As the outreach on an eight-storey car park over staff parking, adjacent to the sole child's playground near Stokes Croft takes place while everyone is out of town, we send a note to the PR team doing their utmost to make this consultation achieve the outcome the hospital wants: support, or at least acquiescence.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: bristol.traffic@gmail.com
Date: 7 August 2018 at 10:53
Subject: Re: hospital parking feedback
To: uhbt@jbp.co.uk

The Bristol Traffic Project

The Bearpit, Bristol BS2

Hello,

Thank you for your letter to residents proposing replacing the multi-storey car park comprising primarily of staff parking with a new, larger car park composing primarily of staff parking.

There appear to be a few other omissions from your letter

1. The claim "it will be a transport hub" fails to consider the existing multi-storey staff car park has staff bicycle parking, as does the Southwell Street facility. If adding secure bike parking to a car park makes it a "Transport Hub", then the existing car park must also qualify for this term.
2. The fact that existing Eugene Street car park is primarily staff parking. We estimate of your quoted 192 spaces, 165 are exclusively for staff.
3. The fact that total parking capacity across the BRI and St Michael's hill area comes to 1.9 miles —and that's without including the three floors of staff-only parking in the existing car park
4. The fact that air quality in inner Bristol is a significant health hazard, and that if that 800 space car park were used for higher turnover visitor parking, there would be many more than the baseline 1600 journeys/day one would expect. This will generate significant congestion in the area, along with the pollution.
5. The "it is set back in the hill" claim misses to note that it will in fact tower over the Dove St children's park behind it —the sole childrens play area within a part of the city whose demographics markers indicate "somewhat deprived".

We like to consider ourselves the purveyors of an ironic perspective of Bristol's many traffic issues, so are tempted to cherish the delicious irony of your proposal, "increase hospital staff and visitor parking at the expense of the health of staff, visitors and residents", along with "improve staff parking by removing staff housing".

However, we've decided instead to stare in disbelief at the disingenuous hypocrisy of claiming to be doing this for the health of patients where it appears to be more of a reaction to the residents parking zone changes, combined with an excel spreadsheet showing the revenue opportunities of high-turnover visitor parking.

We shall cover this topic over the summer. Expect forthcoming FoI requests to explore both the number and purpose of parking spaces across the entire Kingsdown Estate, your modelling of the congestion and health impact of adding six hundred more spaces, any artists impressions you have made of the "View from the Dove Street playground", as well as on your business model —including who is funding the project and whether you've included in your business plans the risk that a labour government will mandate that England follow Scotland and Wales in offering free hospital parking.

Current and future coverage will be appear under the URL http://bristolcars.blogspot.com/search/label/BRI

Thanks.

The Bristol Traffic Team

"Weakly-defensible data-driven traffic analysis since 2008"

bristol.traffic@gmail.com   @bristoltraffic

Archaeologists seek the fabled "lost cycle lane of Stokes Croft"

It's long been claimed that there is a pre-roman era cycle lane on Stokes Croft, hidden under the parked cars.

We now have a video of an archaeological dig that set out to explore this and other historical artifacts of the area





There ae some sightings of the fabled lost bike lanes of stokes croft at 3:07 and 4:45

Some viewers may be surprised by the fact that the university professor didn't know much about living on the Isles of Turbo, even though the university is 0.8 miles away. Remember, Bristol measures its status in vertical metres, the uni is near the top of the hill, whereas from Turbo Island the only place left to go down is the bear pit.

Even so, Stokes Croft does not like to deny opportunities to anyone -all university faculty members are invited to the island, just bring your own drinks. Some ethanol from the chemistry department would go down a treat.

How an RPZ is good for retail businesses

Further up the A38 from Stokes Croft is Gloucester Road, where the local shopkeepers are up in arms about how an RPZ will hurt their business. We recognise the main issue with the RPZ -it removes the parking options for staff- but believe that actively campaigning against is a mistake

Specifically:

1. Residents will be able to drive to the shops -without commuters and staff, and with reduced congestion, it will be easier to do so.
2. Visitors from outside the area will get free short-stay and low cost long stay parking -parking spaces that were never available!
3. It's only on a weekday, so will have no effect on the weekend revenue.

