MP wants political differences brushed aside in quest to solve York’s ‘creaking infrastructure’ (From York Press)

Perhaps if Mr Sturdy actually invited people from the other parties and transport officers he might have a better chance of setting aside political differences, rather than just talking to people who already agree with him.

Perhaps Julian should have received an invitation to attend York's recent iTravel launch. The Chair of York & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce amongst others, addressed the meeting and was highly supportive of the iTravel concept. The launch video can be seen at http://www.itravelyo
rk.info/news/i-trave
l-york-launch-video
Julian's team of yes men seems to be merely supportive of more road capacity, reinforced by his photo's background.
If he chooses to be photographed against a background with a cycle route and a Park & Ride bus, I may begin to believe that he sincerely supports the strategic goal of York's Local Transport Plan, to reduce car dependancy.
Julian, take a leaf from Hugh Bayley's book and get on yer bike...!

Perhaps the £150 million can be found from reducing over generous MP's salaries and expenses accounts!

Or by getting rid of them altogether.

It does not take an MP or local elected councillor to realise that York needs the outer ring road dualling and a station at Haxby.

Clifton moor used to have a park and ride site!

I would suggest that as a population/nation we could reduce our goverment costs and still have the work done and have tax cuts!

I have heard the counter arguement before about not paying MP and councillors that means we do not get the best talent....
I would suggest that we still do not get the best talent merly passengers on the gravy train.

I think James Alexander should resign over this!

Either change the timing of the traffic lights at York college on Taddy rd or build a footbridge to stop the misery of drivers trying to get in and out of the city at peak times

Perhaps he has a point
we have constantly bickering politicians in York trying to score brownie points off each other and not concentrating on the big issues

jorvik wrote:
Either change the timing of the traffic lights at York college on Taddy rd or build a footbridge to stop the misery of drivers trying to get in and out of the city at peak times

Spot on. Also, why not construct lay-bys at the bus stops outside the college. This would stop the buses from blocking the road (for all traffic, including buses etc) while they are filling up with passengers. There does appear to be room for this.

Dualling the outer ring road? It doesn't need dualling. Traffic flows fine along its single carriageway. The congestion is caused at all the roundabouts and, unfortunately, getting rid of the roundabouts (which is the only way to get rif of the congestion) would be a lot more expensive than dualling the ring road.

jorvik wrote:
Either change the timing of the traffic lights at York college on Taddy rd or build a footbridge to stop the misery of drivers trying to get in and out of the city at peak times

'Misery' is dying of a painful incurable disease or something similar. It is not having to wait a few minutes, in a warm car, for the traffic lights to change.

We could solve most of York's problems if we taxed motorists £1 every time they whinged, moaned or griped about something.

Priapus wrote:

jorvik wrote: Either change the timing of the traffic lights at York college on Taddy rd or build a footbridge to stop the misery of drivers trying to get in and out of the city at peak times

'Misery' is dying of a painful incurable disease or something similar. It is not having to wait a few minutes, in a warm car, for the traffic lights to change. We could solve most of York's problems if we taxed motorists £1 every time they whinged, moaned or griped about something.

Misery might be over the top but as the article is regarding congestion then I don't think it is unreasonable to point out causes of congestion and giving suggestions fror reducing congestion. While it can be seen that reducing car usage can help to reduce congestion, there are other measures which can be taken taken to reduce congestion. It isn't whinging, moaning or griping to suggest something. Measures such as this may have the effect of speeding up travle for buses as well as cars and thereby making bus travel a more appealing prospect. This doesn't have to be pro or anti motorist.

Priapus wrote:

jorvik wrote:
Either change the timing of the traffic lights at York college on Taddy rd or build a footbridge to stop the misery of drivers trying to get in and out of the city at peak times

'Misery' is dying of a painful incurable disease or something similar. It is not having to wait a few minutes, in a warm car, for the traffic lights to change.

We could solve most of York's problems if we taxed motorists £1 every time they whinged, moaned or griped about something.

Misery is having to listen to plebs like you,a few minutes you say,it takes around 30 mins to get from the cross keys to get past the college,Most cities have a peak hour rush which generally means traffic traveling into or out of a city will be busy not both ways because the inept council can't get the timing on the lights right,and I pay enough tax already which goes to things like public sector pensions and foreign aid when my tax should be spent on worthwhile things,now there's a whine for you

It's perfectly understandable referring to drivers' misery.

However luxurious the motor, having to drive yourself is a mind-numbing chore even when you aren't in traffic.

I would advise anyone who is not a pleb to employ a decent chauffeur or, like the chief whip, get on their bike.

Some simple solutions Mr Sturdy could plead with our council's "leadership" and "traffic management" teams for.


Change the Haxby Road/A1237 roundabout so that the left lane is straight ahead or left and the right lane is right when travelling from the direction of Wiggington road.

Change the A59/A1237 roundabout in the same manor.

Remove the traffic islands next to bus stops with no pull ins but space for gypsy horses to graze on University Road.

