RIP Bristol Urban Design Team

They've gone and removed Bristol's famous Free Parking Space.

In what appears to be a concerted attack on motorists, fly-parkers, and anyone concerned with quality in the 'Public Realm', Bristol City Council have unilaterally blocked access to this well-known Bristol attraction. This is pedestrianisation by stealth.

What was an apparently well-designed and considered contribution to our inner-city highway infrastructure is now little more than a fly tipping opportunity. Or an exclusive 4x4 parking bay.

Or are the cycling-city mob about to fill it with bike stands?

Game Theory at Sussex Place junction

We are still seeking photos of the days when there was a mini-roundabout here, but until then we are blessed with this photograph of what the junction looked like pre-widening. Remember, at this time there was a bike lane and a pavement wide enough for a pedestrian to get past any parked cars. The improvements to the junction are to reduce pollution by helping traffic flow. Pedestrians and tax-dodging cyclists can use the back roads instead.

As to what is going on here, our Reporter "TJ", says

The picture was taken from Ashley Road and the sequence of events was as

follows:

• Lights are green for traffic coming off Ashley Road
• Lower Ashley Road was stationery and traffic from Ashley Road (white transit followed by green and black cars - hereafter Muppet Group A) moved forward onto the junction to avoid getting held all the way through another sequence.
• Lights change to green for traffic coming off Sussex Place
• Traffic moving from Sussex Place onto Lower Ashley Road (led by the yellow brakedown lorry) was unable to move forward much due to congestion on Lower Ashley Road and Muppet Group A.
• Traffic moving from Sussex Place onto Ashley Road got fed up with sitting there and started to pull out from the queue and drive down the wrong side of Sussex Place to get past the blockage. Quite a lot of this traffic was overtaking 10+ cars queueing to turn left onto Lower Ashley Road (i.e. driving a long way down the wrong side of the road).
• Lights change to green for traffic coming off Lower Ashley Road.
• Several of the cars coming down the wrong side of Sussex Place were still trying to cross the junction, including the grey sports car and the silver Nissan Micra in the picture but with more infront and behind (hereafter Muppet Group B).
• Traffic turning left from Lower Ashley Road into Ashley Road (led by lorry with white cab and blue body) is blocked by Muppet Group B.
• Traffic turning right from Lower Ashley Road into Sussex Place (led by silver people carrier) is blocked by Muppet Group A but would be blocked by Muppet Group B even if Muppet Group A had moved in the two or three minutes since they pulled into the middle of the junction.
• No-one can go anywhere until Muppet Groups A and B have managed to clear the junction.

I seem to remember that someone in Muppet Group B actually hooted at the traffic trying to go from Lower Ashley Road into Ashley Road under the green lights. They did manage to all clear the junction within a minute or two (the grey sports car on the right is just starting to move forward onto Ashley Road) but for a while it looked like being a really entertaining snarl up.

This is fascinating, as it is another classic example of real-world deadlock. In computing systems, a deadlock occurs when a number of entities are each blocked, waiting for the actions of the other entities. It can only occur if

1. There is mutual exclusion: here, only one vehicle can fit into the middle of the junction at a time, or into any of the junction exits.
   
2. A hold and wait condition exists: it is possible to claim one resource (the junction or an exit) before acquiring the other.
3. Resources cannot be taken by force. There is no easy way to remove a vehicle from the junction or an exit.
4. A circular wait exists: the chain of dependencies comes back to the original entity.

For more detail, there is a set of slides on the topic. While most people don't really care about such computing things, it is interesting to see it in the real world because of this:

• The self-interested action of each driver is to pull out into the junction, to make some progress when you get a green light, because when the light changes, the car at the front of the other junction will do exactly that, regardless of whether it can get out. As a result, the system grinds to a halt; it enters a failed state.
  

This is pretty important, because the whole idea of choosing the best option for yourself regardless of the decision the others make is the whole foundation of Game Theory. And in Sussex Place, the Nash Equilibrium appears to result in the loss of traffic flow. (Yes, that is a university lecture, but its a political science one and doesn't have much maths in it)

So, why is that important? Because Game Theory was the underlying political science/mathematics of the cold war. And John Nash, the mathematician behind it. These are the equations you would use when planning a conflict escalation policy that starts off with tanks in Berlin or Vietnam, and ends with an exchange of strategic armaments in ballistic missiles over the Arctic Circle, and hence the end of humanity -the big Failed State.

