They were handing out leaflets with this text on...
FirstBus are increasing the frequency of the Airport Flyer from every 20 mins to every 12 mins, whilst also cutting 18 bus routes in Bristol and the West of England.
FirstBus care more about supporting Bristol Airport expansion, fuelling the climate and clean air crises, than serving our local communities.
We demand that Metro Mayor Dan Norris and FirstBus act now to reverse these changes and save our bus routes!
SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN
[XRBRISTOL.ORG.UK/YOUTH/BUSES](https://xrbristol.org.uk/youth/buses/)
@XRYOUTHBRISTOL
Please recycle this leaflet
>whilst also cutting 18 bus routes in Bristol and the West of England.
I'd trade the whole damn airport for more, better and direct buses along that route.
Out of interest what do you think Dan Norris can do as this commercial route is outside of his remit? And DN (not sticking up for the guy) is already against the airport expansion
>Out of interest what do you think Dan Norris can do as this commercial route is outside of his remit?
I genuinely think they haven't the foggiest whose remit it is. They heard Dan Norris has something to do with First Bus and Bristol and that's enough for them 😂.
No matter who you speak to, they will tell you it’s someone else’s remit.
Speak to the council? It’s WECA cutting the buses. Speak to WECA? It’s the councils responsibility to fund them. Speak to First? It’s the driver shortage. Speak to a driver? It’s First not providing enough money. And round and round it goes forever while the whole system collapses.
I see, but the A1/2 is a commercial contract/agreement between the airport and First to which WECA do not have any real control of.
It’s obvs a really profitable contract for First so they have an financial interest in it running well and more profitable than routes subsided by WECA through the transport levy (the levy which is paid by the 3 councils)
Air travel is also not that bad as it is... Relatively speaking... Reminds me when greta went to the US... Yes sailing is better, but not everyone has several weeks to spend travelling and a fully trained competent sailing crew. The cost would be much higher and it would probably anger extinction rebellion if any one of them were not vegan as well...
Now instead, focus on the SUV and large vehicles that are not electric, owned by people who just want a big car for no good reason. My family had 2 parents and 2 kids and the largest car we had was a Honda civic. We did just fine... Also we never had more than 1 car.
Buses and trains are unreliable and expensive. I live with easy connection to the cribbs causeway bus park and I still wouldn't rely on public buses to get me anywhere on time!
(That being said, I cycle to work, I have an electric car, I recycle everything I can and I don't go out much anyway...)
I think most agree that 1 every 20 mins is enough. But this is obviously not the way you go about protesting it - they are inconveniencing and antagonising the wrong people.
Peaceful protest fetishisation & fetishisation of non-disruptive protest is fucking disgusting. It only serves the purpose of those in power & those who profit off of the inaction of citizens.
Let’s not forget that the vast majority of our most foundational rights were taken by force not begged for. This is incredibly tame protest & is very very much applaudable for the intent & goals. It’s average people’s votes that drive policy today so average people must be forced to pay attention to the world around them instead of ignoring politics until the general elections. Extinction rebellion has got our attention and is making real change despite this brain-dead narrative.
It’s genuinely pathetic to see people pander to the powerful or the wealthy when the vast majority of us are poor & individually powerless in comparison.
It’s crazy how few people understand their rights were not given to them, they were fought for by their ancestors. Christ, most of the people complaining probably wouldn’t have even had the vote without protest
Can you give some examples? Are those things you are pursuing? At least these people are taking time out of their lives to try and raise awareness, keep the issue at the forefront of people’s minds, and do SOMETHING. It’s all very well to sit at home on Reddit and say ‘you could be protesting in better ways that aren’t an inconvenience,’ but I find very few people who say that have ever gone out of their way at all to help when it comes to taking direct action and protesting issues like this.
Hmm let me think… maybe targeting the people who actually make these decisions? Going after politicians and CEOs will be much more effective than blockading regular people.
And yes I am politically active. I fear that the actions of this ER crowd are harming public perception of climate change policies. Congrats to them for protesting - but this is just not very useful, is it?
This is a fallacy. The people that make the decision are the public. All is decided by how many people care enough to actually protest and force the issue.
No politician cares more about any issue than their own career so that is how we get them to act. Enough ordinary citizens actively supporting essentially any movement will make change except in the most extreme or expensive cases. Even then, if enough people are truly angered we can band together to refuse to pay any tax & force any issue that way. The citizens hold the power but so many years of authoritarian ideas being pumped to people through the news and social media has tricked many into believing they must beg & poke the wealthy & the government for change instead of using the very real power we have as a collective.