Additional sensors on Fulford road tribuary traffic lights to sense which lane cars are in and additional phases so traffic is not stationary in both directions for vehicles turning left onto the main road.

Ban empty taxis from sailing down bus and taxi lanes causing the lights to change against two dozen cars.

A footbridge for students at Askham bar instead of a pelican crossing 200 yards from a main roundabout.


Remove the traffic Island at the top of James Street which has caused the need for additional red phases on the lights preventing left turns into James Street.

Stop the Morrisons lights on James Street favouring traffic exiting the supermarket as the default phase even when it is shut.


Remove the pointless left turn only phase from the Bootham to Gillygate lights, when there is only one lane.


Switch of lights at Hopgrove, Grimston Bar at night.

Replace the lights at Crockey Hill with a roundabout.

Ask First Bus Co to cease using several 70 seater buses to ferry its workers to the James Street depot three at a time between the hours of six and eight in the morning.

None of these would cost millions, nor would they require any political input, just good sound traffic management skills and good leadership.

Is there a problen with the ability to synchronize the city traffic light system? Dualing the outer ring road will not improve congestion, only aggrevate it by allowing more vehicles coming from other congested areas within the city.

jorvik wrote:
Either change the timing of the traffic lights at York college on Taddy rd or build a footbridge to stop the misery of drivers trying to get in and out of the city at peak times

The main problem here is Sim Balk Lane. If that wasn't there and Bishopthorpe had its own access to the A64 then there would not be any traffic lights there at all!

Ignatius Lumpopo wrote:
Dualling the outer ring road? It doesn't need dualling. Traffic flows fine along its single carriageway. The congestion is caused at all the roundabouts and, unfortunately, getting rid of the roundabouts (which is the only way to get rif of the congestion) would be a lot more expensive than dualling the ring road.

To get rid of the roundabouts requires flyovers, and you cannot have a flyover with slip roads that have 'give way' markings on them, as nobody on the mainline would let vehicles on the slips enter the flow... therefore you need two lanes of traffic on the mainline so traffic on the slips can merge without having to stop and wait.

Pete the Brickie wrote:
Some simple solutions Mr Sturdy could plead with our council's "leadership" and "traffic management" teams for.


Change the Haxby Road/A1237 roundabout so that the left lane is straight ahead or left and the right lane is right when travelling from the direction of Wiggington road.

Change the A59/A1237 roundabout in the same manor.

Remove the traffic islands next to bus stops with no pull ins but space for gypsy horses to graze on University Road.

Additional sensors on Fulford road tribuary traffic lights to sense which lane cars are in and additional phases so traffic is not stationary in both directions for vehicles turning left onto the main road.

Ban empty taxis from sailing down bus and taxi lanes causing the lights to change against two dozen cars.

A footbridge for students at Askham bar instead of a pelican crossing 200 yards from a main roundabout.


Remove the traffic Island at the top of James Street which has caused the need for additional red phases on the lights preventing left turns into James Street.

Stop the Morrisons lights on James Street favouring traffic exiting the supermarket as the default phase even when it is shut.


Remove the pointless left turn only phase from the Bootham to Gillygate lights, when there is only one lane.


Switch of lights at Hopgrove, Grimston Bar at night.

Replace the lights at Crockey Hill with a roundabout.

Ask First Bus Co to cease using several 70 seater buses to ferry its workers to the James Street depot three at a time between the hours of six and eight in the morning.

None of these would cost millions, nor would they require any political input, just good sound traffic management skills and good leadership.

"Ban empty taxis from sailing down bus and taxi lanes causing the lights to change against two dozen cars"... how would this be enforced? without paying out to fit every taxi with some form of occupancy sensor?

"Remove the pointless left turn only phase from the Bootham to Gillygate lights, when there is only one lane"... firstly, the filter arrow is actually "bear right" for going towards St Lenoards Place, and it shows when pedestrians at the top of Gillygate have pushed the request to cross button - the signals are set so that these pedestrians get a green man whilst traffic gets a filter light to go straight ahead but not turn left. The problems lie when the lead vehicle in the queue 90% of the time wants to turn left; and then of course when the lights do go green you get four vehicles through and that's it, compared to about 20 from Gillygate.

Magicman! wrote:

jorvik wrote:
Either change the timing of the traffic lights at York college on Taddy rd or build a footbridge to stop the misery of drivers trying to get in and out of the city at peak times

The main problem here is Sim Balk Lane. If that wasn't there and Bishopthorpe had its own access to the A64 then there would not be any traffic lights there at all!

It's the pedestrian crossing traffic at the crossing from tescos to the college that causes all the problems

Perhaps Julian Study could go and sort out York Council who have responsibility for this mess that is York traffic management and get some robust action out of them sharpish.

Rather than the 'i' travel weak information policy launch thingy that we have been givenj!
The £4 million that was spent on that and its dead duck mascot would have sorted a lot of examples out like the clifton green cycle lanes out!

As leader of the council I think James Alexander should resign over the this.