The politicians, the soldiers, sat their with their maps, their tables, their graphs, got the mathematicians in and game up with plans that during the cold war came pretty close to that condition on a couple of occasions, but everyone always backed off. For which we all have to be very, very grateful.

Comparing the Cold War to Sussex Place then, we have to pretty glad that those people trying to drive across Bristol weren't involved in planning or managing the conflict, as we wouldn't have stood a chance of getting through it alive.

Contra Flows

Doh?

The idea of contra flows for cyclists is all over the Internet, and on Bristol's many 'cycling city' websites (and rants/blogs).

Try BristolStreets for suggestions...

So why not?

I reckon that if cars (like P588FAN) can do it, cyclists ought to be allowed too...

Any suggestions???

Balloon Fiesta Parking on Bower Ashton Terrace

Here is WF06SNU at the junction of Ashton Road and Bower Ashton Terrace on Thursday evening. The owner could be a local resident, or someone going to the Bristol City FC grounds, or maybe someone visiting the Balloon Fiesta in nearby Ashton Court. Although at first glance this seems to be an excellent parking location with the rocky pseudo-bollards on guard, cars parked here without care may still be in danger.

This car, for example, could still be at risk from unobservant pedestrians dirtying the paintwork whilst attempting to squeeze past. Such pedestrians are likely to include families with buggies and with children made excitable by seeing a floating Churchill dog and eating candy-floss and burgers.

By choosing a slightly different parking angle, the pavement here would be completely blocked, ensuring excitable children would be forced to use the road, leaving WF06SNU safe from candy floss and burger grease.

(trivia: we've seen this build-out before; clearly a secret Ashton Gate parking area. This time, credit to reporter "WB" for letting us know about this secret spot for a car)

Remembering Troy Atkinson

It's just over three months since Troy Atkinson got killed by a car while crossing the road by Cabot Circus. Today, pedestrians still cross the junction.

Behind them, there is a plaque, showing that his friends and family remember and miss him.

T.W.A.
Troy William Atkinson
4th April 1994-28th April 2009

Round the area, though, there doesn't seem any attempt to remember Troy by making the junction safer

There is still a road through the middle of the shopping area, one that has "shared use" pedestrian areas which offers traffic the right of way, one that has taxi and disabled parking, through car drivers and various people doing short-stay pickup in the taxi and disabled areas, and the bus lane.

Troy's friends and families may remember and mourn him, but the city, the infrastructure, it does not.

Ofsted Again

According to local media sources, many Bristol schools are doing quite well these days in the KS3 stakes.

We correctly predicted this back in February 2009!

As a result of that blog, we also highlighted, in March, that Bristol was being visited by people keen to bathe in our success. Presumably so that they could learn our secrets.

Today, we can report the success of Bristol in attracting visitors in their thousands (and not just for the Banksy Exhibition). People are here to learn to read from all over Britain! And to prove it, they're parking their cars all over our streets.

Unfortunately, the drivers of H56NUB and CK56VCP all appear to have failed their SATS, but we assume they're here to learn, too. Hopefully they will stay, learn, and then spread the word.

Just like the driver of EA04YWF who has been in Bristol for at least six months and is still learning.

Like those visitors from afar coming to Bristol Museum for the Banksy extravaganza, the drivers of these vehicles are contributing to the local economy. On behalf of the people of Bristol we say Thank You.

Railway Path: 24 years old

That known subversive, Chris Hutt, is celebrating 24 years of the Bristol-Bath railway path's existence. He may celebrate it, having helped build it, having snuck out with other troublemakers like John Grimshaw, and built the country's premier walking/cycling path while British Rail wasn't looking.

But think of the damage it has done for the city. A stretch of Bristol is forever deprived the option of a railway line. When our strategic partners, the West of England Partnership, tried to reclaim this wasteland for bus use, all those whining tax-dodgers got together and fought it off. Yet it was built for such public transport in the first place.

We do like to visit the R.P., primarily as it is a good way of keeping our eye on those subversives: Chris Hutt, Josh Hart, Steve Meek and others. Here, on the first Sunday in August, we have one of the original subversives, John Grimshaw, cycling from Bath to Bristol.

