tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803191245171285795.post7789428245630957116..comments2024-02-24T18:05:37.846+00:00Comments on Bristol Traffic: Prewar BristolUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803191245171285795.post-15740369178709575982016-01-10T23:38:01.681+00:002016-01-10T23:38:01.681+00:00The car is a victim of its own success. Car owners...The car is a victim of its own success. Car ownership over the last twenty-five years has continued to increase linearly--see this very clear RAC report: http://www.racfoundation.org/assets/rac_foundation/content/downloadables/car%20ownership%20in%20great%20britain%20-%20leibling%20-%20171008%20-%20report.pdf<br /><br />According to the RAC, there were 20 million cars on Britain's roads in 1991; by 2007 there were 26 million, with considerable growth in two- and three-car households.<br /><br />Whilst these might at first sight be considered figures that support your argument for more parking and roads, the problem in town is that space is limited and choices have to be made. If every trip into the centre of town were to made by car, congestion would rise. Consider the graphic attached to this tweet https://twitter.com/ViveLasPalmasGC/status/633564597761482752/photo/1 which illustrates the amount of road space needed by 48 people using various transport modes: a car, the bus, walking, or a bike. It is clear that cars occupy a vast amount of urban spaceāand the faster they move, the more they need. This high requirement for space is to the detriment of all other modes, and choices have to be made.<br /><br />Presenting this as a war on the motorist, is to fail to understand the impossible demands of the mode for urban space in any streetscape conceived before the 20th century. A streetscape designed for the car looks like Los Angeles, not Bristol, and if you want a city like Bristol to work for everybody, car use has got to be limited in some way. Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7803191245171285795.post-6896987640177177092016-01-10T12:56:47.882+00:002016-01-10T12:56:47.882+00:00Whatever the politics of transport in Bristol I th...Whatever the politics of transport in Bristol I think that in discussing changes over the last 25 years we need to consider the inreaded demands made on Bristol's roads by motor vehicles. I have just checked some national figures and find that between 1994 and 2015 the total number of licensed motor vehicles in Great Britain has gone up by 46%, from 25 to 36.5 million.<br /><br />As a successful city Bristol has been growing ahead of national trends, so we can conclude that Bristol has experienced at least a 46% increase in the number of vehicles being used on its roads.<br /><br />It could be argued that, with this increasing demand for motor vehicle journeys on roads, with the consequent increase in demand for parking and loading on roadsides, Bristol's real problem is how that increase can be reversed while not diminishng the city's attractiveness as a place to live, work and study.<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01679083271525561395noreply@blogger.com