Issue - meetings

The Head of Strategic City Transport said that the agenda item had been separated into two sections and confirmed what was meant by the terms ‘multi-modal transport’ and ‘mobility stations’.

Mobility stations are about identifying ‘first/last mile solutions to connect communities to frequent public transport services and provide integrated transport options’. Officers said they had learned a lot about these on a recent study trip to Cologne - a city region with a similar population to the West of England. 

Officers are looking at the current issues, what facilities and benefits could be on offer, whereabouts they could be based and how they can be developed. It was said they were very keen for Bristol to make much better use of what it already has. 

Officers said there are frequent public transport services on Bristol’s corridors but that people are not always aware of them or cannot easily access them.  There is a lot of work needed to improve communication and connections between things.  It was said that mobility stations can help addresses the lack of orbital connections in the city.

Members were keen to understand more about what the ‘last mile delivery’ and what that could involve.  Officers said there were a range of different facilities that could be provided depending on the location and identified needs which could include lockers that provided a place for people to collect from.

It was asked if electric bicycle hire could potentially be included.  Officers said that they are asked about this point quite often and so it will be looked into but that electric bikes can already be hired from a few different places in the city. 

Members asked when they would start to see some of this happening.   Officers said that WECA had applied to the Government’s ‘Future Mobility Zones Fund’ and had a reasonably good opportunity to be successful.  Offices highlighted Avonmouth as a potentially good opportunity, adding that there are all sorts of things there that people don’t know about e.g. cycle paths that could be beneficial to people. 

One Member recommended having bike racks on buses as they do in some other European Cities. 

Members were positive about the prospect of local mobility stations. They asked about what publicity there might be because it was thought that unfortunately it could take some time for some people to catch-up with what’s new and available as with local car clubs for example.  Officers agreed with the points being made and said that communication about this would be key to its success and that it would be important to get the local communities involved from the outset.

Mass Transit and Rail Up-date

The Head of Strategic City Transport delivered a short presentation on ‘Mass Transit and Rail’ to Members which explained what is currently being worked on and the plans for moving things forward.  The following points below were highlighted to members:

A study has now been undertaken.  The study brief defined four mass transit routes for investigation which were:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49