We just get rain, and sometimes cold. Which may seem bad but it does imply good cyclocross conditions, and guess what's happening at Ashton Court this sunday? A Cyclocross Event, with an under 12 category for the little ones.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Not seen in in BRS: snow
This is a photo from Switzerland, not Bristol, but it's lovely enough it deserves linking to
We just get rain, and sometimes cold. Which may seem bad but it does imply good cyclocross conditions, and guess what's happening at Ashton Court this sunday? A Cyclocross Event, with an under 12 category for the little ones.
We just get rain, and sometimes cold. Which may seem bad but it does imply good cyclocross conditions, and guess what's happening at Ashton Court this sunday? A Cyclocross Event, with an under 12 category for the little ones.
Dropped Kerbs
Here in Lockleaze, the minivan M209XHW shows how the dropped kerb at a traffic island not only provides a safer route for pedestrians, it benefits vehicles too.
The wide dropped kerb lets the van slide straight up to the pavement and so park close to the wall, letting it park between the driveway in front and the pavement crossing behind. There is adequate room for pedestrians to one side; this is the shared space we've heard so much about.
The wide dropped kerb lets the van slide straight up to the pavement and so park close to the wall, letting it park between the driveway in front and the pavement crossing behind. There is adequate room for pedestrians to one side; this is the shared space we've heard so much about.
Monday, 24 November 2008
Highbury Villas
The question of whether it is students that cause parking problems in the university area is interesting. The simple way to determine this would be to audit the streets, get the registration numbers and assume all cars registered outside the city's commuting footprint are student cars. That would require access to the central number plate database.
The alternative is just to collect the registration numbers in term time/outside term time and compare them, assuming that vehicles seen in more than one week in term time and zero times outside it are students. Thatwould be informative, but time consuming.
It's simpler just to collect some photos and make some random assertions without any data to back up the statements, that being how city planners appear to operate. Here then, is Highbury Villas, off St-Michaels hill, on a weekday. This area will not be in the CPZ, so whoever has discovered that it is a secret parking area will be able to continue to do so, possibly including the honda WU05UZR.
And here is the same road on a weekend. There is clearly a tangible difference in the number of vehicles trying to get on the yellow lines, as on a weekday there isn't a single free double yellow line to park on.
This is not within the proposed Kingsdown CPZ, incidentally, that ends on St Michael's Hill, directly behind where these photographs were taken. It will be interesting to see how more congested this street becomes after the zone is deployed.
The alternative is just to collect the registration numbers in term time/outside term time and compare them, assuming that vehicles seen in more than one week in term time and zero times outside it are students. Thatwould be informative, but time consuming.
It's simpler just to collect some photos and make some random assertions without any data to back up the statements, that being how city planners appear to operate. Here then, is Highbury Villas, off St-Michaels hill, on a weekday. This area will not be in the CPZ, so whoever has discovered that it is a secret parking area will be able to continue to do so, possibly including the honda WU05UZR.
And here is the same road on a weekend. There is clearly a tangible difference in the number of vehicles trying to get on the yellow lines, as on a weekday there isn't a single free double yellow line to park on.
This is not within the proposed Kingsdown CPZ, incidentally, that ends on St Michael's Hill, directly behind where these photographs were taken. It will be interesting to see how more congested this street becomes after the zone is deployed.
Ashley Road improvements
The new contributor "AW" has promised to send us more details on the secret driving and parking tips of Ashley Road and nearby areas. That's handy, as a lot of the searches that come to this site are looking for "secret parking bristol" or areas inside Bristol, and we don't want to disappoint them. Their first contribution is some secret out-the-door restaurant parking, as modelled by the BMW W612TRX
At first glance, the large potted trees and similar street furniture may appear to be creating a pedestrian area. But they are really there to force pedestrians and bicycles in to the narrow bit right in front of the shops, leaving the widened pavement as a safe place to park a vehicle, safe from both pedestrians and passing cars. It is also well-lit at night, to help ensure your car remains secure.