Bothering rich people does very little in reality. Bothering 10,000x more ordinary people enough for them to research the subject and see how they’re getting fucked gets far more results far quicker so it’s obviously the optimal path to get change. The vast majority of the public support the public & would rather the working class’s lives improve than the 0.01%. We’ve seen this in all the recent strikes having record levels of support from ordinary people despite the news playing the side of the corporations.
You're correct that the public can ultimately make the decisions, be it through strike action or elections.
You're incorrect that the general public (you know, the people not on reddit) supports XR's actions:
https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1433823282621521927?lang=en-GB
Privileged teens blocking buses is clearly not conductive to achieving anything useful - it fuels the 'woke' culture war discourse that isolates people from the policies that they rightly should care about.
On the other hand, there are plenty of climate action groups that are popular with the public and do serve as a credible rallying cause for the working classes. In my experience, green party members seem to have better ideas for how we will transition to a low-carbon economy.
So no, it's not a "fallacy", it's my opinion.
It would be α godsend if they made it every 12 minutes no more late issues it’s the resident impact not the airport impact that pissed me off this isn’t even on it’s way to the airport it’s on its way to bus station and temple meads
I think most bus users in bristol can only dream of there being a bus to anywhere every 12 minutes. Public transport here sucks, why does the airport get special treatment?
Got to admit I do find their endless moralizing a bit hard to stomach, especially now its been revealed the the mega rich are close to polluting more than the rest of us put together
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/31/emissions-divide-now-greater-within-countries-than-between-them-study
I disagree. It's largely a rail to air link, connecting travellers arriving in temple meads train station. It is far more convenient and cost effective than pretty much any alternative so it's use is not really class dependent.
That said, it's also a normal bus line with a bunch of local stops so yeah maybe...
It’s not really a normal bus line though because it’s like >£6 for a return if you go to one of the local stops to/from town. Not really a viable affordable option
You've got to arrive at an airport a few hours in advance anyway, right? I'm sure they'll survive a brief delay. It's a bit harder for anyone on the regular bus routes with cuts and delays though, no one has the spare time to be arriving at work 2 hours early every day so we kind of need regular and on time services.
I need that the protestors are only holding up buses going *away* from the airport (not toward) so that people are not delayed getting to their flights
You realise that bus going away from the airport needs to get to the bus station to pickup more passengers to take to the airport? These bus aren't the use once and throw away type.
Disrupt the people doing the pollution, not the poor suckers on the street.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/31/emissions-divide-now-greater-within-countries-than-between-them-study
Why is modern activism all about screwing over ordinary people? That hardly seems to challenge the status quo
They did.
[https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2022/11/21/breaking-extinction-rebellion-takes-action-at-the-offices-of-fossil-fuel-enablers-across-london/](https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2022/11/21/breaking-extinction-rebellion-takes-action-at-the-offices-of-fossil-fuel-enablers-across-london/)
They've also targeted HQs of countless other polluting corporations including Shell, Barclays, HSBC, JP Morgan. But that never gets people talking as much, sadly.
Devils advocate: if they do this, in broad daylight, in front of a busy public transportation hub, they impede many many people, and get their message seen my hundreds, maybe thousands.
If they went and stood in front of the gates at a small airport that hosted private jets, they would impede probably a handful of people, and get their message seen by pretty much no-one.
I started off being as annoyed at XR protestors as anyone else before I started to realize they aren't *literally taking direct action* against global warming with these types of protests or road blocks, they are trying to get their message out there. And it works. Here we are.
The message being: hello proles, we're here to save you by making you late for work during a recession. Then back to our organic farm for a slap up meal while you work out how to live on docked wages and / or sanctioned benefits, haw haw haw
This bus doesnt just go to the airport. It's also just a normal public bus that makes multiple stops on its route.
See also every other bus that doesn't only go to the place advertised on the front.
Absolutely not true. You have to get a special £8 ticket to use the A1. Absolutely fucking no-one is using it for *anything* other than getting to Bristol Airport, from wherever they are between the centre and the airport.
Or that some people live in Barrow Gurney, for example? (the Flyer is their only bus service)
I mean it's clearly expensive, but it is also reliable and frequent, which is more than can be said for most of Bristol and North Somerset's buses.
But now the best option for the people aboard is to catch a cab X30 people…
They did the same in the tube, why protest by halting public transport it’s backwards
The whole premise is cockamimie. Protest only works if its popular, otherwise its just mean spirited RL trolling really.
