14 ways to get around Bristol

Planes, trains and automobiles; Bristol has them all and more:

1. Trams

At its peak, 237 tramcars were in use along 17 lines across the city. In 1875, getting around Bristol was a six-mile-an-hour jaunt until twenty years later when electric trams were introduced. This method of travelling around Bristol ceased in 1941 when the Luftwaffe’s Good Friday raid bomb severed the power supply, and set fire to central Bristol in the process.

2. Ferries

The now recognisable blue and yellow Bristol Ferry Boats started in 1977 with the boat Margaret. In 1984 Margaret was featured on a Royal Mail special edition stamp. After the company dissolved into liquidation in 2012, many supporters of the infamous ferry company banded together to save it and the revived company now has 871 shareholders.

3. Planes

The first airport in Bristol was in Whitchurch in 1930, opened by the Duke of Kent, becoming the third civil airport in the UK. But Filton is where the real history lies due to its most famous export, Concorde. The commercial hub that is now Bristol Airport, in Lulsgate, was built on an old RAF airfield.

4. Trains

Platforms at Bristol Temple Meads are numbered from one to 15, but there are only eight passenger tracks. And if that wasn’t odd enough, there is no platform 14. Its name derives from Temple Church and mead, old English for meadow (representing the meadows along the River Avon which were part of the Temple parish).

5. M32

One of the shortest in Britain, this motorway is only 4.6 miles long. The road become a literal barrier between the surrounding close communities with gang-crime, poor health and loneliness soaring due to the concrete barricade. The M32 was also cited as one of the reasons why Bristol didn’t win the 2008 European City of Culture crown- with the panel chairman calling it “a concrete divide between communities”.

6. Pods

One of the many lost projects of Bristol, futuristic pods were mooted as a way to transport people to and from the emerging Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone. Costing about £30 million to build, journeys would have cost only a couple of pounds, according to the plans. But the 2012 plans were unsurprisingly scrapped.

7. Bristol Cars

Supporting @bristolowners and the @BicesterH #SundayScramble with a display of #heritage examples #DriveItDay pic.twitter.com/sqbfwZ7qEz

— Bristol Cars Limited (@BristolCarsLtd) April 26, 2015

With a sole showroom on High Street Kensington, Bristol Cars is the last remaining descendant of Bristol Aeroplane Company. Their first factory was at Filton Airfield, where the company was created by Stanley White who proposed a post-war car manufacturing company in 1941 in order to avoid the financial difficulty Bristol Aeroplane Company faced after the end of World War One.

8. Driverless cars

A three-year study is currently being carried out in Bristol to test the possibility of driverless cars. Transport minister Claire Perry launched the Venturer Consortium‘s trial last year which will eventually lead to autonomous vehicles on the roads in the Bristol and South Gloucestershire council areas. The project will investigate the legal and insurance aspects of the cars and explore public reactions.

9. Tanks

In 2014, traders angry at then mayor George Ferguson’s plan to introduce resident parking zones protested by driving a 1942 Sherman tank through Clifton. Tony miles, the organiser, said the tank represented “defending your territory”. Hired from a Gloucestershire firm, the tank travelled from the Suspension Bridge and past the Avon Gorge Hotel. Hundreds of traders also marched on City Hall.

10. Hot air balloons

In 1784 the first hot air balloon in Bristol was launched-indoors. In the early 1960s Don Cameron moved to Bristol and subsequently designed the Bristol Belle, the first modern air balloon. In the first Bristol Balloon Fiesta in 1979 27 vessels were launched, compared to 103 last year. The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is now the biggest annual balloon festival in the whole of Europe.

11. Helicopters

The Bristol Type 171 Sycamore was the first British-designed helicopter to fly and serve with the Royal Air Force. Created by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, it was used for search and rescue and anti-submarine warfare. Its names comes from the seeds of a sycamore tree, which fall in rotating motion. The maiden flight took place on July 27, 1947, and the fleet were retired in December 1971.

12. Clifton Rocks Railway

This was an underground funicular railway linking Clifton and Hotwells, running from next to the Avon Gorge Hotel to the Portway. It closed before World War Two but the BBC continued to use it as a secret transmission base. The line was operated with four cars, which were later repainted to match the colours of the Bristol Tramway Company. You can still take tours of the railway and the site opens to the public every year during Doors Open Day.

13. Bridges

Bristol is home to 43 bridges and to walk all of them only once results in a 33-mile walk. Bristol’s name is actually derived from the Saxon word Brycgstow or Brigstowe, meaning the place of the bridge.

14. Bicycles

And finally, you can’t make a list about Bristol’s transport without mentioning bikes. National sustainable cycle charity Sustrans was born in Bristol, emerging from Cyclebag, a campaign group formed with the help of none other than George Ferguson. Sustrans’ first step was to lease the Bristol and Bath Railway and convert it into the cycle path which is now route number 1 on the National Cycle Network comprising 14,000 miles of paths and lanes.

Read more: Help name UK’s most frequently cycled bridge