At first glance, the large potted trees and similar street furniture may appear to be creating a pedestrian area. But they are really there to force pedestrians and bicycles in to the narrow bit right in front of the shops, leaving the widened pavement as a safe place to park a vehicle, safe from both pedestrians and passing cars. It is also well-lit at night, to help ensure your car remains secure.
Minor parking difficulties at Christchurch
A brief tour of Christchurch Primary school, Clifton. This will not be in any CPZ -that will be a few streets to the south. The lead campaigner in the "Keep the parking free" group lives nearby, so presumably this is the parking he envisages.
The school itself has a little handwritten sign up on the subject, which is new
It says "Please do not park police will ticket". Technically that's wrong. In English, "will" implies inevitability, unlike willen in German, which is more aspirational.
The police may ticket. Parking Services may ticket some parking violations, but not those related to parking on the school keep clear zone for which only the police have authority. The sign should be updated to state these facts correctly. Does it have any effect in its current form?
Well, there is is a space in front of the Smartcar KY58NJU, which, by parking half on the pavement leaves enough room for a golf to get by
The golf PY54JFG, which also makes sure there is enough room for passing cars when it pulls up at the school gates.
Other cars, such as WN07LPE appear more concerned about pedestrian access than protecting their wing mirrors, so park a bit more on the road in the keep clear zone right in front of the entrance. Far enough out to let people past, and slow down passing cars to 20mph.
When last discussing this school, the need to drop kids off by car came up, with readers commenting on how lazy children were now. Perhaps they are used to travelling by car because that is what they are used to, in which case the question is : why do so many now parents drop the kids off by car instead of walking them in? Increased wealth: two car households are now common, and increased workload: both parents working means that whoever drops the kids off have a limited amount of time between dropoff and work. Also, with more choice in schooling -the old "this postcode means that school" rule is gone -hence some kids have further to go. These parents have no choice but to drive, hence they have no option other than parking on the pavement, the keep clear zone or the school-no-parking area.
The school itself has a little handwritten sign up on the subject, which is new
It says "Please do not park police will ticket". Technically that's wrong. In English, "will" implies inevitability, unlike willen in German, which is more aspirational.
The police may ticket. Parking Services may ticket some parking violations, but not those related to parking on the school keep clear zone for which only the police have authority. The sign should be updated to state these facts correctly. Does it have any effect in its current form?
Well, there is is a space in front of the Smartcar KY58NJU, which, by parking half on the pavement leaves enough room for a golf to get by
The golf PY54JFG, which also makes sure there is enough room for passing cars when it pulls up at the school gates.
Other cars, such as WN07LPE appear more concerned about pedestrian access than protecting their wing mirrors, so park a bit more on the road in the keep clear zone right in front of the entrance. Far enough out to let people past, and slow down passing cars to 20mph.
When last discussing this school, the need to drop kids off by car came up, with readers commenting on how lazy children were now. Perhaps they are used to travelling by car because that is what they are used to, in which case the question is : why do so many now parents drop the kids off by car instead of walking them in? Increased wealth: two car households are now common, and increased workload: both parents working means that whoever drops the kids off have a limited amount of time between dropoff and work. Also, with more choice in schooling -the old "this postcode means that school" rule is gone -hence some kids have further to go. These parents have no choice but to drive, hence they have no option other than parking on the pavement, the keep clear zone or the school-no-parking area.
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Think of the children
Its a common sight in the mornings: bored kids in the back of the 4x4, playing on the Nintendo DS while they sit in traffic jams. Some people say that things would be better if the kids got to walk or cycle to school. The people who say that are not small children.
Look at the expression on this girl's face. She's just had to come up Cotham Brow or Nugent Hill, both of which hurt enough as a grown up. As a child, pushing an overweight and underfit parent up, with nothing to look at but their shiny clothes, well, you'd be unhappy too.
Look at the expression on this girl's face. She's just had to come up Cotham Brow or Nugent Hill, both of which hurt enough as a grown up. As a child, pushing an overweight and underfit parent up, with nothing to look at but their shiny clothes, well, you'd be unhappy too.
