A cyclist says the bike lane along Bristol's Park Row is "completely pointless" as drivers keep parking there and blocking it. Phil Sturgeon has taken video clips of vehicles and vans parked in the cycle lane with their hazard lights on, prompting a large response from others who agree it's a daily issue.
The council advised that the pop-up cycle lane in this location is advisory and could only be enforced if it was specifically designated with a Traffic Regulation Order. However, the offence of being parked in a suspended parking bay can be enforced against and a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) of £70, which would be reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days, can be issued by Civil Enforcement officers who patrol this area regularly.
Posting on Twitter last week, Mr Sturgeon said that drivers currently ignore the signs indicating that no parking, waiting or loading is allowed. The cyclist, who lives in the area, said: “This happens all day, every day and evening and in the middle of the night.
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"These drivers park and go for coffee, leaving their hazards on, or the vans are loading. It’s very dangerous for cyclists having to drive around them.” He raised concerns about enforcement of bike lanes and said drivers also sometimes drive over the bollards.
He added: “I have conversations with everyone who stops. But people don’t care.” Other cyclists responded reporting similar issues, saying they regularly find the route to be blocked by parked vehicles.
Ian Pond, chairperson of Bristol Cycling Campaign, welcomed the improvements planned for the route but said he has been told the works "won’t be finished before February 2024". He said: “The cycling provision on Park Row, originally installed as part of the COVID measures in 2020, is poor quality, intermittent and urgently needs to be improved.
"It’s good to see that there is an approved, high-quality and comprehensive plan to dramatically enhance the cycling and walking domain along this road. We all look forward to its completion."
Improvements are already planned for the cycle lane, which was initially introduced as a temporary measure in 2020 but is due to be made permanent. Bristol City Council has said that builders will begin work at the end of this year, as part of two major walking and cycling upgrades.
The city council has three construction projects in the pipeline on walking and cycling upgrades around the city. These are joining the 'missing links' between the end of Bath Railway Path through the Old Market to Castle Park and Baldwin Street, a pedestrian scheme in Cotham Hill and the upgrades to make the bike lane on Park Row permanent.
Builders were scheduled to start work at the end of this year, according to a council update in January. At the time, head of city transport Adam Crowther said: “I cycled up and down Park Row a lot when it first went in, checking on the traffic, it was great.
"It’s a little bit tired now, it has been parked all over, and those little plastic bollards can work — but they need to work in the right environment. This scheme will put hard starts and finishes to a lot of those cycle lanes, so it feels more like a cycle lane rather than someone’s just put a cone in the middle of the road that you can drive over if you want to.
"The traffic signals will be replaced, the bus stops will be upgraded, and there’ll be better pavements. It’s a big scheme, really ambitious, and it’ll be impressive when we get to a finalised permanent scheme."
