This bridge has an essential role in allowing the important people who live in Abbots Leigh drive over with their kids on the Clifton School run, then go to the cafes of Clifton -funding a deprived part of the city, then either driving home or on to work.
Doubling the bridge tolls would force these people to drive down the hill, so adding another 10 minutes to their journey times. This would force them to get up and out ten minutes early, and overall cost 20 minutes of valuable time. Well, valuable, but not £1 extra/day valuable.
The residents are -rightfully- protesting against this. They didnt buy £1M+ houses in Somerset to have the Bristol city residents charge them something for the upkeep of the city and its core tourist attractions.
This is why they are proposing that the cyclists and pedestrians should pay for their use of the bridge too!
Anyone suggesting that the residents of Abbots Leigh could in fact walk or cycle over the bridge -for free- are missing the point entirely. They are not "cyclists" and resent the city from trying to make them become them. Furthermore, they are heading to Clifton -which, as we know, is the part of the city that doesn't like cyclists.
The enquiry begins on Thursday May 30 in Ashton Court Manor. Come and show your support for taxing the cyclists and pedestrians to stop the wealthy taking the whole burden of maintaining the bridge!