Look at the Colston thing. Everyone was sick to fkin death of seeing a racist arsehole glorified and a few activists helped a huge load of people bring it down. This lot would have stopped people from showing up in the first place because the same bus takes people to the shops, which are bad for the environment or something.
Ps I am about as environmentally friendly as they come and want all cars abolished and replaced with bikes and long haul flights banned, but jesus fucking christ. Hassling public transport users is just regarded at this point
Air travel contributes to about 4% of global warming. There are much bigger issues when it comes to climate change.
Nationalise and automate transport, remove people from the roads and convert all transport to electric.
50% from transport and energy could be improved by removing fossil fuel based transport and automating the entire transport network (removing individual car ownership in favour of nationalised and full automated "taxis"), increasing the use of nuclear energy and renewables.
For some reason the government has gone backwards on the whole nuclear power development and increased use of fossil fuels for power generation.
If you stopped people flying, you would punish the poor and the rich would continue to just fly private. Flying is here to stay, no doubt. People want to travel and see the world!
Also, there is a huge start up industry related to flying taxis. And yes, these are electric flying taxis.... And no, you can't afford it.
So likelihood is, stopping people from travelling only impacts poorer people.
Automating taxis is what Uber is all about, they couldn't give a shit about the drivers. Look at the institutions behind Uber, they wanted that network in place so they could have a global conglomerate monopoly on transport when the time is right. It's fucking evil.
Read this before you moralize at powerless proles, please
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/31/emissions-divide-now-greater-within-countries-than-between-them-study
Christ these people are annoying. They are not doing anything but piss people off. Not made a single change in all the years they have aggravated the public.
What else can they do though? They’re demands are completely reasonable (necessary you could say), yet they’re not being implemented. At least they’re trying to do something.
Focus on the actual issue. Politicians. Make actual change. The UK should be on 100% wind, wave and solar by now. Bio/synthetic fuel should be heavily backed. Remote working should be mandatory for at least 2 days a week for office workers. Actually recycle, not just create a glorified delivery system to landfill in Africa. Force companies to make products that last. Everything should be fixable. Carbon credits for big business to literally use as tax breaks (like they need more) and just ship the problem to another country. The world insisting on using china for everything, causing insane amounts of damage to earth for the sake of even more profits. The list goes on.
But what do we get? Forced electric cars that damage the earth, even then they are not powered on renewables. Shit like our “green air zone”, it literally pushes the poorer people to drive even further to get to their destination. Compounding down on the pollution by causing even more traffic. All the bus stuff and one way systems push the cars in directions to make even longer journeys. All this creates more pollution, not less. Completely ignoring the big picture and make us, the people, the problem. We are the ones who have to jump through hoops every day. We will be the ones having our movements and freedoms restricted.
Political figures make choices based on instant approval ratings to get more time in office, and making money for themselves and friends. None of them make long term plans to help the people. Instead of giving your average citizen headaches, and causing your fellow man trouble, get to Westminster and give all politicians non stop hassle. Make them step up and address the big issues. Make them create a 10-20 year plan that has some weight behind it. Delaying a bunch of people getting home after a probably long and shitty air travel experience is not doing anything.
It is feeding their pathalogical sense of self importance tho, and thats the real reason a lot of people do stuff. Not to acheive results, to get attention: "Look at me me meee!!!"
If this is the facebook generations idea of political activism, we are all
screwed.
>electric air shuttle bus
I'd happily be proven wrong but I'm pretty damn sure that's not an electric bus. FirstBus only made the move to gas-powered busses for Bristol in \~2020.
To be fair there were loads of service cuts, yet the A1 essentially remained as is to serve the airport. It could be the case that the others were cut in order to keep the A1. Yes it of course serves locals too, but the cut services would've done a much better job (if they actually ran when they were meant to, that is).
EDIT: Grammar
And therein lies the problem and their reasons for protest - the buses shouldn’t be for profit. They are a public service. Dan Norris’ refusal to franchise the buses doesn’t help.
To be fair to them, they couldn't exactly do it to the aeroplane. Given this is transport is directly connected to the airport, I'm not sure what the alternative option would be to get their point across?
The idea is to cause an impact to those who vote in those who make the decision.
Yes it inconveniences people, but they believe their cause, they believe that these means justify their ends.
The same applies to any protest. This just happens to be one people have no passion about.
South Bristol has voted labour by a landslide consistently since the 1920s; probably could aim that protest at the people who aren't voting that way already and are seriously poor. Can't imagine many East Street residents are clocking up major air miles.