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Who parks in the University Quarter?
While discussing the Kingsdown CPZ last week, we asked "who parks in the University quarter"? We got a reply from bikerchick, who has some good insight on this, including
Later on in the day: same location: university vehicles.
R763FWS and the vehicle behind it are both, presumably in the day to day execution of their work, and forced to park on pavement due to all the students parked nearby.
As for the staff, well, you'd need a staff sticker to park blocking the bike shed, wouldn't you?
More research is needed.
Well, that's some interesting data we need to acquire. Here's woodland road, weekday afternoon. The van WR5WLP half in the bike lane: university vehicle. One van on the pavement: university vehicle.
From what I see on a day to day basis the majority of the cars parked around the University side of Clifton belong to students
I think we should be thinking of putting more pressure on the universities not to allow students to bring cars to town especially if they live in the surrounding areas, which they usually do.
I'm pretty sure that staff from universities just simply don't bother driving to work if they don't have a permit as they soon come to term with there simply isn't any space to park, which might explain why so many ride motorcycles-)
Later on in the day: same location: university vehicles.
R763FWS and the vehicle behind it are both, presumably in the day to day execution of their work, and forced to park on pavement due to all the students parked nearby.
As for the staff, well, you'd need a staff sticker to park blocking the bike shed, wouldn't you?
More research is needed.
A reader writes in
A message appears in the inbox
People have an optimistic expectation of privacy on the public road, especially of them, their house, their car, their family. Whereas in fact, as the recently Moseley trial shows, you only have a right to privacy if when, as the son of Britain's most well known fascist politician, a politician married in Joseph' Goebbel's house in Berlin, you engage in sex acts with prostitutes and speak in mock German accents while dressed in army uniforms in a private house. The streets are public and anything you do there can go into print, on TV or up on the web. We take pics and put them in our files. The government builds up a multi-petabyte filesystem logging everyone's mobile phone location and ANPR number plate information. Both activities are currently legal. Indeed, there is nothing but engineering issues stopping us building our own numberplate and telephone tracking infrastructure -though we have plans there.
The other thing to think about is: do you really want a confrontation? Does it help? Isn't it a bit dangerous? Why not take a pic of the back of the vehicle and the option to talk about it. without getting into an argument with the driver? That gives us the photo and you avoid getting in to an altercation. There is also the risk the driver is left in an even more unstable anti-bike state than before.
To conclude then: if you come across any member of the Moseley family having paid sex on a Bristol street: take the pic and sell it to the papers. If a car leaves you feeling unhappy on your walk, cycle or drive round town, photo the car discreetly, with plate and location, send it in.
On that topic, there's a new address for photos: bristol.traffic at gmail.com . Videos are welcome along with stills. What is important is entertainment value. Fights no, funny yes.
We've also heard that since the parking zone proposals came out we've drifted away from shallow entertainment to dull road theory things. Sorry. Shallow and entertaining will be resumed shortly.
"Hi, do you like to talk about driving as well as parking"Yes, it's just harder to photo.
"I was cycling back from UWE today [ed: Nov 20] the car P9 CAT cut me up on Shaldon Road and was abusive at the lights"It's hard for us to judge who was right and wrong. All we can say is that 'A car that may have had the number plate P9CAT seemed to have a difference of opinions about the rights of bicycles to Shaldon Road.' If we had a photo of the car we could less ambiguous about the car registration number.
"The car was a silver Renault Scenic and the driver was wearing a Bristol Council jumper".How about: 'the car appeared to be a silver Renault Scenic and the driver appeared to be wearing Bristol Council-branded clothing'. Which implies the driver may have been part of our Cycling City council, or may have have just had some of their clothes.
"He got very upset when I tried to take a photo with my phone".You do have legal rights here, but you have to be discreet about them. One trick that may work is to switch the camera/phone into video mode and record the conversation without pointing the camera at the driver, make it look like you are fiddling with the camera, but not actually taking pics. You could even point the camera towards the car without holding it up and looking like you are filming.
