News / Transport
Rees admits new cycle lane ‘totally messed up’ major bus route
Bristol’s mayor has admitted that a new cycle lane introduced during the pandemic has “totally messed up” a major bus route in the city.
The scheme on Lewins Mead was among several introduced in August to tackle air pollution and to make it easier to walk, cycle and social distance in the city.
It saw a pop-up bike lane installed and traffic reduced from two lanes to one on Lewins Mead from the Christmas Street junction to the Bearpit roundabout.
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Lewins Mead is a major route for a number of First Bus services travelling in and out of the city, round the Bearpit and past Primark.
But mayor Marvin Rees told a government select committee that Bristol City Council would have to make changes to the Lewins Mead scheme as it had ruined the bus route and caused delays.
Rees was giving evidence to the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Committee as part of its ongoing inquiry into air quality.
Rees said: “There’s a cycle lane in the middle of the city that we introduced that now we’ve discovered it’s totally messed up the bus route that uses that bit of the city as well as causing delays.
“We talked to the bus company. We’re going to make changes to that.”
Rees used the example to illustrate that the council was prepared to be flexible with the changes it had introduced to tackle air quality using the government’s emergency active travel fund.
After the hearing, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said: “Following discussion with First Group about impact on their services, an amendment to the Lewins Mead scheme has been designed that will provide additional bus priority from Lewins Mead to the St James Barton roundabout.
“This will be implemented by mid-November and will be an improvement to bus priority over and above what was in place prior to the Covid lockdown as well as mitigating the impacts of the cycle scheme.”
The spokesperson did not have any more details about the new scheme at that stage but they warned that the planned changes may be delayed by the second national lockdown.
The select committee is revisiting its 2018 Improving Air Quality report and whether the Government’s 2019 Air Quality Strategy and the Environment Bill will deliver the national leadership necessary to deliver the “step change” in how air pollution is tackled in the UK.
Amanda Cameron is a local democracy reporter for Bristol. Main photo and video by Martin Booth
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