‘We need to free up space for the whole city’

Imagine your kids being able to cycle to school safely without you worrying about That Phone Call, knowing instead that the physical exercise is helping make them healthy and more ready to learn when they arrive.

Imagine getting on your bike or hopping on one of many well-maintained hire bikes, and joining a steady flow of other people getting where they need to go on time, without fear of road collisions or abuse.

Imagine a network of efficient and safe bike lanes, separate from bus lanes and pedestrian routes, linking neighbourhoods designed around people, not cars. A more connected city with better health and wellbeing.

It’s a utopian dream for some, but for others a dystopian nightmare.

For the latter, reallocating road-space is like squeezing a balloon – the commonly held belief is all you do is displace the traffic elsewhere.

But contrary to this belief, we are finding out that this isn’t what happens; in actuality, in well-planned cities that have designed good active travel, the traffic balloon deflates, and car traffic reduces overall. As you make it easier to walk, cycle and take the bus, people naturally drive less.

The segregated cycle path on Baldwin Street shows what can be achieved – photo: Martin Booth

This delivers a range of benefits to the local economy at this difficult time – the level of cycling in Bristol is already worth £66.5m per year, a net benefit of 94p for every mile cycled instead of driven.

Not only this but it improves health (personal and public), tackles the climate crisis, as well as reducing congestion, and increasing happiness. Utopia indeed!

It is the reverse effect of the well-known conundrum of ‘induced demand’ – widening roads to ease traffic, only to see that extra space quickly filled by more journeys that would not have happened before.

For example, the M25 generated so many more journeys that it had to be doubled in width with 20 years and is still regularly gridlocked.

Instead of creating gridlock, taking away road space for cars means people change their habits, and get out of their cars. 26 per cent of people in Bristol do not cycle but want to (in addition to the 49 per cent who already regularly cycle, clocking up 86m miles per year in the city).

Think of the space this many less drivers would free up for more reliable buses and those car trips that still need to happen. This is not an impossible dream – it’s the reality in many towns and cities around Europe, including some that until very recently were utterly car-dominated such as Paris.

To do it requires three key ingredients. A clear vision, systems thinking and sustained leadership.

The vision has got to be one where we not only decarbonise our transport system (the most stubborn sector for emissions across developed nations) and clean up our air, but also create a happier and healthier city.

It is not just about bikes; it is about freeing up space for the whole city, to make room for people on buses, bikes, scooters and feet.

We also need a clear vision of how we are going to implement all these changes over time – not just aspiration but realistic plans to deliver it.

Across the West of England we currently have a Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plan, but it reads like an engineering plan for individual commuter routes, not a joined-up network of paths for all journeys: connecting the school run, leisure, and shops to other forms of transport and homes.

WECA’s own assessment of its plan listed 24 required improvements, including the need for a mapped masterplan vision of a network.

Bristol’s own cycling plan was promised years ago but has not been developed further. We need to get working on it now, before the next self-assessment is required in 2023 by Active Travel England – the funding body that will restrict funding if we do not show enough ambition.

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Read more: How can Bristol be a safer place for cycling?

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Let’s use it to develop a pipeline of prioritised projects, and show the second necessary ingredient: systems thinking.

Cycling needs to be part of an integrated transport system and although active travel (walking, cycling and wheeling) should be the default means of transport in a ’15-minute city’, by no means is it a panacea on its own; it must be integrated with other transport links.

Alongside this all the space given over to car parking needs to be addressed, and (as per the Citizens’ Assembly recommendations) gradually reduced and turned over to economically productive use of our limited city spaces.

This is where looking at the whole city through a systems lens, and how we fit in these competing demands for space will be vital. Alongside that we need to systemically sequence our interventions to work towards our vision.

That is where the third component, leadership, kicks in

We need leadership that unapologetically acknowledges that this is going to require difficult choices – we can’t transition to a cleaner and healthier future while keeping everything the same.

That keeps a pipeline of projects going and integrates them into supportive ‘carrot and stick’ measures.

Leadership that actually nurtures and trusts expertise and has the capacity to take bold decisions, rather than failing to act for fear of ‘unintended consequences’, many of which are predictable and can be planned for.

Prince Street has a segregated cycle lane behind a metrobus bus stop – photo: Martin Booth

Greens recognise the urgency of climate and ecological emergencies, the desire of people to cycle and have safe routes around town, and to live in a city which is not poisoning its children with poor air quality.

We accept the Citizens’ Assembly recommendations on climate mitigation and adaptation – including to progressively reduce space allocated to parked cars, to free it up for people on foot, bike or bus.

We will provide leadership – we will listen to the vast majority of people surveyed that would like to cycle more and agree that it is worth freeing up space, even at the expense of cars, and will acknowledge and embrace the unintended problems that may emerge and be adaptable enough to make corrections when needed.

Most of all leadership that gets on with it – Bristol cannot afford to spend more years sitting in gridlock, or more lives lost to air pollution. The solutions are staring us in the face – let’s make them happen.

Ed Plowden was the programme manager for Bristol’s Cycling City programme 2009 to 2011, and has worked in the active and sustainable transport field continuously since then. He is also a Green Party councillor for Windmill Hill.

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• Bristol needs a ‘comprehensive’ network of protected cycle lanes
• Why was there no consultation before removing Cheltenham Road cycle lane?
• Finding a sensible solution to Bristol’s transport woes
• Princess Victoria Street pedestrianisation to be made permanent

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