People have an optimistic expectation of privacy on the public road, especially of them, their house, their car, their family. Whereas in fact, as the recently Moseley trial shows, you only have a right to privacy if when, as the son of Britain's most well known fascist politician, a politician married in Joseph' Goebbel's house in Berlin, you engage in sex acts with prostitutes and speak in mock German accents while dressed in army uniforms in a private house. The streets are public and anything you do there can go into print, on TV or up on the web. We take pics and put them in our files. The government builds up a multi-petabyte filesystem logging everyone's mobile phone location and ANPR number plate information. Both activities are currently legal. Indeed, there is nothing but engineering issues stopping us building our own numberplate and telephone tracking infrastructure -though we have plans there.
The other thing to think about is: do you really want a confrontation? Does it help? Isn't it a bit dangerous? Why not take a pic of the back of the vehicle and the option to talk about it. without getting into an argument with the driver? That gives us the photo and you avoid getting in to an altercation. There is also the risk the driver is left in an even more unstable anti-bike state than before.
To conclude then: if you come across any member of the Moseley family having paid sex on a Bristol street: take the pic and sell it to the papers. If a car leaves you feeling unhappy on your walk, cycle or drive round town, photo the car discreetly, with plate and location, send it in.
On that topic, there's a new address for photos: bristol.traffic at gmail.com . Videos are welcome along with stills. What is important is entertainment value. Fights no, funny yes.
We've also heard that since the parking zone proposals came out we've drifted away from shallow entertainment to dull road theory things. Sorry. Shallow and entertaining will be resumed shortly.
Friday, 21 November 2008
Middle of the Road
This is early evening near Somerfield's on St Michael's Hill, pencilled in as part of the Kingsdown CPZ. A zone in which it is promised that there will be short-stay parking provided for the shops, so that you can nip in and out of the local supermarket with ease. Currently there is 1-hour-max echelon-parking zone in front of the supermarket (echelon parking is Dept of Transport speak for sideways parked; it is very dangerous to bikes and not advised). Because parking times aren't enforced, its a park-all-day zone for everyone and the nearby taxi firm. What to do if you want to shop? Especially given there is no cycle parking here.
This car, P455GBD has shown what to do. Just stop in the middle of the road. Yellow line rules apply to the side of the road. They even apply to pavements.
But the middle of the road? Unlikely. If that was the case you would not be able to have roads which have yellow lines on one side only. Indeed, its possible that you will still be able to park this way once the CPZ gets deployed.
Middle of the road parking area it is, then.
This car, P455GBD has shown what to do. Just stop in the middle of the road. Yellow line rules apply to the side of the road. They even apply to pavements.
But the middle of the road? Unlikely. If that was the case you would not be able to have roads which have yellow lines on one side only. Indeed, its possible that you will still be able to park this way once the CPZ gets deployed.
Middle of the road parking area it is, then.
Cycle Infrastructure
There is now a fairly long Department of Transport document up online on "Cycle Infrastructure Design"
It covers when to/when not to segregate bikes from other road traffic, how to do safe cycle facilities, etc.
Two obvious failings
It covers when to/when not to segregate bikes from other road traffic, how to do safe cycle facilities, etc.
Two obvious failings
- No awareness of mountain bikes. Not only do things like A-frame motorbike barriers get in the way, a lot of their cycle speed calming measures are just a form of entertainment to a mountain bike in a hurry. Hopefully the Bristol Trails Group won't see their recommendations about track surface, minimum distance from trees, etc.
- Roundabouts (p58). The document acknowledges their danger, especially those with left-feeds, and discusses how bigger radius roundabouts (e.g. St James Barton, St Pauls/M32 and Lawrence Hill roundabouts) allow cars to get up more speed and are more dangerous. But a key suggestion is "not generally recommended on cycle routes.". Given the data they cite on roundabout design, surely we should be considering -if cycling is to be considered a legitimate form of transport- whether roundabouts should still be being built. After all, if unmanned level crossings are being withdrawn for safety reasons, why can't we have a "no new roundabouts" policy. It may seem ambitious, but round-is-bad.
