Petition: Scrap the Portswood Bus Gate
Southampton Liberal Democrats are calling on Southampton City Council to scrap the Portswood Bus Gate trial. Now it has been installed every prediction about its negative impact has come true. Unfortunately the best option is to scrap the changes. Sign our petition calling on the council to Scrap the Portswood Bus Gate.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Thomas Gravatt has launched a petition calling for the Portswood Bus Gate to be scrapped. Thomas said:
The Liberal Democrats are supportive of measures to promote public transport and make our city more friendly for pedestrians.
We campaigned for the pedestrianisation of Bedford Place and Carlton Place, we support more and better cycle lanes, and we have worked to introduce quiet streets outside schools.
But the Portswood Bus Gate trial is not working for our city. In reality the result has surpassed even the worst case predictions for the scheme. Roads around Portswood, like Brookvale Road and Belmont Road, have been overwhelmed with traffic. These are residential streets that have effectively been turned into main roads. Traffic volumes have nearly doubled since the bus gate was introduced.
The road design is unsuitable for this use. They are too narrow and are already heavily used by pedestrians and cyclists. Moving more traffic down them is disruptive and dangerous. There has already been a collision with a pedestrian on Brookvale Road and several other near misses.
The assumption was that traffic would use Thomas Lewis Way - but this road is notoriously congested, poorly designed, badly maintained and often floods. The council has also failed to deliver a modal filter on Brookvale Road which could help address some of the issues - but even with this change we don't think it will fix the problem.
The theory behind the Bus Gate is that it would improve public transport and make Portswood Road more welcoming for pedestrians and cyclists. The way the trial has been implemented means there has been no real benefit for pedestrians and cyclists on Portswood Road, but there has been a very negative impact on neighbouring streets
Perhaps there has been a slight improvement to bus times, but it's clear that it is not worth the negative impact on the surrounding area.
The Bus Gate has not reduced traffic or congestion, it has just moved it to roads that cannot handle it. Although this is a 6-month trial, it's already clear that this won't work. If you agree, sign our petition to Scrap the Portswood Road Bus Gate.