The BBC is on our side!

It's been a bad week for us, what with the Times going over to "the other side"

Yet we are pleased to see that the BBC came out on our side, with a report on Bristol.

Yes, it lights our bollards up. We see someone wearing a helmet and hi-viz to cycle along the segregated bit of Prince Street Bridge, the one where the only vehicle likely to hit you is a boat if you ignore the "bridge swing" signs -although there is always the ice cream van at the end.

Later on, we see the BBC Bollard Man on Park Row, where he then faults someone for not having lights on as they approach the centre. At that point you can be sure the reporter isn't local -if he were he'd fault her for trying to cycle over the centre with the goal of reaching the other end alive, though she may be appearing to turn right to head towards the Watershed. Either way: in need of criticism.

We also liked the viewer's emails to back up the theme that the real problems are the people trying to cycle round our city, with both the classic evening post comment themes surfacing

• Taxpayers money is wasted on cycle paths unless they are made to use them.
• Why don't cyclists stop at crossings?

Congratulations to the BBC to standing up to this menance, not considering whether the infamous Magnatom did actually have a helmet, bright clothing and the right of way when that HGV lorry nearly ran him over.

Red Bull? We thought they were on our side!

A reader, "O.M.", tips us off with the breaking news that Red Bull are sponsoring a bike race up Park Street on Saturday night, Jan 29 at 19:00.

This sounds quite fun, we thought we could join in with the van. We swing past the racers, cut in and park on the uphill side of the road to do a delivery gambit, helping to get our main line of business -discreet delivery of sex toys to all parts of the city- a bit of publicity. But it will not be.

From 18:00, Park Street will be closed to traffic! 

This is so wrong. Not just because it denies Saturday night stretch-limos the opportunity to take stag parties up from the centre to whiteladies road, it gives the racers and the audience an unrealistic view of what Park Street is like without motor vehicles. Which then gives the audience an unrealistic view of what the city would be like without motor vehicles. Unrealistic, because all of us, from the parents driving their kids to school, to our white vans, discreetly delivering inflatable people everywhere from stokes croft to southville, keep the city alive. Have you ever tried to get a child to school on foot? Crossing the roads? Have you ever tried to get a matched set of official Sky TV presenter inflatable dolls (with the official presenters voices- its like having them on your own sofa) across the city on the back of a fixed wheel bike? It just doesn't work.

What galls us is, as  "O.M." points out, Red Bull were on our side. Their energy drink not only lets you stay up night drinking vodka until you have to drive home, if you only get three hours sleep a couple of cans of the stuff will wake you up and have you so buzzing that you'll be driving right behind the vehicle in front, flashing your lights, be they cyclist, commuter or even then avon and somerset police. There they are, doing the 20mph or 30 mph speed limit, and there you are, jittering so much you can barely text ahead to the office complaining that a police car doing 30 is holding you back and you'll need another five Jeremy Clarkson models as now he's the last remaining real man left on TV the fact that he looks like a run-over badger doesn't put the punters off.

Red Bull, whose side are you on? You sponsor a formula 1 team, the cars above, yet now you seem to think encouraging cycling will keep your business going. This fills us with resentment and fear

Also, and this is for the cyclists taking part:

We have given you Ninetree Hill. What more do you want?

Bike Parking Rollout

The long awaited bike parking on buildout rollout is taking place.

King Street East

This is in addition to the existing King Street area, next to the traffic warden writing a ticket.

Just off Park Street in Park Street Avenue

And on Tyndall's Road.

We await the Evening Post to discover these and complain, again.

However, we take a more relaxed view.

1. These are all paid parking spaces that are being taken away, and who pays to park? Only losers who don't know the secret places.
2. By not building the bike racks on the pavements, they are keeping them clear for our vans.

We're a bit miffed that the racks keep on reinforcing the myth that bicycles are welcome, despite the best efforts of our local press and conservative councillors to remind them that they are nothing, and despite the premier approaches to the city: M32, A4, A370 all going out their way to say "you'd be insane to cycle here". The fact that some do, all the way to the university, is why some students get so frustrated. There's not much we can do there though, except get together with the EP commenters and together pay for some banners to put up on the bicycle approaches to the city to say "with the money you have saved -now buy a car"

4X4 Parking opportunities off Park Street

One of our reporters "P", sends in a couple of pics of Berkeley Square, off Park Street. The first notes the availability of a large area of  parking spaces.

Yet round the corner, the range rover K200V is parked in front of the steps, on the yellow lines. Our reporter asks us to explain the reasoning here.

Well, its obvious why anyone who owns a range rover would park where it has.

• It's drive in, reverse out, saves with the trickiness of a parallel park in such a vehicle.
• It's probably cheaper. If you park in a paid area you are expected to have a ticket, whereas in the single yellow lined area, it is free except if a traffic warden is to catch you out. If the penalty is £30, if the cost of being ticketed is less than one in 30, it's cheaper than paying a pound to park for a while.
• The paid parking area may be time limited, the penalty for parking their past the limit the same as on the yellow line -so why not park closest to your destination.
• Most importantly, the steps from the park actually provide a safe and convenient access point to the vehicle. Without them, getting in and our your Range Rover can be quite tricky.

Some people my think that the RR is blocking pedestrian access to and from the park. Not so. It is possible to get in and out, you simply cannot run down the stairs and straight into passing traffic. In the absence of any tax-payer funded pedestrian safety features, the range rover driver is providing such safety features as a charitable gift to people too poor to afford their own 4X4.

Friday Brain Teaser (3)

An interesting sight - the panorama that is Bristol's Watershed, and in the background, the new Radisson Hotel.

For today's Brain teaser, however, a simple question:

Yes, the photo is awful... but, is it just us, or is there something amiss with this view?

(Comments about cycle lanes will be deleted as they only inspire the BEP to heights of journalistic expertise not generally seen outside London or New York).

Skateboarders: they dont pay road tax either

"Adam" sends us a link to a shock video showing skateboarders in the city -not just in their little skate parks, but out in the streets, the underpasses, the steps of offices.



They are not only holding up cars, they are endangering pedestrians, especially tax payers who work in the offices seen the photos. They should stop it at once.
source

The secret alternative to Park Street

It's not shown on the latest cycling city maps, but as it as the same bicycle-with-a-red-ring logos as spotted on the Portsmouth sea front, it is clear that this is part of the initiative. The lifts at Trenchard Street car park provide a key service to getting new and unfit cyclists around the city -they provide a route from the centre to Park Row that avoids any hill work

Drop down to Trenchard street, go over to the lifts. Floor 8 is the exit level. If you are unsure, aim high, so you have a bit of downhill to do, rather than uphill.

Monster Cycle

When is a motor cycle not a motor cycle? When it’s a Monster Truck!

Our St Werbian correspondent "DW" was on his way to a gig at St Georges on Wednesday the 11th of March and he spotted this amazing magic trick. This Mitsubishi Monster Truck AX56LAZ has transformed itself into a single Motorcycle and has quite neatly totally occupied the Motorcycle-only slot on Great George Street.

Better yet it’s totally jammed in by the car parking on the double yellows at the junction of Park Street.

When he came out of the gig – 2 and a half hours later – the truck was still there sans parking ticket.

20 mph Bristol Again

We mentioned the extent of the 20mph zones earlier, and the debates raging on Bristol's blogosphere on the relative merits of the proposals.

What many people may have missed, however, was Bristol City Council's innovative but unpublicised  trial last year, right in the centre of our Cycling City.

To be fair to the Council it's no wonder the new zones are being introduced as the trial proved 100% successful in keeping cyclists riding up Park Street below the new 20mph limit.

Proof if proof be needed.