Bristol Business Guide

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To support continued growth in cycling,
a new family cycle centre was opened
in 2016. The centre provides families
with a large off-road cycling space
to perfect their skills and abilities,
regardless of age, ability, or access
needs. The centre helps children and
families discover the joys of cycling.
It is used for Bikeability training, which
is the cycling proficiency test for the
21st century, designed to give the next
generation the skills and confidence
to ride their bikes on today’s roads.
Training is organised through schools
and youngsters are eligible for free
sessions paid for by the city council.
The centre has the capacity to provide
a similar level of training for adults
to help them develop their skills and
rediscover the joys of cycling.
Car Travel
Links to Bristol are excellent. The M4
and M5 motorways put both London
and Birmingham within a 2-hour drive
and Cardiff within an hour, while the
M32 allows direct access from the M4
to the heart of the city.
Car sharing schemes link people
making similar journeys together
and provide an opportunity to save
significant cost savings in car travel.
Car clubs offer the use of a car without
the expense of maintenance and
insurance. Some clubs offer corporate
rates so businesses can benefit too.
Rail
Bristol Temple Meads, designed by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel circa 1840,
is a major railway station situated
about a mile south east of the city
centre, and is the main station for
central Bristol. Bristol’s other main-line
station, Bristol Parkway, is situated on
the northern outskirts of the city.
MetroWest - Rail
Improvements
The MetroWest project is a package
of major rail improvements for the
West of England region. The project
is being delivered by the West of
England councils, who are working in
partnership with Network Rail and
Great Western Railway to develop
the scheme.
The MetroWest proposals are being
delivered in two phases, Phase 1 and
Phase 2, along with a separate new
stations package looking at the
potential for future new stations.
For more information see
Coach
National Express Coaches depart
from Bristol Bus Station on
Marlborough Street to a wide range
of destinations. Bakers Dolphin
provides a ‘London Flyer’ service
direct to London, departing from
Bristol Bus Station and Eastville
Tesco, whilst Megabus operate an
express coach service to and from
London.
Air
Bristol Airport is situated on the
A38, eight miles from Bristol. In 2016,
it was the ninth busiest airport in the
United Kingdom, handling over 7.6
million passengers. From Bristol
Airport you can fly direct to over
100 destinations. Development of
passenger facilities to cater for
increased demand continues,
including an eastern terminal
extension, improvements to car
parks and an onsite hotel.
Sea
Over £400 m has been invested in the
Port of Bristol and it is now recognised
as being one of the most productive
and technically advanced in Europe.
Key advantages of the Port of Bristol:
• The Port can handle much larger
ships than its competitors in the
South of England - up to 130,000
tonnes dead weight.
• It is the most economical port
distribution location in the UK,
reaching some 42 million people
within a 250km radius.
• Development work on a new deep-
water container terminal has been
initiated. The Bristol Deep Sea
Container Terminal (DSCT) is
designed to service not only today’s
largest container vessels but also
future generations of ultra large
container ships (ULCS) entering
service with three 400m berths
dredged to a depth of 18m.
• Bristol is the only deep sea port in
the UK with direct motorway and
rail from the port to all points of the
compass. It is closer to more of the
UK's container destinations than
any other deep sea container port
reducing time and costs on the
inland leg of the journey.
• Bristol is rapidly gaining favour with
container shippers because of its
central location and low haulage
rates. Bristol prides itself on fast
vessel and lorry turnaround.
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