Bath residents have called for better bus infrastructure, safer streets and real alternatives to car dependency in their feedback on an ambitious 10-year plan to address the city’s transport network.
Public feedback on The Movement Strategy for Bath showed strong support for the overall direction of the strategy, with 63% of respondents backing cleaner, safer and more sustainable transport options. Only 19% were unsupportive of the proposals
The six‑week public engagement ran in October and November 2025 and attracted 842 responses; more than 500 people attended events to find out more, and almost 16,000 visited the webpage to find out more.
The Movement Strategy for Bath builds on the council’s wider transport, climate and placemaking work, including improvements to public transport, walking, wheeling and cycling routes, and the delivery of electric vehicle infrastructure.
Bath is currently ranked the fifth most congested urban area in the UK according to INRIX, and transport is responsible for 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in Bath and North East Somerset. The strategy proposes measures to tackle congestion, improve air quality and support a thriving local economy.
Feedback showed support for safer school travel through projects like School Streets, improved coach travel and safer traffic speeds across the city.
Councillor Joel Hirst, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Transport Strategy, said: “I want to thank everyone who took the time to get involved, by attending one of our events or answering the survey.
“The high level of engagement shows just how important transport is in our city. The strong support for our overall direction gives us real confidence – but residents are also clear in telling us that there is more work to do.
“Residents want better buses, safer streets, and real alternatives to car dependency, and this feedback will directly shape the next stage of the strategy.”
The council will now use the findings to refine and adopt the Movement Strategy, with a Recommendations Report, due in summer 2026.
To learn more about the Movement Strategy for Bath and next steps, visit www.banestransport.co.uk.
To stay informed on the latest transport developments across Bath & North East Somerset, visit our interactive Transport Action Map: https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/transport-action-map.
If the council wants safer streets, they should stop making car drivers frustrated.
Some years ago my wife and I used to holiday often in a nice, quiet seaside resort with a sandy beach. There was a bypass, so almost all of the traffic in the town was local, and the drivers were used to having holiday-makers crossing roads while talking to each other rather than watching the traffic and somehow traffic and pedestrians worked round each other perfectly. In many years of holidaying there I never heard of any car/pedestrian accidents.
Then the council got the “safety bug”. They put in several calming tables with a zebra crossing on each where they thought pedestrians ought to be crossing roads. The result was a total disaster. The pedestrians continued to cross where they wanted to, because that is what they were accustomed to. Drivers had to slow right down for the speed tables, even if there were no pedestrians near them, and after a few of these they were so frustrated that I saw the previous pottering around cars approach the speed table at faster speeds than had been the previous norm, braked hard for the so-called “calming measures” then once over each they shot off like a startled rabbit towards the next one where they braked again. Meanwhile pedestrians ambling across the roads were faced with fast moving traffic instead of the accommodating drivers they were accustomed to, and there was a considerable amount of harsh braking and horn blowing that had never existed before. The quiet seaside town had become dangerous. My wife and I decided to holiday elsewhere in future.
I wrote a very pointed letter to the local paper showing how the council’s stupidity in solving a problem that had never existed had driven regular holiday-makers to go elsewhere in future. We never went back there again.
The message for B&NES from this is that giving drivers an easy journey keeps them in a good mood, and that is a far better contribution to safety than any artificial restrictions they might dream up.
If the city is concerned about mobility they could start by opening up Winifred’s Lane.