Why exactly is he cycling on the path? Is he enjoying the first sunny day for six weeks? No, it is part of a train journey from Wiltshire. Apparently he and three others were thrown off the train at Bath, because there were more than the official number of bicycles (2) on the train.

From John's perspective, he is probably thinking that it was lucky that he had the foresight to build a 15 mile walking/cycling path, just in case such an event should occur. But look at it from the train company's perspective: this man stole a line from them, the least they can do is make him use it.

Elsewhere we see that some subversive is advocating boycotting the cafe at Bitton, because the hobbyists want to extend the railway line. It was a railway line once, it can be again. A volunteer-run train service running one train a day could be a valuable contribution to our city's transport needs.

Traffic news

The Evening Post is reporting that a cyclist ended up under a turning lorry at the Park Row/St Michael's Hill Junction. It is handy for the BRI, and while they have a broken thigh bone, they are apparently going to survive, which is good.

The E.P comments section is the usual mess of assumptions and abuse, but there is also commentary from someone who was there, which we reprint in its entirety

I saw the aftermath but not the actual accident. I was waiting to cross the road at the traffic lights just up from the St Michaels Hill junction, the traffic lights were changing and the lorry was one of the last vehicles to go past me and was turning left up towards St Michaels Hill. The next thing I heard was a massive crushing sound - like a massive coke can - which of course turned out to be the bicycle - and heard screams, I looked round to see a horrible scene, one that you never ever want to see.

I believe that the cyclist saw the traffic lights start to change and went to cross the junction at the bottom of the hill and didn't see the lorry coming around the corner. The lorry obviously didn't see the cyclist either...so blame probably lies both ways.

Wishing the man a speedy recovery, I'm just glad it wasn't more serious.

I expect the truck driver is scarred as even if he was partly to blame - to get out of his cab and find somebody under your wheels screaming in pain is not how he would have wanted to start his day.

Terry, Bristol

We wish the injured cyclist a speedy recovery. We are also curious as to whether BBC Bristol will cover the incident, or copy the BBC London policy of not bothering to mention such events.

Also in the traffic news section, we are informed that on this Thursday evening, that the A38 is closed between Aztec West/the M4/M5 and the Southmead/BAe roundabout. Bomb squad called out for a suspicious package at Rolls Royce, apparently. Looking out the window over the North Fringe sprawl, the A4174 ring-road is congested no worse than normal for a weekday evening.

Pedestrians holding up traffic

These cars are having their journey through Cobourg Road, Montpelier held up by a selfish pedestrian.

The tax-dodging walker is happily strolling down the pavement, ignoring the fact that the only way to get down this road by car is to drive with two wheels on the aforementioned pavement. Because the pedestrian is uncaringly occupying the same space, the cars are forced to crawl along at his speed.

Lockleaze: the motorbike moves

A few days ago, a torched motorbike in the fields behind Lockleaze.

Within a week, the same bike has been dragged to the path by volunteers who care for the fields, where the bike has been burned more thoroughly.

There are some people who complain that the lockleaze-UWE bike path is unlit. We say - it finds its own illumination.

Criminals

Not content with ruining my usual Friday night tour of Bristol City Centre in my X5, these criminals, who usually run every red light they can find, have actually stopped at the lights.

Outrageous.

Death by Motorway

Lovely sign up on the pavement under the M32, near Tescos

"DO NOT CROSS M32
3 pedestrians killed
here in the last
12 months
please use
formal
crossing point"

We could be pedants and point out that it really means "Do not cross M32 approach road"

and just like most other signs in the city "no parking", "school keep clear" "speed limit 30", it is completely ignored

As a few shoppers bravely sprint back from the shops to their houses, in between the cars

The interesting question to consider is why are cars driving at 60-70 mph along here?

The roads are set up for it, barriers and signage are optimised for speed, you don't feel welcome on a bike, and pedestrians are simply forbidden. Except they keep coming, and death follows.

There is an alternate option to consider. You could drop the speed on the M32, and then cars wouldn't be pushing to get up to motorway-merge speeds (60mph in theory here), on that road. Instead the cars would only be doing 20-30. Instead of it being a high-speed route in and out the city, you try and make it a low-turbulence, high-throughput route, with safe pedestrian access here and on the St Pauls/M32 roundabout.

Just a thought. Until then, easily updated signs that get ignored.