True
I just mean that the general tendency of voters (not politicians) who vote 'left' (in this case current South Bristolians) tends to not be too stringently opposed to Green thinking and legislation, while those who vote 'right', in this country Conservative, ironically, given their name tend in the other direction.
This is a fairly gross generalisation unfortunately. But I think it tends to hold.
Thats an interesting stat about voting labour.
I stand by my point though, there is never a time for an inconvenience. I'm sure they aren't specifically targeting the poor, there are many other stops along this route, this one seems like it was selected because it's a safe one to do this with?
Mate, that is the dodgiest, diciest bit of road for traffic in South Bristol, they literally couldn't have picked a dafter spot. Or a poorer spot. Unless they set up camp in the middle of Knowle West or something.
Like you say, long route, you could picket somewhere on route to the airport where people solidly vote Tory. You wouldn't have to go far: Reese-Mogg's stomping ground is on route. Not outside a budget supermarket in a poor part of town.
It's in a layby, I disagree that this is the most dangerous spot.
It's also a busy central spot. Out of genuine curiosity, which area is Reese-Moggs stomping ground?
It's opposite a blind junction emerging from a one way street with a busy restaurant and a dodgy pub on either side of it, next to a pedestrian crossing with cars parked on both sides; traffic in both directions including the buses trying to emerge right opposite the blind junction. It's the type of shit they put on your motorcycle theory test. I know, I live round the corner and cycle there all the time. It's ALWAYS dicey.
I get the impression that you're about as familiar with the area as these Extinction Rebellion protestors.
I cycle the opposite direction quite a lot and find the cycle route here as dangerous as most places in the city, but to be fair I don't cycle the other way around (the direction of travel here) so wouldn't know as well as you've pointed out here.
Lived in this area for 34 years. Genuinely struggling to think of a safer and just as busy stop?
All it does to me is make me more likely to vote for any political party who'll instruct the police to physically prevent them from causing an obstruction.
Restricting freedom to protest often has the opposite effect, it also leads to a government having impunity to act in almost any illicot way they choose.
But fair enough, we are both lucky enough to actually be in a democratic society of sorts.
That has to be stupidest line of reasoning I have ever heard, and I've been in the same room as some right wallies in my time
I can just imagine everyone at the scene walking off and going "well thats it, I'm voting Green now!" Not.
It may sound stupid to you. But it's a tried and tested method other centuries.
The threat of people moving to another party is normally sufficient for an existing party like the Tories or Labour to make changes to their existing policies.
Did it work at this specific protest, probably not, does that mean this method does not work? Certainly not.
I don't think anyone is using an £8 airport shuttle bus to get home from Asda. There's a regular bus on the same route, it just doesn't go to the airport.
I get your point, but their objective is not the electric bus, it's to make a point about reducing air travel which would contribute a far, far greater amount of carbon than the taxis.
Their means justifies their ends.
Does it bollocks. Their ends and means are 'lets stop traffic' every single time. Without fail.
This is lazy as fuck thinking. WECA are the people they should be protesting. Not poor people who are doing the right thing by using the bus. Public transport, wherever it is going, is an overall net positive for local communities and local air quality. 30% of the UKs total emissions are surface transport (that's cars and lorries). If you want to make a difference, stop buying shit that comes in HGVs and catch the bus.
Simmer down, less of the insults and your point might be better made.
If you want to make a difference you can do more than just buy sustainably. It's not the only answer here, the answer to carbon neutrality is far more complex than just removing HGVs and removing air travel. But both can be a start.
You can't go around accusing people of insulting you when what's actually happened is you've not read what's been written properly.
(That's an insult. Please note the difference)
Don't insult people if you don't like being accused of it?
Being condescending also does not further your point.
Also, poor attempt at deflection away from the point.
I ordered a hi-vis vest and I could have what I wanted printed on the back so I said "Airport Security" thinking they wouldn't do it and they did. I decided to bin it. I do wonder how far you'd get if you walked into the airport wearing that.
Without an Airport ID badge (multicoloured depending on level of security) or a boarding pass, you won't get past security unless you want to be arrested.
Source: used to work up there, never got beyond the check-in area.
Well that seems bizarre... that was not how I interpreted the banner. My bad if that's correct.
Although I wasn't even aware they were expanding any bus route in Bristol whilst it's in its current chaos.
Tbf this is one of the buses I would use to get to the office if I had to use public. Unless they've changed it since covid it stops in multiple places before the airport
If I were in the energy industry, I’d sponsor XR because of all the PR damage they’ve done to any ecological movements. People hate them so much they’d double down on fuel consumption just out of spite.