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Real victims of the CPZ
Here's a business that is going to suffer from the new CPZ/RPZ, as it is in Oxford Street, between Cotham Road and High Kingsdown, on a dead end to cars, through road to pedestrians. It's the local garage.
MOTs, engine repairs, brakes, etc: they do it. Reasonable pricing and because it is local, you don't have to drive over the city for vehicle work. But its in the zone. Which means the street outside that they managed as a parking area for vehicles not in active repair are going to be restricted to zone members only. This isn't good -something needs to be done for such organisations otherwise everyone ends up driving to chain garages in St Philips instead.
Given the zone is going ahead, it would seem timely for the residents to come up with a proposal to migitate the damage here. Something like a small number of temporary visitor permits that they can move from car to car. This garage is part of the community. Also, by taking the edge off such things, they will eliminate the stories that will come out against the program.
MOTs, engine repairs, brakes, etc: they do it. Reasonable pricing and because it is local, you don't have to drive over the city for vehicle work. But its in the zone. Which means the street outside that they managed as a parking area for vehicles not in active repair are going to be restricted to zone members only. This isn't good -something needs to be done for such organisations otherwise everyone ends up driving to chain garages in St Philips instead.
Given the zone is going ahead, it would seem timely for the residents to come up with a proposal to migitate the damage here. Something like a small number of temporary visitor permits that they can move from car to car. This garage is part of the community. Also, by taking the edge off such things, they will eliminate the stories that will come out against the program.
Council Parking Strategy
We have discovered the council's parking strategy. It's not a secret, what is surprising is there actually was a strategy. One that places priority on parking enforcement in the "outer zone" -that's the non-revenue earning parts of the city- to : avoid obstructions to traffic flow, to avoid road safety hazards and to maintain journey time reliability for buses. No mention of bike paths. no direct mention of safe pedestrian crossing. Just traffic flow. Interesting
Most ironical statement of the report is the risk assessment on page 8:
[Photo: End of CPZ on St Michael's Hill. For anyone doing hill-climbing training, this is the turnaround point and a time for rest before repeating the climb. The two buildings on the right are scheduled for replacement by something more grandiose in the University plans. ]
Most ironical statement of the report is the risk assessment on page 8:
The City Council's effectiveness as a Transport Authority is at risk in the absence of a comprehensive and coherent Parking Strategy.Yes it is.
[Photo: End of CPZ on St Michael's Hill. For anyone doing hill-climbing training, this is the turnaround point and a time for rest before repeating the climb. The two buildings on the right are scheduled for replacement by something more grandiose in the University plans. ]
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Not affected by the CPZ
When the CPZ is rolled out to York Road, Clifton, it won't be live on a sunday, so this taxi will be able to park on the pavement by the double yellow lines on a Sunday lunchtime.
Some aspects of Bristol life will remain unchanged. Taxis are allowed to park where they like.
[taxi #2036 PX55SVL]
Some aspects of Bristol life will remain unchanged. Taxis are allowed to park where they like.
[taxi #2036 PX55SVL]
DIY Mudguards
Now that winter is here, mud conditions are looking excellent, but they do make the bike -and you- dirtier
Someone in the bike shop had this little home-made mini-guard for front suspension bikes out of an old inner tube.
It looks like you take one old tube, slit it sideways to make it wide, then wrap it down from the crown to the crossbar of the lower fork bits and back up again, with cable ties to hold everything in place.
Whether it is any use or not is not known to us. Proof -with photos- that it works welcome. It probably stops some of the water the wheel lifts up from going into your face, but that's about it. It is cheap if you use a punctured inner tube with too many patches to be considered worth repairing again, and should adapt to the suspension nicely. Worth a go.
Someone in the bike shop had this little home-made mini-guard for front suspension bikes out of an old inner tube.
It looks like you take one old tube, slit it sideways to make it wide, then wrap it down from the crown to the crossbar of the lower fork bits and back up again, with cable ties to hold everything in place.
