Bristol underground: Marvin Rees lays out latest plans

Different options for a new transport network for Bristol are to be explored, the city council says

Bristol's mayor says construction could begin on the city's new mass transit system, including a tube network, by the end of the decade.

Bristol City Council formally accepted the government's £191m allocation for public transport projects on 5 April.

The council will also contribute £38.2m of its own money, which was required to unlock the funds.

Marvin Rees said there had been "some political gaming" over mass transit but "it's a very straightforward process".

"Bristol needs predictable, segregated, decarbonised transport that gets people around the city, connects people to each other and to opportunity and supports us economically and culturally," he added.

The plans include £48m for what has become known as the M32 strategic corridor, with an as-yet unidentified location for a park and ride, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Marvin Rees said work should begin work on Bristol's new transport routes by 2029/30

The mayor's plans for a tube network have faced criticism from some councillors

The council also wants to make improvements to the Long Ashton Metrobus service and Bristol to Hengrove Metrobus line, make railway stations more accessible and deliver two 'liveable neighbourhood' pilot schemes.

The £191m will be sent from the Government's City Regions Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) over the next five years to the West of England Combined Authority (Weca).

This means all works will need to be signed off by Weca.

A debate on a Green Party motion on 15 March calling on Weca to fully examine alternatives to an underground, such as trolley cars and trams, received unanimous approval after the Labour group said that was already happening.

Bristol once had a tram network, but it stopped running in the 1940s

Everyone agreed a tube network was "not the be-all-and-end- all" for the Bristol area, while councillors from other opposition groups branded the idea of an underground "fanciful" and "pie in the sky".

"It was so disheartening to hear people saying it can't be done, even before we've tested whether or not it can be done," the mayor told a cabinet meeting on 5 April.

"It's so lacking in ambition for the city.

"You put the best on the table, you clearly set out what the best is for Bristol as a city with the greater Bristol area with 1.2million-and-rising people."

He said routes, available technology, costs, underground and overground options and potential passenger numbers would all be part of the process.

'Digging by 2029'

The mayor said that early consultations on 19 different options for a mass transit system had already been delayed but should begin soon.

He said he hoped the full business case for the scheme would be approved by 2026/27, depending on "how successful the previous processes are".

"And then by 2029/30 we could be digging holes, have shovels in the ground for the mass transit system."