?

Parking Lessons

Its pretty easy to be dismissive of this learner driver, that is learning to park on the double yellow lines, but not the pavement.

This is unfair, as it is the steep hill on Horfield Road, outside the BRI. So they are learning how to hill park on double yellows; trying to do pavement hill parking is something best put off until you've got your license. Just in case you accidentally do it during the test. Congratulations to Less's Driving School for teaching the truth!
{car: WM07XRP; location: kingsdown}