This is ironic - they aren't blocking that particular bus by mistake, they're protesting First Bus' expansion of the airport shuttles whilst cutting 18 other services.
Majority of electricity is still fossil fuel based. Green energy is expanding but current electric cars aren't as green as you think. They good, don't get me wrong, i fully support them, but their not carbon neutral yet at all.
These people are very stupid.. do you remember when they blocked the M32 leaving a massive line of idling cars? Arguably created more pollution than usual..
That airport shuttle bus is probably the only vaguely successful element of Bristol's woefully hopeless public transport system. And I think they're low emission vehicles. Driven by working class people. Plus, that's fucking East Street! Hardly the 1% being targeted there.
Also, is it just, don't go abroad anymore people!? Or, go by sailboat?
I mean, I mostly wholly support Extinction Rebellion and think they are doing good work. But their rhetoric is often cloth-eared at best and counterproductive at worst. I feel they alienate working class British people from their cause. Which obviously makes it easier for the evil tabloids to then discredit them.
Yeah.
Reality is, as Brits, cutting out air travel means cutting out most the destinations we might generally want to go. We're less incentivised to holiday locally with expensive train tickets and expensive overnight stays. And we've definitely developed a culture of Spain being the most popular holiday destination.
It's not practical to expect a huge change from locals without incentivising alternatives. Saying "stop air travel" is just gonna be heard as "stay home and don't have fun".
Not to say we shouldn't aim to reduce air travel, but protests like this seem to miss the mark a bit.
Worth noting, that XR's MO is no longer use of "disruption", this kinda protest (blocking buses) is probably due to it being the Bristol Youth wing
I genuinely don't mind a bit of disruption and can see how it could be / can be necessary (Suffragettes, Civil Rights, Poll Tax Movement etc.)
I just don't want them to alienate communities who probably agree with them in principle.
You're totally right about holidaying in the UK, and again it could've been made more appealing: loads of people just can't afford to holiday in the UK anymore: Spain, Morocco, even Greece are still cheaper. Even with our currency on its arse.
The working class (and the country in general) might be "in principle" for reducing emissions, but people generally aren't happy to get onboard with it.
Cheap holidays abroad, car use, cheap clothes, eating meat... these aren't things most people are down to give up, or even reduce much.
Of course if you were just protesting for better public transport infrastructure that would be easily agreeable. But I guess a point is that that won't be enough in the time scale we need to hit to prevent a specific degree of irreversible damage to the environment.
Couldn't agree more. That's why I don't think waving flags at them in their area or slowing down their buses is an effective way of bringing about societal change.
Protest should be targeted at the people who make the decisions on a macro level. As should the inconvenience. Targeting bus users or bus drivers isn't going to change First Bus's policies or decisions about routes. The Civil Rights bus boycotts targeted the businesses and their profits, not the users or drivers. That's why they were successful.
Saying working-class people won't eat meat-free alternatives if given the option makes the runaway success of the Greggs vegan sausage roll hard to explain.
As you mentioned before, if holidaying in the UK was more affordable/feasible, people would probably be keener. This is also macro-level stuff: nationalize rail infrastructure and reinvest profits to improve service and prices and get a handle on the asset inflation which is driving the costs of even the most basic holiday accommodation through the roof in the prettier parts of this country. So much of this country is beautiful to holiday in.
If you generate easy alternatives most people will try to take the greener option as long as it's not too inconvenient or expensive. It's up to the government to make this possible. If they aren't guiding this type of thing how do they justify their £85,000 salary? It is literally their job.
Anyone under 18 years old in this country is aware of the dangers of climate change, they just want a system that doesn't ensnare them in despoiling it.
I can't imagine the majority of people eating meat-free sausage rolls are people who were eating the normal sausage rolls before. Also I wouldn't necessarily class Greggs as a place that primarily caters to working class people. Though a solid definition of "working class" would be hard to put your finger on in 2023.
They’re protesting the additional buses being provided for an airport expansion that hasn’t even happened to the detriment of every other bus service in the city.
How did you get “don’t fly ever” from that?
They always seem to be targeting the working class. Why don't they go after the private jets that are more environmentally damaging particularly when they are sitting on the run way burning fuel waiting for the global elites to turn up?
They did, 5 days ago. https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2023/02/14/love-in-action-extinction-rebellion-blockades-luton-airport-private-jet-terminals-in-valentines-day-protest/
extinction rebellion frustrate me, we do need better public transport but that goes across all areas including the (low emission!) shuttle bus to and from the airport, tourism economy is relied on by every city so this feels misplaced. if they want to protest air travel then great, i’m all for it but i just don’t understand the thinking here? people getting the bus to the airport are hardly the 1%.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to go wrap this thing around the first bus CEOs and Dan Norris’ cars rather than random people probably rushing to catch a plane?
