Calls for an Oyster card-type scheme in Bristol have gained momentum, as the city’s local elections approach.
The plan for pre-payment cards has been given unanimous cross-party support, and the local authority has allocated money in its budget to pay for a feasibility study into the scheme.
Bristol City Council’s cabinet member for transport and sustainability, Jon Rogers, told Surveyor it was imperative to be working across parties and unitary authorities in order to improve the city’s public transport services.
‘There is an increasing all-party agreement in Bristol that we do need to shift up a gear as far as public transport is concerned.
‘There are a number of ways we can crack this nut, and we are trying to explore all avenues. Most importantly, we need a cross-party agreement with all the region’s local authorities – we can’t let politics or geography get in the way of this.’
Rogers explained that he had been working closely with his West of England counterparts – in Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire – who are looking at the powers they could gain as an integrated transport authority.
He added that transport minister, Paul Clark, was optimistic about this idea when he met with the councillors last week.
Green Party councillor, Charlie Bolton, said: ‘If this apparent consensus can be welded into real policy, we’ll really be getting somewhere at last. It’s one of the vital components of sorting out Bristol’s problems. Without this sort of thing, we’re condemned to ever rising traffic, slower journeys, and no chance of reaching our CO2 targets.’
Peter Lipman, policy director of Sustrans, welcomed the idea, paying tribute to the success of the London Oyster scheme. He described the proposal as ‘a vital step towards an integrated transport system that increases travel choice for Bristol’. ‘Linking the scheme into discounts on the city car club and the proposed cycle hire scheme would put Bristol on a par with other European cities, and show that the city is really serious about giving residents the means to get around cheaply and sustainably.’
Mark Bradshaw, Labour’s transport spokesperson in the city, added his weight behind the scheme. He said: ‘The card could be used to cap key fares, for example, peak returns, or a daily maximum, as in London.’ Calls for a smartcard to use on Bristol’s public transport network were first made in 1998, but the idea was dismissed, due to the cost of introducing such a scheme.
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