Gridlock

I have now seen the ultimate definition of insanity in a BBC headline: ‘Bristol’s Stoke Lane one-way plan will go ahead for MetroBus project.’ I have seen some mad things in my time but this is right up there.

Because of the MetroBus construction – a hugely expensive bus lane, paid for by the taxpayer, profits from the MetroBus to go straight to some run for profit bus company like Worst Bus – this vital road will be closed northbound for a year. Northbound traffic, and there is loads of it, going to the MOD, UWE, BAe systems and Rolls Royce to name but a few, will have to join the already gridlocked Ring Road. Doing it this way, the company MetroBus will save a million quid. Well, thanks for that. And what the hell are the council doing allowing MetroBus to do it? Oh hang on: MetroBus is a partnership between all our useless councils.

Let us be clear about this: the MetroBus is a glorified bus lane. It will cost an arm and a leg, but a smaller arm and a leg than what should have been built: a proper tramway system.

A million quid, in the grand scheme of things, is probably not a great deal of money. Old red trousers himself, George Ferguson, has squandered far bigger sums on all manner of worthless projects, so I am not surprised he hasn’t had a change of heart on this issue. A year’s abject misery faces the ordinary working people of Bristol and South Gloucestershire and don’t forget that this partial road closure will work hand in hand with paving over nearby Harry Stoke into yet another enormous housing estate, creating – yes, you guessed it – even more traffic.

I see no conspiracy here, just idiotic local politicians and bureaucrats who do not have the first idea how ordinary folk live their lives. How could they? Stoke Lane is a busy road in itself – the main entrance to UWE is down there for goodness sake – so heaven knows what it will be like on an average day, never mind if it’s raining or when someone has a prang.

It’s yet another ill thought out idea by people who have plainly not thought through the consequences of their actions, or if they have thought through the consequences, they should surely consider their positions.