The only losers are commuters, and the staff themselves. While we understand why staff at the shops don't want to lose the right to drive to work, they have to recognise that every staff parking space has a lost opportunity cost of potential shopper. That was moot when the parking space would be taken up by commuters, but with an RPZ they will become available, so the opportunity to park suddenly becomes tangible.

The only isssue, then is the loss of commuter parking: would a reduction in commuter parking opportunities impact sales. We doubt it. 

In Stokes Croft the rollout of the RPZ, and the conversion of commuter parking to short-stay parking has tangible improvements on revenue.

Take this retail outlet, The Massage Club, here on a weekday afternoon

 
Previously, the two spaces would be taken by people parking here and then walking to the centre of town. Even if those two commuters did want to avail themselves of the offerings of the area -which, after a stressful commute down Gloucester Road isn't that common- once they've gone to work: no more customers.

Now the turnover of the parking spaces is frequent, you often get the 15 minute drop by "RPZ special", with hour long people paying for parking. With hour-long visits -a mere £1 in cost- we are looking at an increase in visitors/bay from 1/weekday -5/bay/week, to 8/weekday -40 a week. And those visitors have come to visit Stokes Croft, not driven round Dove Steet and Jamaica Street until eventually they find a slot.

Tangible revenue gains -even in a recession when there is less money to throw around.

Before anyone says "Stokes Croft is a special case" -look at Richer Sounds, where the Whiteladies road bus route has converted a commuter parking street -and side streets- into short stay parking. Richer Sounds benefit from this so much it's a key point on their home page.:

Parking Instructions:New improved parking!
Thanks to recently modified parking restrictions there is now a constant turnover of free spaces on Whiteladies Road right outside the shop, with plenty more close by on side roads.

No complaints from Whiteladies Road, either then.

This brings us back to "what does Gloucester Road have to fear?" Either its a belief that commuter parking brings in more revenue than day shoppers -or they are leading the campaign merely to ensure they have somewhere to park. The former belief must be mistaken -commuter parking finishes before 9, with the drivers returning to their cars after 17:45 -outside most shop opening hours. Which leaves staff parking. You have to be ruthless here and say what matters more: customer parking or staff parking. Your staff -they can walk, bus or even cycle if each free space brings in 8+ paying customers/day.

Correct junction tactics

This video of Stokes Croft on a weekday evening is interesting. As well as the number of cyclists trying to along a road which clearly doesn't welcome them, most drivers are taking the collect "seize the junction" option here at the junction with Jamaica Street. Indeed, the yellow-hatching only covers half the road: its OK to block vehicles coming out of Jamaica Street, just not those going in.


What is odd is that the car at the end, WR60VVG , doesn't take the junction, even though at list late in the cycle, there's a risk of the lights changing before she gets to go through. Admittedly, she has passed the lights so can't see them changing, but even so, why hold back?

It's only as she goes past the camera that we can see why: she's on the phone.

That's a problem that phone users present: they slow down the vehicles behind. If she'd been paying attention she would have gone through earlier, and another car could have come up behind. While she didn't suffer, another vehicle did.

No, this is what we'd do


At 0:15 you can see some pickup -a proper vehicle- go through the roundabout and stop in front of the Cotham Hill traffic. That lets vehicles behind turn right, and ensures that the pickup driver isn't held up by anyone else. Of course, it does block that Cotham Hill traffic, so the usual "If you don't see them they aren't there" tactic kicks in: don't look to either side.