Whether it is any use or not is not known to us. Proof -with photos- that it works welcome. It probably stops some of the water the wheel lifts up from going into your face, but that's about it. It is cheap if you use a punctured inner tube with too many patches to be considered worth repairing again, and should adapt to the suspension nicely. Worth a go.
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Pavements: not just for big cars
One fact that is showing up in our photo database is that big cars that are hard to park end up taking most advantage of the double yellow line and keep clear facilities of this city. And well they should. By leaving these areas free of smaller cars, it leaves space for the larger ones, so allowing the city to accomodate many types of vehicle.
But that does not mean that pavements are for big cars only, as shown by this Matiz WF02SHG up on Shaldon Road, which has managed to get further in than the nearby cars.
Or this SmartCar HN02KRX on the opposite side of the road, which is also taking advantage of the lowered pavement.
Why do this? Because it reduces the chances of your vehicle being scraped by other vehicles. Accordingly, the distance on the pavement you park is driven not by how wide your vehicle is, but by how much you value it. The more you value it, the further on the pavement you get, until eventually you are fully on the pavement. It's not just about protecting your car, it's about making a statement about how much you care about it, one for everyone else to see. It says "my car is more important".
Bristol: we love cars, but mostly we loves our own car.
But that does not mean that pavements are for big cars only, as shown by this Matiz WF02SHG up on Shaldon Road, which has managed to get further in than the nearby cars.
Or this SmartCar HN02KRX on the opposite side of the road, which is also taking advantage of the lowered pavement.
Why do this? Because it reduces the chances of your vehicle being scraped by other vehicles. Accordingly, the distance on the pavement you park is driven not by how wide your vehicle is, but by how much you value it. The more you value it, the further on the pavement you get, until eventually you are fully on the pavement. It's not just about protecting your car, it's about making a statement about how much you care about it, one for everyone else to see. It says "my car is more important".
Bristol: we love cars, but mostly we loves our own car.
RTA at the harbour
Chris Hutt mailed this in: "This is from this evening 5 pm down outside the Museum of Bristol. A female cyclist has come off when crossing the rails where the points are. She and her husband are staying at the caravan park at the other end of the floating harbour, visiting Bristol (perhaps encouraged to cycle on the basis of the cycling City news?). Injuries turned out to be minor and she was eventually able to walk away"
The Evening Post recently had a two page special from some visitors to the city staying at the same caravan park, complaining about the bikes cycling along the mixed-use bits of the harbour. Perhaps this week's will have some other visitors, complaining about the quality of those mixed use bits of the harbour. The underlying problem is that railway tracks are slippery in the wet, and you really need to cross them at right angles rather than slide up alongside them -that drops you: hard, but according to Chris, fixable. The ongoing building works don't help as they constrain the route, and then there is the car access and parking which is viewed as essential to retain, forcing cyclists and pedestrians into a limited bit of the route -the place where things go wrong. And there is no north-of-harbour alternative yet.
The Evening Post recently had a two page special from some visitors to the city staying at the same caravan park, complaining about the bikes cycling along the mixed-use bits of the harbour. Perhaps this week's will have some other visitors, complaining about the quality of those mixed use bits of the harbour. The underlying problem is that railway tracks are slippery in the wet, and you really need to cross them at right angles rather than slide up alongside them -that drops you: hard, but according to Chris, fixable. The ongoing building works don't help as they constrain the route, and then there is the car access and parking which is viewed as essential to retain, forcing cyclists and pedestrians into a limited bit of the route -the place where things go wrong. And there is no north-of-harbour alternative yet.
Monday, 17 November 2008
Cumberland Road Detours
Cumberland road is closed -emergency repairs to keep it out the river. Good thing this happens before BRT routes go in on top of it.
We are fortunate here to have an ever-growing set of correspondents, and are grateful for some pics from "Q" of the consequences.
As our correspondent says
Clearly these emergency roadworks on Cumberland Road, scheduled during a weekday, are a sign of how anti car Bristol is.
