I’m delighted to have helped draft Bristol Greens’ new 15-point plan for Bristol’s transport which was launched for the May elections.
Transport, traffic and their consequences  are by far the most common topics raised on the doorstep as I have visited people across the whole ward and it’s something we just have to keep working on to get improvements to access and a higher quality street environment for the city.

The full mini manifesto we published is  here: http://t.co/aJFcKWhCEO

All the 15 points need attention for Bristol to thrive!
In the meantime I’ve been involved in many transport issues over the years, as I said in an earlier Blog.

In the course of my work with local residents I’ve been to tackle First Bus about how their services meet our needs locally – reported in a letter to the Post (see my Reports page). I also talked to Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways about the need for public transport to be a public service. At a Bristol Cycle Forum I also raised the need for greater road safety measures along Gloucester Road for the growing number of cyclists using this local artery and busy high street daily.

Our top goal is very clear:  we need the Mayor to work much harder to  get the city (and its hinterland) its own Integrated Passenger Transport Authority.

We also need more accountability by the unelected bodies (notably the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership) now making increasing numbers of the decisions about transport planning and investment locally – something I raised with the Mayor and the Minister for Communities at a Bristol for Democracy event earlier this year.

I’ve also made clear my view that all residents’ views need to be taken into account, street by street, in the consultations and decisions about the proposed Residents’ Parking Scheme.  This is something my colleagues, the two Green Councillors for Ashley ward, have done by running their own consultations and to feed into the development of their area’s proposed scheme.  We need parking to be managed in a way that meets local needs of residents, businesses, and workers who travel around, while at the same time discouraging commuters from jamming our city,  making sure there are travel options for them – in conjunction with the neighbouring authorities where they mainly travel from. It’s not an easy process but business as usual is not an option!

Of course passenger transport is only part of the story. As our South Bristol prospective parliamentary candidate Tony Dyer says, freight is equally in need of a sustainable strategy.  Heavy goods vehicles make a disproportionate contributin to our poor air quality, which affects health, and also damage to services like sewers under our roads.

His article is found here: http://www.bristol247.com/2014/05/08/need-freight-strategy-south-bristol-47836/