Buses will leave Bath for Bristol every five minutes under plans to drive down car use and cut congestion that costs millions every year.
A map of the Bristol to Bath strategic corridor | Image © B&NES Council
A new vision for the “strategic corridor” will see buses prioritised and a nine-mile segregated cycling lane created along the route.
Currently, less than a fifth of the A4 has formal cycle facilities which, along with concerns about the poor air quality and safety, put people off getting on their bikes.
A report to Bath and North East Somerset Council’s cabinet meeting says: “The increase in population from housing growth, and the increase in the working population, will increase the travel demand along the corridor.
“If more attractive sustainable alternatives are not introduced this growth will result in higher congestion in the area, poorer air quality and higher carbon emissions.
“There is an opportunity to “lock in” sustainable travel choices for the current and future residents along the Bristol to Bath corridor if the bus, walking and cycling infrastructure and services can be provided to serve new housing development.”
If no action is taken, the cost of congestion in the West of England could increase to £800million a year by 2036.
The vision for the Bristol and Bath strategic corridor is “to create a high quality segregated and prioritised public transport, cycling and walking corridor that will provide for reliable services to encourage people to use sustainable transport modes for short and mid-distance journeys and contribute to tackling the climate emergency through modal shift.”
It aims to provide reliable, high quality, zero-emission buses leaving every five minutes between Bath bus station and Bristol Temple Meads, 24-hour bus priority, with a simple, fast and convenient off-board ticketing system.
The plan to increase cycling between the two cities is to create a continuous, direct, high-quality cycle route that is segregated from general traffic and buses.
New cycle hangars are also proposed, while select bus stops may become mobility hubs.
Authorities will take a “pick and mix” approach, introducing larger interventions where acceptable and smaller interventions where the constraints make it necessary to do so.
If the £150million project is approved, construction work is expected to begin at the start of 2025.
Stephen Sumner, Local Democracy Reporter
