Harbourside travel plans

Summary

This measure aimed to bring together the major leisure and tourism destinations on Bristol’s Harbourside in order to improve access and travel choices for visitors and help reduce traffic congestion in the city through the development and implementation of a joint visitor travel plan.

Implementing sustainable mobility

Travel plans are an important tool for tackling traffic congestion and improving access to work, schools and other destinations by encouraging travel on foot and by bicycle or public transport, and car sharing. Bristol is one of the UK’s leading cities in the development of employer travel plans. The VIVALDI project offered a major opportunity to extend the benefits of travel planning to some of the major tourism and leisure destinations situated on Bristol’s developing Harbourside.

The measure involved:

• establishing a core group of major leisure and tourism destinations on Bristol’s Harbourside; and
• initiating site audits of the group to assess current provision for visitor access and recommend improvements.

Progress

After obtaining advice on site travel plans and a zonal travel plan, the group developed a collective action plan to record all achievements and future plans to improve sustainable travel in the Harbourside area. Physical measures, in the form of secure parking and other amenities for cyclists were introduced. The group also provided input into other measures, such as the city’s Legible City signage, and offered collective feedback on proposals to enhance pedestrian safety on major road crossings in the area.

A cross-harbour ferry service run by Bristol Ferry Boat Company was introduced as part of the travel plan measure. The service operates on demand and provides a useful link for both commuters and visitors between the north and south of the harbour, where there was previously no direct access. The group also provided feedback on proposals for the enhancement of the city centre orbital bus service, another VIVALDI measure.

The Harbourside visitors’ map highlights visitor attractions and opportunities for walking, cycling and public transport use within the Harbourside area. The map indicates bus services and park and ride facilities, including the recently re-launched city orbital service; ferry services; the InfoCentre and tourism information services; pedestrian and cycle routes; cycle parking; contacts for all modes of transport; Harbourside arts venues; information on visitor attractions; and the cycle information service offered by Sustrans. A print run of 30,000 was co-funded by contributions from the visitor attractions and from the Harbourside developer Crest Nicholson.  

Outcomes

The core group established through VIVALDI will continue to meet regularly and will seek new membership from other visitor attractions in the Bristol area, as well as continuing to improve on-site facilities for walkers and cyclists and contributing to area-wide plans for the development of sustainable transport facilities.