Bristol, a city in the Southwest of England, is aiming to be carbon neutral and have a net zero carbon emissions by 2030. In order to do that, the city will be focusing on how its resident get around. The Bristol City Council has big plans to make that dream a reality.
However, the plan to make Bristol a carbon neutral city is not a recent idea. Even before receiving a government grant of £500,000 towards decarbonising the city, Bristol residents have been encouraged to be more considerate as they go around the city.
Mayor Martin Rees has said that he is ‘delighted we are taking the lead in becoming a zero emission transport city. We need to fundamentally transform the ways we all move around the city and region.’
He concluded by saying that ‘this money will provide the platform to move us onto the next phases of delivering sustainable and low-carbon transport networks that benefit everyone.’
What are the proposed plans?
The city is looking to make good use of the £500,000 grant by the Department of Transport. In order to work on this ‘decarbonisation’ the city plans on making important changes. Indeed, by 2027 the city aims to introduce 250 electric buses, and 1,000 bicycle racks.
Furthermore, the mayor also announced that the city would be introducing a bus gate at Bristol Bridge, expanding the Park and Ride and making all sorts of investment to reduce the city’s carbon emissions. While a chunk of the grant will be allocated to that, one third will be spent in another manner.
The money will be spent studying how to decarbonise freight, around the city and the M32. There are plans of introducing freight consolidation hubs outside of the city center. The last steps of deliveries would be done with cargo bikes or small electric vans.
This is something that has been approved by the council and is in the works. The use of these smaller cargo bikes and small electric vans could be more effective. Indeed they are 60% faster than a diesel vehicle. And they reduce carbon emissions by 90%.
A zero emission zone
As if the planned bike racks and the new fleet of electric buses was not enough for the city to cut down its emissions it also has other ideas. Indeed, something else that has come up is the idea of creating a ‘zero emission zone.’ This new zone would cover the city center. But not only. It would also cover the old city, Cabot and Queens Square.
Whatever happens in the next couple of years, Bristol has big plans. And with this new £500,000 grant, they are well on track to realising them. Bristol aims to be at net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
