Future-proofing travel

There is a thought experiment the environment-minded sometimes play, based on analysis that suggests the lower our carbon footprint, the greater our quality of life.

Transport is one area where this appears to play out. A train journey is less stressful, more satisfying, than travelling by plane. Traffic jams, in-car snacking and particulate build-up make driving less favourable than healthy active travel.

All well and, theoretically, good: but with buses and trains regularly cancelled and cyclists suffering heavy rain, exhaust fumes and close calls with cars, it may not feel the case in practice. Improving sustainable options would benefit the environment and residents alike.

The One City Climate Strategy aims to deliver carbon neutral transport by 2030, but a 2023 independent review of progress by the Bristol advisory committee on climate change called for “a large, well-funded public transport intervention…(as) an alternative to the high dependency on private car use and associated emissions.”

Plans to reduce congestion are in motion, supported by Bristol’s half of the WECA City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) of £540 million.

And Bristol Climate and Nature Partnership’s Inclusive Transport Advocate will champion the needs of diverse communities across the city including Disabled people, refugees and migrants, and areas often left out of transport decision-making.

Here’s a rundown of plans to future-proof Bristol’s transport and their progress to date.

Cars

Bristol city council has said there will be 187 more electric vehicle charging points, like this one at Kingsdown Leisure Centre, installed by March 2026 – photo: Mia Vines-Booth

Bristol’s road network is officially at capacity. Driving contributes around 17 per cent of the city’s carbon emissions and congestion significantly inhibits the local economy, but the council says car use is going down.

A planned work carpark levy, as successfully implemented in Nottingham and elsewhere, will likely only apply to central workplaces above a certain size.

Efforts are being made to reduce emissions of vehicles that will remain on the roads. The council has replaced 25 per cent – around 100 – of their service-delivery vehicles with electric, and overall around £2 million will be invested in supporting electric vehicle (EV) use.

Charging bays and hubs are being installed across the city. Zedify, a zero emissions delivery service, has provided a successful blueprint for further electric delivery operations.

Meanwhile, according to 2022/23 figures, the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) has improved air quality by ten per cent (updated figures due for publication) with all money generated required to be reinvested into transport.

Buses

The ‘birthday bus pass’ scheme has reportedly increased bus journeys by one million, reducing car miles by 5.2 million, and has been extended into next year; the council says they are putting in new bus gates citywide; and electric buses are due to be introduced to the region – photo: Martin Booth

Bristol made headlines in 2014 when the UK’s first poo bus hit the roads. Powered entirely by human and food waste, it produced 20-30 per cent less CO2 and was low in particulates, improving air quality.

It only ran for a year, but 70 biomethane buses are currently in operation countrywide.

Local bus use has returned to pre-pandemic levels – around 40 million journeys per year – perhaps motivated in part by the government-subsidised £2 fare scheme, currently under review for extension.

Planned bus lanes and gates will increase capacity and, ultimately, lower congestion will mean fewer buses cancelled in the event of heavy rain. First Bus’s fleet of 98 electric buses, which they say will offer “comfier and smoother” rides as well as eliminating emissions and noise pollution,  will be in service by early 2026.

Trains

The city’s newest station opened recently at Ashley Down but currently only services one train per hour – photo: Rob Browne

The Ashley Down station welcomed its inaugural train in September, though it is currently only visited by one train per hour. Currently local trains, like those running to and from Gloucester and Cardiff, do not stop at the station.

“Changing railway timetable is a fiendishly difficult thing to do,” said transport committee chair, councillor Ed Plowden.

Two more stations – North Filton and Henbury – are due to open in 2025, with plans for extra capacity to coincide with Rovers’ match days and cricket games. The next phase of MetroWest – first proposed in 2008 and designed to increase services and capacity through Bristol – will consider more stations in areas such as Bedminster.

Wheels and walking

Enabling safe, pleasant active travel will be essential to reduce reliance on car use and congestion in the city – photo: Martin Booth

According to SusTrans, the active travel charity, walking and wheeling in Bristol takes up to 150,000 cars off the road every day and saves 30,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

But while reportedly a third of Bristol residents walk or wheel every day, 64 per cent never cycle and only 28 per cent do so at least once a week. Cycle hangars are being installed at tower blocks and on streets across the city – but it is more likely the routes that are putting cyclists off.

Surprisingly, the data reveals 93 per cent of residents have never used an e-scooter and their uptake has not reduced reliance on cars.

Pedestrianisation is planned for Cotham Hill, the Old City, King Street and Princess Victoria Street, while the Liveable Neighbourhood trials are designed to encourage people to ditch the car.

Headlines have focused on resistance but surveys report most residents are actually overwhelmingly in favour of the schemes – though the first trial, in East Bristol, has met with some resistance from residents within weeks of its implementation.

Traffic-free ‘School Streets’ are in place in 11 locations, with more on the way.

Water

Luke Dunstan, director of the Bristol Packet, converted their narrowboat, the beloved Redshank, to an electric system earlier this year, in what is a first for the UK passenger boat industry – photo: Ursula Billington

“It’s like night and day” says Luke Dunstan, director of the Bristol Packet, on converting passenger boat the Redshank from its traditional diesel to an electric system.

“With the big engines the whole thing would rattle, it was very noisy, there was smoke pouring out the back. Now we can hear the water lapping against the hull, the ambience around the docks, the birds singing! We could get up close to the wildlife without it even realising we’re there.

“The passengers really enjoy this beautiful quiet ride. Everybody’s been super positive – people know that we can’t keep taking fossil fuels out the ground. We need to move away from the reliance on diesel, or we won’t have a business in the future. Even in five, ten years’ time – the Bristol Packet wouldn’t be viable unless it was working towards complete sustainability.

The Redshank has been in continuous service since she was built in 1936 and is a popular site in Bristol harbour – photo: Bristol Packet

“We’re keeping the maritime tradition alive, but also pushing forward with new marine technology. It’s always been an innovative city: when the SS Great Britain was launched in 1843 it was the first to be built out of steel, the first to be steam driven and sail assisted, the first screw propeller; now the Redshank, we believe, is the first electric conversion agency-regulated boat in the country.

“It was a tricky process. We had to create a prevention system in case the lithium batteries caught fire. We put them in steel boxes, then developed a cooling system with non-metal fans so they don’t spark. We keep the boxes flooded with dockwater. There was tons of paperwork, risk assessments and crew training. But we know how to do it now!

Dunstan is keen to decarbonise the Bristol Packet’s fleet in order to ‘future-proof’ the business – photo: Ursula Billington

“Diesel engines require oil and filter changes every 250 hours, causing pollution risk and loads of waste. With an electric motor there’s virtually no servicing; there’s no potential oil or diesel spills, we’re not chucking out smoke and particulates. It’s got to be better for wildlife, and everybody that uses the harbour. I hope we can become the blueprint for the future of the passenger boat industry.

“Elsewhere, I’d like to see more electric vehicles in Bristol. And the untapped tidal power has huge potential – we’ve got the second biggest tides in the world. There’s water rushing up and down the New Cut every second of the day. There has to be a way of tapping into that power source and creating electricity.”

Main image: Martin Booth

Read next:

• Residents attempt to prevent contractors ‘closing road’
• Redshank is first UK passenger boat to go electric
• ‘Bold ideas to improve Bristol require bold decisions’
• ‘A green future is possible, but only if Disabled people are invited in’