Product placement: AA

Some of our viewers come from Abroad, where Abroad means further afield than Wales or the Isle of Wight, and these readers leave notes saying "what the zig-zags we keep mentioning".

Zig-zags are the lines before and after zebra and other pedestrian crossings, which indicate that under no circumstances should you ever think of parking there. Because of that restriction, they are not normally used for commuter and resident parking.

This leaves them as the primary short-stay parking area in the inner city. The tendency of zebra crossings to be placed near schools and shops makes them key locations for short stay shopping or parental dropoff.

Today, we see a yellow van EU06NUY with flashing lights up on one on Cotham Brow

From the side, you can see that it is an AA van helping broken down cars. Someone further down the hill appears to have run out of petrol; the AA breakdown van is on call to rescue them.

Although this seems to endanger pedestrians, it doesn't really, because while it may make it harder for approaching vehicles to see people about to cross the road, if the drivers are not going to stop for pedestrians anyway, it makes no difference whatsoever.

Once you recognise that, that zebra-markings are just a quaint memory of a distant past when children walked to school, it's then clear that their sole remaining use really is short-stay parking. They have no other purpose in our fair city.

Sunset over lockleaze

Sometimes we like to get out of the city and enjoy the nature on our doorstep

Such as the quiet greenways to Purdown camp.

Bristol ASL Chic 2

Not sure if this counts, but snapped today on the trusty iPhone...

RF58GNZ was definitely being piloted by a small blond woman...

Probably not Sandy Toksvig.

Definition of Danish? A bit like a Dan.

Safe Parking

This car shows how to park safely in the city, even if you don't have your own private parking area.

By parking inside of the lamppost, the vehicle owner knows that they have no worries about being clipped by passing cars, lorries or buses. Their one remaining concern is people cycling or walking along the pavement. If laws against cycling on the pavement were properly enforced, they would have much less to worry about.

Bristol ASL Chic

Copenhagen Chic brightens everyone's lives with pictures of beautiful Danish women on bicycles.

We are trying to compete with photographs of Bristol women parking their cars in ASL zones, such as this car, P996RHU While not actually riding bicycles, they are in the bike-only parts of the junction, which makes it a close second-best.

Cheltenham Road bike parking?

What's that on the far right of this picture? Bike parking? More bike parking?

By allowing bicycles to park on the pavement, valuable space is being removed, which would otherwise be used by cars. We are fortunate that this new bit of sidewalk-nibbling (a US term) has not taken place near the bike lane, as if it did it would remove valuable parking space from cars such as X847CFT.

Obesity Problems

The trouble with big cars is that they don't fit into small spaces. Hence our posts about Demi-Drives. We don't really have big cars in the UK, though, because our roads are too small.

This car (WV03UVM), however, appears to be sensing it's too large for its space. It knows the yellow paint may bite it one day. Its front wheels are making every attempt to get close to the building. And quite rightly - there's no pavement here, after all, and the road is a bit narrow (hardly a major thoroughfare though).

In fact, judging by the sign above it, it's probably here for a work-out. With a bit of effort it could end-up as a Smart Car.

And if that fails, it may at least achieve a Yellow-Belt in parking ticket collecting.

Muller Road: now less of an aspirational destination

We like to call the St Werburgh's to Muller Road path "The Farm Pub Path", because there is so little at the other end, Muller Road, to aspire to travel to. But that is unfair. There are some people who do want to go there:

1. Residents.
2. People who work at the car body repair shop whose sign takes up half the pavement outside it.
   
3. People who work at B&Q.
4. People who shop at B&Q.
5. Bus drivers who work from the Muller Road bus depot

There are also all the people who park their cars along this road -up on the pavement during a weekday, which implies they may be residents or some form of commuter.

There is one other group who may want to go to Muller Road -teenagers who want to take advantage of the sporting facilities on offer in the school playing fields.

This is no longer an option. A new fence has gone up over the old gate

Building works are adding more fencing inside, along with the cameras and the "mosquito" sound system, designed to annoy youths yet not (most) adults

Henceforth anyone who wanted to come out here to play football or basketball after school, on weekends or in the school holidays, is no longer going to be able to. They will have to stay at home at watch television instead. This will improve child safety, as there will be less children on the street. This is a valuable improvement to child safety rolled out just in time for this summer holiday. We congratulate the school of their foresight and their priorities.