As we predicted when the “trial” started the Council intends to continue the restrictions on access to Lendal Bridge for an indefinite period.
The #LendalBridge traffic trial survey closes at midnight. Remember you can have your say via the online survey at http://t.co/6o0DiBd99v …
— City of York Council (@CityofYork) February 26, 2014
When the formal trial finishes today the #LendalBridge restriction will remain in place until the evidence is taken to Cabinet in Spring
— City of York Council (@CityofYork) February 26, 2014
There is no item in the Councils forward programme of meeting topics so a decision before June is unlikely.
The latest figures on the Council web site show that most Park and Ride bus services are talking longer to complete their journeys. No data has been produced for other bus services.
No information on bus passenger numbers has been published although total passenger journeys in 2013 showed a further reduction on 2012.
The number of shoppers in the City centre has reduced
Other road users – particularly those living near the city centre – have found journey times doubling.
Meanwhile over 60,000 motorists have been fined on Lendal and Coppergate. Many of these have been visitors who have vowed never to return to the City.
Labour Councillors have now stepped up their campaign of misinformation.
They say that there were forecasts of gridlock. Few said this because (between 10:00am and 4:30pm) there is spare capacity on most of the highways network in York for most of the week.
Some predicted traffic chaos in some circumstances such as poor weather conditions. In a generally mild winter, they were proved right.
Labour have claimed that the LibDems included in their 2011 Local Transport Plan proposals to close Lendal bridge. Actually the reference was to a trial closure of Ouse Bridge (which has many more bus services using it and which does not form part of the ring road). But this would only have happened after proper consultation.
Labour claim that “traffic congestion will increase three fold in 10 years“.
But their transport spokesman made the same claims a decade ago and, of course, it hasn’t happened. Drivers have found different ways of getting to their destinations and at different times of the day.
They don’t rush lemming like to the nearest traffic jam.
Congestion levels in York have been fairly stable now since 1998.
It would be a strange Council that argued that “something has to be done“, then promptly decided on a course of action that actually makes things worse for the majority of travellers.