Plans have been made by the Council for the busy Christmas period on the roads. Extensive liaison with the Police, local businesses, and residents groups has been taking place for a considerable time to reduce the impact of festive congestion in Bath.
The Council is issuing the following advice for people travelling in and around Bath during an inevitably busy time of year. They are also encouraging as many people as possible to use public transport and their Park & Ride services.
Every Thursday evening until Christmas buses from Bath City Centre will operate to each Park & Ride site (Lansdown, Newbridge, Odd Down) with the last bus leaving at 9.30pm. From 10th – 22nd December, excluding Sundays, all three sites will run buses an hour later every evening, with the last one leaving Bath City Centre at 9.30 pm. Sunday services will operate as normal.
During the period of the Christmas Market:
- Lansdown and Odd Down sites will be running around 15 extra journeys in both directions between 10 am and 6 pm on the Saturdays;
- An additional Park & Ride site will be available on the Saturdays at Bath Racecourse. Buses will run direct to and from the City Centre from 9 am to 9.30 pm;
- Services run hour later on the Friday’s and Saturday’s of the Market.
As the site is grass, the service may be hampered by ground conditions. Live updates will be displayed on message signs on the roads approaching Bath and posted on www.bathnes.gov.uk/parkandride
For the Bath Rugby Friday night fixture vs. Harlequins on 23rd November – services operate 2 hours later than normal with the last bus 10:30pm.
Message signs on all the approach roads into Bath will display live traffic and car park information, including car park capacity and available spaces.
Road works are on hold. All planned road works by all services, including the Council, for Bath, Keynsham, Midsomer Norton and Radstock town centres will be held off until the New Year.
If traffic gets particularly heavy in Bath City Centre, flows will be improved by:
- Preventing a right turn from Charlotte Street into Charlotte Street Car Park;
- Preventing a right turn into North Parade;
- Continual monitoring and adjustments to traffic light timings.
In addition, access restrictions into Avon Street will be lifted throughout the festive period, and there will be extra parking restrictions on the A4 London Road, Morrisons junction, to help ease congestion at the traffic lights.
For the Bath Christmas Market, coaches must have registered to use designated drop-off points and park at one of the designated coach parks. Traffic orders for North Parade, Orange Grove, High Street, and Grand Parade mean coaches not registered will be moved on.
Restrictions to coach parking on Bathwick Hill, Bear Flat and the inbound carriageway of Wellsway will ensure the normal bus and vehicle traffic isn’t hindered and minimise any inconvenience to residents from coaches parking on the edge of private properties. There will be vigorous enforcement of minibuses coming to the city that have not registered.
On Saturdays when Bath Rugby is also playing the Council will have a presence on the street monitoring traffic flow. If necessary, the traffic signal timings across the City will be adjusted to help flow. To minimise the impact of these two events Officers will provide information to both Rugby clubs, encouraging supporters to use public transport.
