With the Green Party set to have control of Bristol's council following last week's election success, eyes have now turned to the manifesto promises of the campaign, the city's "slow, expensive and unreliable" transport network to be tackled with increased investment in cycling and walking, as well as the installation of 20mph zones on all roads in the city "where possible".
While the party came short of an overall majority, and is currently in talks to form an administration, it gained 10 seats to become the biggest party in Bristol, 13 seats clear of Labour. Likely next leader cllr Tony Dyer also asserted that while they will be open to suggestions from other parties, the manifesto by which they gained their success last week would need to be prioritised, likely signalling policies friendly to active travel.
> Wales set to reduce default speed limit to 20mph in residential areas
The Greens' manifesto stated that all roads in Bristol "where possible", and excluding motorways and dual-carriageways, would be made 20mph speed limit areas, the policy coming alongside increased highways maintenance and repair budgets to "ensure our streets and pavements are safe".
"We need a holistic approach to our transport to ensure people can get around the city easily and safely," Martin Fodor said.
At the heart of this appears to be a key manifesto pledge to "increase investment in high quality walking and cycling infrastructure and cycle skills training", while creating low-traffic neighbourhoods "by calming and curbing traffic on selected streets and helping it flow better on main routes" is also mentioned.
School Streets are also to be increased, preventing drivers from accessing roads outside schools during hours when children are travelling to and from school "to tackle the congestion, poor air quality and road safety problems that many schools experience".
Alongside these active travel pledges the Green Party has also committed to improving public transport, focusing on buses, with investment to make services more reliable, more frequent and more affordable, 16 to 21-year-olds to enjoy half price bus travel.
To pay for the transport policies, the Greens have proposed to introduce a Workplace Parking Levy (car parking charges paid for by employers), the party stating that it would be prioritising new residents' parking schemes in the areas where "there is greatest demand to help tackle congestion and fund appropriate transport alternatives".
"Transport in Bristol is slow, expensive and unreliable. We want to get Bristol moving and make public transport and active travel easy choices for everyone," the party's manifesto said.
Other transport pledges included the development of a transport and travel plan to review funding sources, bus routes and active travel corridors, notably looking at the feasibility of removing parking from bus lanes to make routes more efficient.
20mph speed limits were implemented across Wales last autumn to much outcry from some residents and sections of the press. In September, an initial analysis of transport data in the immediate time after the changes suggested that there had been a "dramatic" change in traffic speed, with analysts calling the results "astonishing and far greater than would have been predicted".
Over in England, in January, the deputy leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP) Council announced that it was the local authority's "intention" to introduce a "default" 20mph limit in built-up areas throughout the conurbation, similar to Wales' implementation.
However, a month later, cycling campaigners criticised the updated plans to restrict the proposed roll-out to just streets deemed particularly dangerous or where serious injuries have occurred, Cycling Rebellion urging the local authority to be "bold".
