As the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) comes into force today in Bristol, we spoke to people in Broadmead to get a feel for public opinion. Although a few people agreed it would improve the air quality, most passers-by we talked to said they feel it is more about money-making than cutting carbon emissions - although Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees has stressed the zone is about air quality, not cashing in.
Only one person we spoke to owned a car that would be impacted by the charges but he said he usually gets the bus into town for work every day anyway. Many people highlighted the problems with public transport in the city and said buses would need to be improved for the CAZ to influence the number of cars on the road.
Others pointed out that it may affect the businesses in the city centre if it makes people drive elsewhere. Some people felt that it was a way to exclude people who may not have the money to buy a newer car and have no choice but to drive through the Clean Air Zone to get to work.
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Kat, who drives her mum and dad into town for shopping, has a car which is not impacted by the charges and her parents are both Blue Badge holders. The family live in Lockleaze, an area impacted by the First bus cutbacks, and said they drive into the city centre because the buses are unreliable.
Kat said: “If people are going to come into town then they will come in anyway. But I think it will have a detrimental effect on some of the businesses down here, maybe the smaller businesses are just going to end up closing.
“It’s not going to affect me because I have a newer car and I have a Blue Badge for both my mum and dad. Although disabled parking is often an issue, the delays and cancellations on their bus, the number 24, mean that they no longer see public transport as a viable option."
Stuart Veal, who lives in Weston-super-Mare and works in Bristol, gets the bus into work already and occasionally drives in with his older diesel car. He thinks the Clean Air Zone may reduce traffic congestion at first but in the long term people will go back to their cars unless public transport is improved.
Mr Veal said: “I don’t think it’s going to make any difference. It might in the short term but in the long term like plastic bags where people go back to buying them again, people will go back to driving again and it will just become an additional cost onto their parking.
“Something’s got to be done, I think the phasing out of petrol vehicles over time will be the way to do it. If people have to come here they’re going to come here anyway but for it to work, they’ve got to improve the buses and the public transport.
“The train station’s too far away from the centre, First keep cutting buses for ‘profitability’ and that’s an issue.” He occasionally drives into Bristol and although for Mr Veal that will now mean paying £9, he said it won’t impact his travel plans because he rarely drives into Bristol.
Elsewhere in Broadmead, Alice said she thinks that overall it’s a good thing: “I drive a petrol car but I normally walk into town. I can see how it would be difficult for other people to get in. We need to do everything we can to stop climate change so if that means eliminating diesel cars in the centre of Bristol then I think that’s good. It might actually be a nicer environment to walk in."
LJ who lives off Newfoundland Road thinks it will exclude people who have no choice but to drive into work. He said that it was a way of making money and a form of classism.
LJ said: “Apparently my car’s fine, I’ve got a 2008 model with a small engine. It just excludes people.
“There is too much traffic on the road but if the public transport was better then there wouldn’t be so much traffic on the road. If I want to go to work everyday in Avonmouth, how do I get there at 4am in the morning?
“You have to go in your car. In this world and in this city there is classism, you have people with money and those who haven’t got it.
“This Clean Air Zone is another taxation; a way to take more money from you. Who is it benefitting?
“The other day they were saying diesel is the best car and now all of a sudden they’ve banned it. If you look at the process to make a Tesla car, digging up all the minerals to make them, that’s worse than what we’re doing now and only a few people are going to benefit from them and those are the rich people.”
Patrick, who is 21, usually drives into town but has a compliant car so the introduction of CAZ won’t affect his journey into town. He also felt there was a contradiction in banning older cars, given the carbon emissions produced in manufacturing new electric cars like Teslas.
He said: “At the moment it’s not really much of a difference for me but in the future I’m not sure if they will change it to petrol cars too. At the end of the day it costs the same amount of fumes to run a diesel car as it takes to produce a Tesla anyway.
“It’s not really much of a difference anyway. I prefer taking a car to a bus."
Mohammed Yasir, 32 said that the CAZ doesn’t make sense to him. His car will not be impacted by the charges.
Mr Yasir said: “It’s not logical because air is not a solid thing that stays in the same place all the time. If you make a Clean Air Zone for Bristol City Centre, air travels so the vehicles that travel outside of that area are still making pollution and that air will move into the city centre.
“It doesn’t make sense to make it in a specific area. Even if someone is paying the charge then it means that it’s okay for them to pollute, I think they are doing this for money.”
Cherry Jenkinson has a free bus pass and never drives into town. She thinks the Clean Air Zone is another way to get more money off motorists and will not help reduce emissions.
She said: “The world’s gone crazy in my opinion, it’s absolutely ridiculous. We do recycling, most people do, we’re not happy about it.”
What do you think about the Clean Air Zone? Let us know in the comments section below
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