What does the driver do. The phone would be a context switch and make them less responsive to changes in the road ahead. No, they do a better action: they eat their breakfast. There's nothing like a bacon roll and a bottle of cider for a breakfast on the road. Eating this way reduces the cost of congestion: instead of being stuck in the middle of the roundabout being "wasted" time, it is now useful. We think the drivers coming up the hill, instead of being unhappy about the driver's actions, should exploit this opportunity and have their own breakfasts.

You can't ticket me: I have diplomatic immunity

Chris Chalkley, President for Life of the PRSC, almost gets a ticket for being double-yellow line parked on Jamaica Street.

First he tries the "I have diplomatic immunity gambit", which fails. Time for a plan B.

"Ticket that van first", as he points to the other van, while he hurriedly drives off with his to park round the corner.

Artistic Massage

People get in touch. They say "Dear Bristol Traffic, which Stokes Croft establishments do you recommend for your special needs".

Apart from Slix and Rita's for food, there is a whole set of massage parlours. Some of them are being gentrified, what with the free WiFi, the mineral water and copies of French newspapers -ideal for visiting heads of the IMF and similar institutes.

None of those matter to us, but we will draw attention to the recently repainted frontage of "The Massage Club"

Needless to say, our white van is more usually seen by "the back entrance"

Remember: say you came from Bristol Traffic and ask for a discount!

Stokes Croft -it looks differently abnormal

As someone pointed out on our coverage of Picton Lane: The croft is never normal, not by the standards of the rest of society. On the streets fest day, it's just differently abnormal, in a way that didn't make the national press.

There are police outside the supermarket, but they are wearing flowers, not helmets and riot gear.

There are no minicabs in the ASL by the Canteen. Instead someone cycling with a trailer texts ahead.

In Kings Square, people play giant chess, while in the grass area, people drink red-stripe beer and consume ganga-weed. The police opt not to start another riot, and leave them alone. Lessons have been learned.

By the PRSC HQ, people in hi-viz tops, both commercial and home made, walk up and down the bike lane.

No, nobody could say Stokes Croft was normal. Differently abnormal.

Jamaica Street: more hints of Waltham Forest

Our next video of the tour of the RPZ shows the Stokes Croft end of Dighton Street - Jamaica Street. Again, it's Walthamization is ongoing. This road marks the border between Kingsdown and the part of the city where work takes place -and that means vans and vehicles: important people.

First they nip past The Bell pub, then head down Jamaica Street towards Dighton Street. One of the park cars tries to do the pull-out-no-signal trick but the cyclist is pootling along so slowly they avoid getting hit, no need for the driver to try the sorry-didn't-see-you gambit. The cyclist, so stressed by this decides to head back for the Bell Pub on the off-road bike path. This feature has been here for about 20 years, the widening of the pavement to allow this is probably treasured in Bristol cycling history.

After a short distance it drops down to the road where the cyclist would encounter the van parked at the end. However, today they can't get there because there is a roadwork sign in the middle of the bike path.

What does our cyclist do? Instead of getting off the bicycle and walking, the way they should, they do something worse. They pick up the sign and throw it to one side! Then the brick that was there to hold the sign in place!

Someone driving a car could be in a collision with the roadworks. Whoever put this sign up was clearly thinking about the safety of motorists, yet by moving the sign to one side they could create a collision. This is selfish and dangerous!

Whiteladies Road, Weekday, School run time

One more video from our tax dodging cyclist, who we sent on a mission to get crushed by a bus on Whiteladies Road. For some reason they survived.

Anyway, here is the video. Whiteladies Road from Lower Redland Road down to the triangle, Park Row and then towards Jamaica Street and Stokes Croft.


This just reinforces our previous conclusion: that during peak hours the causes of delays on our route are not pedestrians, they are in fact the big traffic jam around the Triangle. This time, continuing past the Triangle, we can see that the traffic sources there are in fact vehicles heading up Park Street or those coming in down Park Row. Which we believe is our inalienable right to do, and even with this bus network, we will continue to do.

