bristol named UK’s “cycling city”

At the expense of this blog becoming one long rant at Bristol’s traffic woes, I am rendered almost speechless by todays announcement on the BBC website that Bristol has been named UK’s “Cycling City” and that the Government is going to give the city £11.4 million to create more cycle lanes. Whilst I admire the fitness angle, and the fact that it might reduce the traffic here, my problem with it all is that Bristol is not already short of cycle lanes, or cyclists. We are at the hub of the Sustrans cycle network. There are cycle lanes everywhere. What we need in Bristol is a better public transport system. And I’m not talking buses here. The bus company that runs the most services (hah!) in Bristol is First, a hopelessly incompetent bunch that really should lose their licence to operate in the city. Between their extremely high fares and their useless scheduling and punctuality they have forced a situation for people that the bike is the only way to reliably get around if you dont have a car. But that doesn’t help if you are disabled and can’t ride a bike – like me – or are elderly or very young. Bristol is a city built on hills, some very steep hills. The bike isn’t an option for some people. Please spend the money on public transport!