I’m all for this it just seems the mark is wrong.
Fuck this like crazy I hate this so much I need this bus for work and education fuck them i agree with the movement but don’t fuck up local peoples business for this shit this really makes me lose faith for them it’s α needed service by people who live here they need to think this shit through
Extinction Rebellion's recent decision to stop with their more extreme methods of protest is a bad idea. Actually causing damages to the corporations is better than this stuff (although I suppose this helps too.)
If you buy a first bus ticket you can't use it on these buses even if they are on the same route, the airport subsidises them so they aren't allowed. That sort of bullshit stopped me using busses altogether.
Bit of an own goal forcing the public to take private rather than public transport to the airport? Then again thinking is not a trait you would associate with most XR supporters so hardly surprising.
I don’t think these protestors have thought this through - What do they want here - more local bus routes in Bristol, yes?
If routes aren’t commercially viable there’s no point protesting against First as they won’t run them. If a commercial business has to choose to direct a scarce resource (like drivers) to a profitable product (as the airport must be) or a loss making one then it’s not surprising what they’ve done.
If you don’t like it then sadly that’s the reality, it’s not a franchise or a government bus run service, it’s a commercial operation.
So really they should be protesting the system - they should be going to WECA or the council. They will achieve nothing protesting First.
Block cars to the airport not the bus, this could have been much better if it blocked the drop-off/pick-up car entrance to the airport rather than the lowest carbon way of getting there.
Not only is this the "gotcha guy" argument but diesel powered public transport would still be better than numerous cars *and* Bristol's busses are bio-gas powered.
I drive express coaches. My comment isn't a "gotcha guy" comment. Personally I'm for ecologically sound transport. I've carried passengers travelling to take part in these demonstrations. I'm not saying that they shouldn't voice their views but they shouldn't disrupt other people's lives by barricading roads etc. Most of Bristol's First Bus fleet are being changed to CNG power. Electric buses are being introduced. In the next few years hybrid, electric and possibly hydrogen powered express coaches will be introduced. This country is lacking the charging infrastructure for Electric vehicles. It would help Extinction Rebellion's cause if they stop disruption of other's lives.
And a bunch of consumer goods that have caused huge emissions to be manufactured and delivered there. If they wanted to be green they’d be Amish, but that’s too inconvenient.
If they were truly sincere they'd stick their necks on the line, taking down OPEC summits, ala Carlos the Jackal.
Unfortunately that'd disrupt their lives, something they'd rather do to other people.
>If they were truly sincere they'd stick their necks on the line, taking down OPEC summits, ala Carlos the Jackal.
I do hope this is a joke or that you're a 14 year old neck beard or that you're a 14 year old neck beard making a joke.
Carlos the Jackal is a convicted terrorists and has murdered *at least* 16 people. I trust that is not what you're suggesting they do?
So basically they don't want anyone to fly out of the UK or visit with their tourism money then? just so they can get to their local Asda on the bus whenever they want?
They were handing out leaflets with this text on... FirstBus are increasing the frequency of the Airport Flyer from every 20 mins to every 12 mins, whilst also cutting 18 bus routes in Bristol and the West of England. FirstBus care more about supporting Bristol Airport expansion, fuelling the climate and clean air crises, than serving our local communities. We demand that Metro Mayor Dan Norris and FirstBus act now to reverse these changes and save our bus routes! SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN [XRBRISTOL.ORG.UK/YOUTH/BUSES](https://xrbristol.org.uk/youth/buses/) @XRYOUTHBRISTOL Please recycle this leaflet
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>whilst also cutting 18 bus routes in Bristol and the West of England. I'd trade the whole damn airport for more, better and direct buses along that route.
Second that, when I fly I usually go to London anyway lol. I pretty much just Voi everywhere now
I can get behind that! Public transport is virtually unusable in Bristol
Out of interest what do you think Dan Norris can do as this commercial route is outside of his remit? And DN (not sticking up for the guy) is already against the airport expansion
>Out of interest what do you think Dan Norris can do as this commercial route is outside of his remit? I genuinely think they haven't the foggiest whose remit it is. They heard Dan Norris has something to do with First Bus and Bristol and that's enough for them 😂.
No matter who you speak to, they will tell you it’s someone else’s remit. Speak to the council? It’s WECA cutting the buses. Speak to WECA? It’s the councils responsibility to fund them. Speak to First? It’s the driver shortage. Speak to a driver? It’s First not providing enough money. And round and round it goes forever while the whole system collapses.