Why then, do they want to mess around with the pedestrian crossings, the left turn by the downs into Redland Hill, or the right turn out of Cotham Hill -one that actually works well in peak hours because the pedestrians are triggering the crossings? That doesn't mean they shouldn't need a license, pay road tax and be insured, but that sometimes they have a place in our world. We just think there should be slightly less of them, and we should be exempt from stopping for them at zebra crossings.

Build outs

Some people view build outs on bike lanes as inconvenient and dangerous.

On Jamaica Street, for example, the buildout contains a tree, which forces you to be even further out -beyond the designated bike area.

Yet greenery in the city is to be cherished, and by pushing bicycles out of the bike lane, they are out of car door range of the Ford Ka W947MCU

And later on, this BMW YK52BPP, a car that its positioned carefully to stop the small child from running off the dropped kerb and into any bicycle that has swerved back in to lane

The buildout and tree is therefore protecting the pedestrians, the cyclists and the paintwork of the cars.

Update 19-may-2009: Ian W says "Those 2 pictures are on Dighton Street....It's becomes Jamaica Street at Kings Square." Thank you!

Signage

In this city, it is important that bicycles know their place and follow the signs

Here, on the downs by the Suspension Bridge, bicycles are not to cycle under the minivan PJ56WNS

But down in Stokes Croft, it is OK to go under this car

Keep an eye on those signs, as they help make your journey safer. And you may get fined for non-compliance.

Stokes Croft Roadworks

We are graced with new roadworks on Stokes Croft, removing the right turn from Jamaica Street, and the left turn from Stokes Croft to City Road. It will improve safety -eventually. But what of the process itself?

Here is Jamaica Street at 09:32 this morning. The bike lane is occupied by a car W964XLG with driver -mate in shopping at the corner store- and a organic milk van making deliveries. Nothing unusual there.

Opposite is where it gets interesting. The right turn is closed, the northbound route gone, a place has been retained for pedestrians (see the sign "Pedestrians <-->" in the bottom right of the picture)

That pedestrian space is the ideal size and location for one of the contractor's cars, WR06NAA. We know it is one of theirs as they were fairly unhappy about someone taking photographs of it. Sadly, the right of Bristol Traffic to take photographs of any car in a public place we feel like and then index their registration number is another way that NuLabour is infringing on the that greatest of British freedoms, the right to park where you like. (Having attended the Bristol showing of the Convention of Modern Liberty this weekend, it was disappointing to see that this freedom was not discussed at all. Given the organisers had also turned down our offer to talk on the infrastructure of a modern datacentre state, we had nothing to do but entertain ourselves by helping code the Apache Hadoop datamining infrastructure during the sessions. )

In theory, Jamaica street has a width of 2.5 Motor Vehicle Widths (MVWs). The car in the bike lane drops that to 1.5 MVWs; the contractor's car half-on-the-pavement subtracts another 0.5 MVWs. This leaves 1.0 MVWs, which is not enough for two lanes of traffic.

What does this mean? It means that the van turning right off Stokes Croft is going to get stuck.

Nobody is happy about this. The Mercedes is trying to get out the way to avoid being scraped, the van is sounding its horn, there is a tailback of turning vehicles to the left of the picture, and everyone is getting upset. Except for the gentleman sitting serenly in his ford fiesta. He must be listening to radio 3 or something else serene.

What to do?

1. The bike lane there needs to be marked as no parking at all, perhaps enforcement even of loading/short stay rules, at least for the proposed five weeks of work.
   
2. Contractors need to be told to stop parking here. If they want to park on double lines, they should know about Dove street and Nine Tree Hill, where they won't make the junction any worse. They are only round the corner, it won't add more than 200 metres of walk to the day's schedule. Parking over the dropped kerb of the only open pedestrian crossing in the area is not a good contribution to the area.
   
3. Contractors should be advised that it is legal to take photographs of pretty-much anything in a public street, and that arguing about someone photoing their cars parked over a bike lane sign and double yellow lines is not going to have any effect other than to add copy to our articles.