New man in charge of Bristol's transport policy
Don Alexander says he's excited to be taking up the role
Bristol has a new man in charge of solving the city's traffic problems.
Don Alexander has been named as the City Council's new cabinet member for Transport. He replaces Kye Dudd who lost his seat during May's local election.
In a statement the council says Don, who is a Labour Ward councillor for Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston, "will lead on delivering the Mayor’s vision for the city’s transport network", by working with groups including the One City Transport Board, First Bus, Network Rail and others.
Major projects now under his brief include the ongoing development of a regional plan for a mass transit system, a £1.8 million investment in post pandemic walking and cycling upgrades and decarbonising the city's transport systems.
Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said: “Don showed during our first term that he’s a councillor who can get things done for the community he represents.
"I’ve asked him to join the Cabinet to bring with him that enthusiasm and drive forward our plans to deliver better-connected communities where people have transport options that link them to opportunity.
“Transport is one of the biggest challenges the city has faced for generations.
"As with all big legacy issues such as this you need to be bold and plan for the long term.
"Whilst we’ve worked to bring partners together to view the challenge at a city level we’ve also been hard at work to ensure those systems work at a local level...Don’s role will be vital in ensuring our strategic ambitions don’t outstretch our local delivery.”
Speaking to us at Bristol Bridge, which its just been announced will stay closed permanently to private cars, Don said he feels excitement but also trepidation to be taking on the role.
We asked him about his priorities.
"There's a couple of things that I have to do and I have to do both of them," he said.
"One of them is I have to look at the strategic transport issues for the area and developments in technology and the Mayor has charged me with looking at the mass transit," he said.
"That obviously is a very big, very long term thing, but I'm definitely not going to lose sight of the local issues that challenge people every day."
Don describes himself as a strong believer in buses, saying he uses them "pretty much the whole time".
He says he plans to focus initially on improving bus services.
"My personal experience is very much of using the buses," he added.
"A bus ride is more than just getting from one place to another. You have the social side of it, you've got a bit of walking to the bus stop, the connection with nature and things like that.
"So I think we're missing a few tricks in the way that some people don't value the buses."
The next meeting of Cabinet will be on Tuesday, 13 July at 4pm and can be viewed via the council’s YouTube channel.