We are fortunate here to have an ever-growing set of correspondents, and are grateful for some pics from "Q" of the consequences.
I've been vastly amused (I work down there) at the number of vehicles that have ignored the road closed signs, driven half way along it, and then had to turn around because it really was closed. Not a problem on a bicycle, though.The cars are being diverted over Princes Street Bridge and then into the centre, which leads to a followon problem. How to get to the centre. Clearly the scale of the emergency is such that cars are being forced to use the buses only route, such as this car W932GSO appears to be doing
As our correspondent says
One knock-on effect, however, was that the traffic queue at the Marsh Street/Baldwin Street lights was slightly longer than usual, resulting in some interesting attempts by motorists to pretend to be cyclists instead and mix it with the busses on the centre. This chap was really given a hard time by First's Finest who really made him wait!.
Clearly these emergency roadworks on Cumberland Road, scheduled during a weekday, are a sign of how anti car Bristol is.
Smile, you're on CCTV
This bike rack is on Cotham Hill, outside Films@59 -I think it was something they had to put in to get consent on a planning application
It's popular, and has CCTV coverage to give your bike the illusion of security. There's even a sign on the window, "Smile, you're on CCTV" to remind people. Unfortunately, the staff tell us that when they've seen bike thefts/attempted bike thefts on the CCTV and called it in, nobody has bothered to come round. Which means even with CCTV coverage, your bike isn't safe here.
One way to make Bristol a Cycling City is not just make it somewhere where people feel safe to cycle around, but somewhere where you feel safe to leave your bike parked.
It's popular, and has CCTV coverage to give your bike the illusion of security. There's even a sign on the window, "Smile, you're on CCTV" to remind people. Unfortunately, the staff tell us that when they've seen bike thefts/attempted bike thefts on the CCTV and called it in, nobody has bothered to come round. Which means even with CCTV coverage, your bike isn't safe here.
One way to make Bristol a Cycling City is not just make it somewhere where people feel safe to cycle around, but somewhere where you feel safe to leave your bike parked.
John Carr's Terrace #2
First, a correction to the earlier post. John Carr's Terrace, behind the H&A, isn't part of the zone.
Even so this Brandon Hill back road isn't a great place to think about parking your car before heading down to the Hope and Anchor for a few of their fine beers. But it will end up surrounded by restricted parking areas, so it is handy to remember.
If the CPZ included an enforcement of those double and single yellow pavements, the parking capacity of this road would drops by half. Presumably every vehicle on the right hand side of this photo belongs to a household that voted against the plan. And everyone on the left, because the vehicles on the right would be trying to get into their area.
There's a price of staying out the CPZ area though: the cars don't get the option of parking on Jacob's wells road. By opting to retain the right to park illegally on the pavement by their house, they've lost the option of parking legally round the corner.
[photo by Chris Hutt]
Even so this Brandon Hill back road isn't a great place to think about parking your car before heading down to the Hope and Anchor for a few of their fine beers. But it will end up surrounded by restricted parking areas, so it is handy to remember.
If the CPZ included an enforcement of those double and single yellow pavements, the parking capacity of this road would drops by half. Presumably every vehicle on the right hand side of this photo belongs to a household that voted against the plan. And everyone on the left, because the vehicles on the right would be trying to get into their area.
There's a price of staying out the CPZ area though: the cars don't get the option of parking on Jacob's wells road. By opting to retain the right to park illegally on the pavement by their house, they've lost the option of parking legally round the corner.
[photo by Chris Hutt]
John Carrs Terrace
Chris Hutt visited his local proposed RPZ area to see what impact the zone would have on local life. This was a Sunday -the day the zone would not be live. Presumably, these pavement spaces will be open to anyone on those days
The rest of the week, only residents will be able to park on these pavements. The alternative: no parking on pavements, is too unthinkable to consider.
The rest of the week, only residents will be able to park on these pavements. The alternative: no parking on pavements, is too unthinkable to consider.
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