• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

The I Feel Happy Topic!

NuttySquirrel said:
Public transport in Bristol is laughably bad. Train services are worse than in some rural areas in terms of frequency and reliability and the buses just get stuck in traffic and don't seem to ever go where you need them to! We've had a 'metrobus' network installed in recent years, which are buses that run in concrete channels on the existing road network and frankly it's all a bit of a joke.

The problem is the city is just too hilly for a light rail or tram system and not really big enough to warrant an underground network. The main rail hub (Temple Meads) is also nowhere near the city centre so the existing rail network is limited in its usefulness.

People do often cycle but again, hills, and the lack of dedicated cycle lanes makes it very hazardous. Not an option for me as I have no natural balance.

Basically you need a car. And not a diesel because of the Clean Air Zone restrictions.
Click to expand...
Whilst I fully agree with most of your post, I don't think it's not worth investing in underground rail personally. The Mayor's early stage proposals for such a network (which is estimated to cost less than Cross rail, which effectively lavished London with yet more high quality public transport provision) would solve most of the cities problems. The government will never cough up the money for a city made up of labour constituencies surrounded by an entire region of safe as houses blue though.

They had to be dragged kicking and screaming just to electrify the Great Western mainline, and even that was probably as much to do with benefiting London as anything else (notice how as soon as you're out of Temple Meads and Exeter bound, 1970's built diesels are all rage).

The logical case for it I think is strong. There's some low hanging fruit, like reopening some existing closed routes (such as the Henbury Loop which would connect the Servern Beach line with the South Wales Mainline and the Portishead branch). But as you rightly day, the geography of the city, including it being tightly bordered by water or green belt, would make other options such as light rail very difficult. But it's notable as being the biggest metropolitan area in the country that has neither any form of rapid public transport or a high capacity ring road. The laughable "Metrobus" doesn't count as it's little more than.... well a rubbish bus service that happens to have its own flyover over the M32. Neither does the A4174 "ring road" which is neither a ring nor (in some places) is it much of a road!
 
I love Bristol, old fan of the music scene...but when in the city I found the only decent transport method was my feet!
Lost the car and got a ticket.
Topography means that a tube system just wouldn't work...I think their best option would be a quality cable car system between the high points and down to the docks...and out to Portishead for good measure.
Good for locals in the rush hour, then tourists during the low peak daytime and evenings.
 
Well then, to get back onto topic (somewhat) I'm happy to say that yes, I've finally after nearly two weeks and many, many hours and work trying to make this work to be as plausible as possible, I present to you my light railway reopening proposal here!

Hopefully you can all enjoy it though I must say this is still only the first draft in which some details regarding history could be wrong which might need to be looked at again before I can even put this out further.

And to add to my two cents to the whole metrobus thing, whoever came up with the idea of having a bus route built with concrete blocks on former railway lines that would have made a far greater improvement overall deserved to be shot. Pretty much the worst idea of public transport ever seen in this country. Honestly I'd go as far as being even worse than that of HS2, yes I said that for at least how flawed you can say it is, it is giving the country a long overdue 200mph something railway which has been crying out for years and if really made to fulfil it's fullest potential then it would be of great benefit to all, far more than that stupid bus thingy.
 
I booked my first ever driving lesson today!

Interestingly, the turnaround is very short, with my lesson booked in for tomorrow at 12pm.

I won’t lie, I am incredibly nervous. My coordination is terrible, as is my spatial awareness, so I’m unsure whether driving will be a natural fit for me.

However, I’ve wanted to at least give it a try for a while, so that I can at least take steps to try and be more independent. So in that regard, it does feel good to have a lesson booked!

However it goes, I’m glad to finally be giving driving a try!
 
Last edited:
There's no harm in giving driving a go, Matt. I'd advise making your instructor aware of any issues you have like spatial awareness and coordination so they can help you in those areas. My instructor was also a teaching assistant at my secondary school, so he knew me a bit anyway. which was quite helpful. If you find it's not for you, then don't worry about it too much.
 
Jonathan said:
There's no harm in giving driving a go, Matt. I'd advise making your instructor aware of any issues you have like spatial awareness and coordination so they can help you in those areas. My instructor was also a teaching assistant at my secondary school, so he knew me a bit anyway. which was quite helpful. If you find it's not for you, then don't worry about it too much.
Click to expand...
Thankfully, I decided to go with an automatic instructor, so one element of stress (gears) is removed from it; I decided not to bite off more than I can chew, as I always thought that manual driving looked like a lot of things to focus on for someone like me.

I know that learning in an automatic will mean that I don't have a full driving license, and can only drive in automatic cars, but I thought that might make me more comfortable with driving, and to be honest, most cars are going automatic anyway; once we've banned petrol & diesel cars, the world will be automatic only.

I am still nervous, though... I feel like there's a lot riding on me knowing how to drive. Even if I don't drive long distances, it would still be a helpful skill to have so that I can take myself to the train station to get places as opposed to relying on someone else to take me.
 
rob666 said:
Gone over to an auto in recent years Matt...and it is still a full license, just for auto's only.
Just think dodgems with an extra pedal.
Click to expand...
So the only restriction on an automatic license is that you can't drive a car with manual transmission?

That's even better, then!
 
Matt N said:
Thankfully, I decided to go with an automatic instructor, so one element of stress (gears) is removed from it; I decided not to bite off more than I can chew, as I always thought that manual driving looked like a lot of things to focus on for someone like me.

I know that learning in an automatic will mean that I don't have a full driving license, and can only drive in automatic cars, but I thought that might make me more comfortable with driving, and to be honest, most cars are going automatic anyway; once we've banned petrol & diesel cars, the world will be automatic only.

I am still nervous, though... I feel like there's a lot riding on me knowing how to drive. Even if I don't drive long distances, it would still be a helpful skill to have so that I can take myself to the train station to get places as opposed to relying on someone else to take me.
Click to expand...
I've been wanting to learn to drive for a few years now, but my parents have always been wary and don't think I'm capable. From the start I had decided myself that an automatic would be better for me because of my coordination. Hopefully I'll be able to try one day as public transport (busses especially) is 🩲 here in Sheffield.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top