Bus boss fumes over traffic jams
Martin Curtis, the managing director of Bath Bus Company, has accused Bath and North East Somerset Council and the police of failing to tackle traffic problems in the city centre.
Mr Curtis said shoppers who drive into the city centre this Christmas will force his buses to run behind schedule.
He said: "There have long been traffic problems in the city, and to a considerable extent the bus gate and other measures has reduced city centre congestion in the past few years.
"Recently however, areas such as Queen Square, Manvers Street and North Parade regularly become gridlocked, during the late afternoons and weekends.
"Last Saturday, Queen Square came to a standstill with traffic, causing severe delays for everyone. The source of this particular problem was cars queuing to enter Charlotte Street car park, which resulted in enormous tailbacks.
"It is almost impossible to keep buses to time in these conditions which seem likely to continue every weekend in the run-up to Christmas.
"It is making Bath a less attractive place to visit."
Mr Curtis, who has been operating buses in Bath for 20 years, believes the answer is to have people on the street to control and direct traffic during busy times.
He said: "A decade ago, the police used to place a traffic warden in Charlotte Street to prevent such queues forming, and traffic remained flowing far more freely.
"Today however, the police appear not to have the resources to get involved and there are no longer any traffic wardens.
"Instead, in a seemingly endless quest to save costs, they have been replaced by council parking attendants and Police Community Support Officers, none of whom have authority over traffic on the move.
"What's even more worrying, is that we seem as a community to have lost the skills necessary to control traffic when heavy congestion occurs, so the gridlock is just left to sort itself out – which takes hours."
B&NES Council has blamed the problems on the number of cars coming into the city - a problem it hopes to relieve with the Bath Transportation Package.
A council spokesman said: "The fundamental difficulty being experienced by Bath Bus Company is the sheer number of cars in Bath. This situation highlights the urgent need for Bath and North East Somerset Council to get on with the job of delivering the £60 million of transport improvements that will help unclog the areas roads of traffic.
"Doubling the number of park-and-ride spaces, providing bus rapid transit, and undertaking measures to reduce HGVs in the city are all essential if residents, visitors, and workers in Bath are to experience a city centre where pedestrians and cyclists have priority, and where public transport is free to move."
Avon and Somerset Police said they had nothing to add to the council statement.
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