Cuba

Part of me’s always wondered why the former county of Avon didn’t have a PTA/E. The Bristol/Bath travel to work area, including Weston-super-Mare, Norton-Radstock and the ‘new’ dormitory towns & suburbs such as Yate, Thornbury, Bradley Stoke and Keynsham seemed to lend themselves nicely to the concept of a unified PTE. As would have Frome and Bradford-on-Avon, initially conceived as part of the whole.

But it was inevitable that, in spite of its population and cohesion, the region would never join the ranks of the PTEs when formed in 1969 and 1974. For one thing, it had few local rail services. Significantly, it had no municipal bus operator. The closest it came was the Bristol Joint Services, a partnership between the then Bristol Omnibus Company and the city council, one that ensured the famed Bristol scroll remained on its buses long after corporate NBC style had swept it aside elsewhere. The joint arrangement ceased in 1978. So did the scroll.

Avon was never popular. Even if people secretly agreed Avon was a sensible unit, they hankered for the nostalgia of the old order. So it was, in 1996, that Avon was fragmented not back to square one but into the four “counties that used to be Avon”, or CUBA for short.

These unitaries were fine but could they take the strategic, regional decisions vital in an area such as CUBA? They have recently co-operaed on a joint local transport plan. Is this the seed for structural change?

Anticipating the passing of the Local Transport Bill, Bristol city council has in principle endorsed the possibility of joining with the rest of CUBA to become a 'strategic transport authority' – or PTA. When the time is ripe, this could lead to the former Avon being England’s newest PTA/E, the first since 1974. Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance, a campaign group founded in January 2006 unhappy at Frist's local service and fare levels, felt the PTA opportunities were “extremely exciting”. Perhaps Avon just refuses to die.