An extra £15 million will be spent on planning Bristol’s new mass transit system including an underground rail network. But it’s currently unclear what the £15 million, announced by the mayor of Bristol last week, will actually be spent on.
Plans for the mass transit system were first revealed in 2017, and would see four new overground and underground lines, as well as segregated bus routes and new train stations. In 2018, Bristol City Council estimated it would cost £4 billion to build.
Construction work on the new rail network was initially due to begin this year, but has been beset by delays. Now, Bristol mayor Marvin Rees has pledged to spend a further £15 million on the mass transit system, but declined to give details about how that money will be spent.
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During his State of the City Address on October 26, Mr Rees said: “We have continued the work to build a mass transit system that will transform the way we move around the city region. The economic and geological assessment work has been done.
“We are about to commit a further £15 million with our neighbours to take this work to the next stage. Overground and underground networks are fast, efficient, low carbon transport systems.
“They are essential for a modern, crowded city. Bristolians have waited long enough. There cannot be any U-turns, no shying away from the challenge of delivery for those who come next, be they Bristol councillors or the combined authority. We know what needs to happen. It’s now there for you to complete it.”
Rather than digging tunnels or buying trains, the £15 million could likely go towards paying transport consultants to write a ‘strategic outline business case’, one of a series of detailed documents needed to unlock the necessary billions in funding. A major public consultation is also expected soon on several options for the mass transit system.
Both Bristol City Council and the West of England combined authority were asked exactly what the £15 million will be spent on, but the council did not respond to questions. Dan Norris, West of England metro mayor, said he has asked to meet with ministers in the new government and would discuss the mass transit system with them.
Mr Norris said: "Of course we need better public transport across Bristol and the West of England. That’s why I was pleased to secure the highest per person transport settlement in the country last year which will predominantly be spent on buses.
“However, the kind of long-term government investment for a bells and whistles transport system would be around 20 times more than that. While inflation is sky high and we are saddled with a Tory government that crashed the economy and which is embarking on another huge round of cuts, we have to be realistic.
“I have requested meetings with the latest set of reshuffled ministers and will be seeing the Transport and Levelling Up ones soon to assess their current thinking. I agree with getting schemes ‘shovel ready’, which involves necessary consultation and investment concentrating on four key corridors bringing people in and out of Bristol.”
Details of how the £15 million of taxpayer money will be spent could be revealed in new reports to the West of England combined authority, at some point over the next few months. After his State of the City Address, Mr Rees took part in a questions and answers session, in which he complained about not being interviewed by journalists “for more than half an hour”.
He said: “I can’t name you the last time a journalist actually interviewed me for more than half an hour to actually talk about the ins and outs of an issue. What you normally get is a pre-written story and then someone says ‘would you comment on the story I’ve already written’. So there’s no discussion, debate and investigation. That undermines the quality of our political debate.
“Most people don’t interact with real politicians and real political debate. They interact with the journalistic interpretation of what’s going on. And too often it’s clickbait-driven summary and opportunistic attacks. I might be wrong on all that, but being on the inside, having come from the outside, that seems to be one of the biggest threats to the quality of our politics.”
Mr Rees did not respond to a request for an interview on the mass transit system.
