Bristol council rakes in more than £500,000 in fines from bus gate

More than 1,000 residents have signed a petition asking the city council to remove the lucrative traffic feature

A council has made more than £500,000 in penalty fines from a new bus gate that was installed at the start of the year.
The bus gate on Cumberland Road, in Bristol, was introduced on January 2 and has raised £513,369 for Bristol city council since being introduced, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show.
More than 22,000 penalty charge notices (PCNs) have been issued, the figures reveal.
The bus gate prioritises public transport over private vehicles by only allowing buses, cycles, taxis and motorcycles to enter the central areas of the city using Cumberland Road.
More than 1,000 people have signed a petition asking the council to remove the bus gate, saying that it “negatively [impacts] the local economy, and the lives and livelihoods of residents and businesses”.
The Friends of Cumberland Basin predicted in September that the bus gate “will obviously be a lucrative source of funds to a financially strapped city council”, saying that the council had “offered no coherent reasons for the gate”.
PCNs for driving through the bus gate cost £35, with some drivers blaming Google Maps for still showing that the fastest way to get into town is along Cumberland Road.
John Smith, the council’s interim executive director of growth and regeneration, has previously said that the bus gate “would achieve elements of the wider transport policy aspirations of [our] overall transport strategy”.
In the city centre, there are also camera-enforced bus gates on Bristol Bridge and at the entrance of Baldwin Street from the centre.
The bus gates are part of the council’s transport strategy and aim to help meet air quality and 2030 climate goals. To be carbon neutral by 2030, 90 per cent of cars must be electric and car journeys across Bristol must be reduced by 40 per cent.