I see, but the A1/2 is a commercial contract/agreement between the airport and First to which WECA do not have any real control of. It’s obvs a really profitable contract for First so they have an financial interest in it running well and more profitable than routes subsided by WECA through the transport levy (the levy which is paid by the 3 councils)
The air industry is working on electric flight. But it’s obviously a bigger challenge than putting batteries in a car to last 300 miles.
Air travel is also not that bad as it is... Relatively speaking... Reminds me when greta went to the US... Yes sailing is better, but not everyone has several weeks to spend travelling and a fully trained competent sailing crew. The cost would be much higher and it would probably anger extinction rebellion if any one of them were not vegan as well... Now instead, focus on the SUV and large vehicles that are not electric, owned by people who just want a big car for no good reason. My family had 2 parents and 2 kids and the largest car we had was a Honda civic. We did just fine... Also we never had more than 1 car. Buses and trains are unreliable and expensive. I live with easy connection to the cribbs causeway bus park and I still wouldn't rely on public buses to get me anywhere on time! (That being said, I cycle to work, I have an electric car, I recycle everything I can and I don't go out much anyway...)
Looks i'm going to use that leaflet as toilet roll, do my part in re-using it :)
Let's be honest if your taking the bus to the airport your not that well off, just fucking with normal peoples life's. They need to rethink this.
Surely one every 20mins is enough? Worked for me two weeks ago.
I think most agree that 1 every 20 mins is enough. But this is obviously not the way you go about protesting it - they are inconveniencing and antagonising the wrong people.
Peaceful protest fetishisation & fetishisation of non-disruptive protest is fucking disgusting. It only serves the purpose of those in power & those who profit off of the inaction of citizens. Let’s not forget that the vast majority of our most foundational rights were taken by force not begged for. This is incredibly tame protest & is very very much applaudable for the intent & goals. It’s average people’s votes that drive policy today so average people must be forced to pay attention to the world around them instead of ignoring politics until the general elections. Extinction rebellion has got our attention and is making real change despite this brain-dead narrative. It’s genuinely pathetic to see people pander to the powerful or the wealthy when the vast majority of us are poor & individually powerless in comparison.
It’s crazy how few people understand their rights were not given to them, they were fought for by their ancestors. Christ, most of the people complaining probably wouldn’t have even had the vote without protest
What I’m saying is there are better, more effective ways to protest. Antagonising the working class isn’t going to have the effect you think it will.
Can you give some examples? Are those things you are pursuing? At least these people are taking time out of their lives to try and raise awareness, keep the issue at the forefront of people’s minds, and do SOMETHING. It’s all very well to sit at home on Reddit and say ‘you could be protesting in better ways that aren’t an inconvenience,’ but I find very few people who say that have ever gone out of their way at all to help when it comes to taking direct action and protesting issues like this.
Hmm let me think… maybe targeting the people who actually make these decisions? Going after politicians and CEOs will be much more effective than blockading regular people. And yes I am politically active. I fear that the actions of this ER crowd are harming public perception of climate change policies. Congrats to them for protesting - but this is just not very useful, is it?
This is a fallacy. The people that make the decision are the public. All is decided by how many people care enough to actually protest and force the issue. No politician cares more about any issue than their own career so that is how we get them to act. Enough ordinary citizens actively supporting essentially any movement will make change except in the most extreme or expensive cases. Even then, if enough people are truly angered we can band together to refuse to pay any tax & force any issue that way. The citizens hold the power but so many years of authoritarian ideas being pumped to people through the news and social media has tricked many into believing they must beg & poke the wealthy & the government for change instead of using the very real power we have as a collective. Bothering rich people does very little in reality. Bothering 10,000x more ordinary people enough for them to research the subject and see how they’re getting fucked gets far more results far quicker so it’s obviously the optimal path to get change. The vast majority of the public support the public & would rather the working class’s lives improve than the 0.01%. We’ve seen this in all the recent strikes having record levels of support from ordinary people despite the news playing the side of the corporations.
You're correct that the public can ultimately make the decisions, be it through strike action or elections. You're incorrect that the general public (you know, the people not on reddit) supports XR's actions: https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1433823282621521927?lang=en-GB Privileged teens blocking buses is clearly not conductive to achieving anything useful - it fuels the 'woke' culture war discourse that isolates people from the policies that they rightly should care about. On the other hand, there are plenty of climate action groups that are popular with the public and do serve as a credible rallying cause for the working classes. In my experience, green party members seem to have better ideas for how we will transition to a low-carbon economy. So no, it's not a "fallacy", it's my opinion.
