00:00If you live in Bristol or anywhere across the West Country, you know just...
00:05how much everyday life depends on public transport.
00:08For some people, it's the...
00:10the only realistic way to get to work, college, hospital appointments or...
00:15into the city itself.
00:17But speak to regular passengers and you'll often hear...
00:20the same complaints coming up again and again.
00:23Buzzes that do not turn up on...
00:25time or sometimes not at all.
00:27Trains that are cancelled or overcrowded.
00:30Fares that make even short journeys feel expensive.
00:33There's no doubt that...
00:35really good public transport as something that we should...
00:39we should cherish.
00:40Certainly I grew up in the sort of days when there were lots of buses, trains...
00:43and it was relatively cheap.
00:45So of course, people sort of...
00:46you know, they can crowd on to sort of the public transport and go to wherever.
00:50Now of course, you compare that...
00:52you know, which is what...
00:5340 odd years ago...
00:54to the Situations Day...
00:55where you go onto the roads...
00:56and it's chock-a-block...
00:57full of sort of cars and lorries and whatever else...
00:59and...
01:00of course, the public transport may be still very well used...
01:03but of course, people think twice before...
01:05going onto a bus because the minimum fare you're going to sort of have to pay...
01:08is something like three pounds...
01:10no, for a lot of people that's a lot of money...
01:11whereas if you get into a car...
01:13assume you have access to a vehicle...
01:15you don't tend to think in those sort of terms...
01:17so I think people are sort of being sort of dissent...
01:20incentivised to sort of to use public transport...
01:22which, you know, should be the way to sort of transport people around...
01:25and certainly when we go to the likes of London...
01:27you don't tend to drive around...
01:29because of course it's so...
01:30much more difficult...
01:31and also, there is the sort of environmental issue...
01:33if you get people out of their car...
01:35and walk...
01:36and also more particularly...
01:37if the roads weren't quite so sort of jam-packed...
01:40with sort of vehicles...
01:41then people might be more keen...
01:42to sort of use bikes, for instance...
01:45but of course they're certainly not going to do so...
01:46where they get...
01:47well there's a great danger of being knocked off...
01:50but of course...
01:51the need to sort of put more sort of vehicles on...
01:53or more trains...
01:54it costs money...
01:55and I think in sort of the current climate...
01:57there is no doubt...
01:58that sort of the big organisations that are involved...
02:00on this...
02:01you know...
02:02they run it on what they regard as being efficient...
02:03but of course...
02:04until something...
02:05sort of goes wrong...
02:06or the driver...
02:07doesn't turn up...
02:08for whatever reason...
02:09maybe sort of...
02:10you know...
02:11legitimate...
02:12because that's perfectly sort of...
02:13reasonable...
02:14Many people say...
02:15they genuinely want to use buses...
02:17and trains more...
02:18especially with traffic congestion...
02:20rising fuel costs...
02:21and the pressure to cut carbon emissions...
02:23but they also say...
02:24they need...
02:25a service...
02:26that they can trust...
02:27to get them...
02:28to be...
02:29where they need to be...
02:30the West of England...
02:31combined authority...
02:32and the mayor's office...
02:33have argued...
02:34that getting more people...
02:35onto public transport...
02:36means making it cheaper...
02:38more reliable...
02:39and more...
02:40attractive...
02:41with measures...
02:42like new buses...
02:43route changes...
02:44and fare support...
02:45the big question...
02:46now...
02:47is whether those plans...
02:48translate...
02:49into real improvements...
02:50on the routes...
02:51people rely on most...
02:52day in...
02:53day out...
02:54across...
02:55Bristol...
02:56and the wider region...
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