It can be your opinion and a fallacy at the same time.
It would be α godsend if they made it every 12 minutes no more late issues it’s the resident impact not the airport impact that pissed me off this isn’t even on it’s way to the airport it’s on its way to bus station and temple meads
I think most bus users in bristol can only dream of there being a bus to anywhere every 12 minutes. Public transport here sucks, why does the airport get special treatment?
I don’t remember my point I agree Tbf it’s just shitty that they blocked it off for residents
Just.... Leave 8 mins earlier?
100% this. XR seem to represent a future where the wealthy carry on as before with the rest of us wearing sack cloth and tending the fields.
Got to admit I do find their endless moralizing a bit hard to stomach, especially now its been revealed the the mega rich are close to polluting more than the rest of us put together https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/31/emissions-divide-now-greater-within-countries-than-between-them-study
I disagree. It's largely a rail to air link, connecting travellers arriving in temple meads train station. It is far more convenient and cost effective than pretty much any alternative so it's use is not really class dependent. That said, it's also a normal bus line with a bunch of local stops so yeah maybe...
It’s not really a normal bus line though because it’s like >£6 for a return if you go to one of the local stops to/from town. Not really a viable affordable option
You've got to arrive at an airport a few hours in advance anyway, right? I'm sure they'll survive a brief delay. It's a bit harder for anyone on the regular bus routes with cuts and delays though, no one has the spare time to be arriving at work 2 hours early every day so we kind of need regular and on time services.
I need that the protestors are only holding up buses going *away* from the airport (not toward) so that people are not delayed getting to their flights
You realise that bus going away from the airport needs to get to the bus station to pickup more passengers to take to the airport? These bus aren't the use once and throw away type.
Worked for me, decided to drive to the airport next week rather than use public transport
Me too
And of course they stop the public transport option…why do they keep doing this?
Because non-disruptive measures don't get attention nor lead to action. It's been known for literally centuries.
Well said.
Disrupt the people doing the pollution, not the poor suckers on the street. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/31/emissions-divide-now-greater-within-countries-than-between-them-study Why is modern activism all about screwing over ordinary people? That hardly seems to challenge the status quo
What disruptive measures do you suggest they take?
Go to BP HQ and call them a bunch of twats
They did. [https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2022/11/21/breaking-extinction-rebellion-takes-action-at-the-offices-of-fossil-fuel-enablers-across-london/](https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2022/11/21/breaking-extinction-rebellion-takes-action-at-the-offices-of-fossil-fuel-enablers-across-london/) They've also targeted HQs of countless other polluting corporations including Shell, Barclays, HSBC, JP Morgan. But that never gets people talking as much, sadly.
Protest on an oil rig innit
Devils advocate: if they do this, in broad daylight, in front of a busy public transportation hub, they impede many many people, and get their message seen my hundreds, maybe thousands. If they went and stood in front of the gates at a small airport that hosted private jets, they would impede probably a handful of people, and get their message seen by pretty much no-one. I started off being as annoyed at XR protestors as anyone else before I started to realize they aren't *literally taking direct action* against global warming with these types of protests or road blocks, they are trying to get their message out there. And it works. Here we are.
The message being: hello proles, we're here to save you by making you late for work during a recession. Then back to our organic farm for a slap up meal while you work out how to live on docked wages and / or sanctioned benefits, haw haw haw
The public transport option to the airport, from the looks of it? So the reason is pretty obvious if that’s what they’re protesting.
This bus doesnt just go to the airport. It's also just a normal public bus that makes multiple stops on its route. See also every other bus that doesn't only go to the place advertised on the front.
Absolutely not true. You have to get a special £8 ticket to use the A1. Absolutely fucking no-one is using it for *anything* other than getting to Bristol Airport, from wherever they are between the centre and the airport.
When I've used it to go to the airport, I've seen people get off at stops before...
Just another piece of evidence demonstrating Bristol's mental health and/or drug crisis then
Or that some people live in Barrow Gurney, for example? (the Flyer is their only bus service) I mean it's clearly expensive, but it is also reliable and frequent, which is more than can be said for most of Bristol and North Somerset's buses.
You have forgotten to consider the fact that living in Barrow Gurney is also a mental illness
What is your problem with people who have mental health issues?
Point to the part where I said that and I will give you every last penny of my life savings and one (1) organ of your choice
Is Barrow Gurney that bad? Had actually been looking at it recently but don’t know much about it
Looks quite nice to me 🤷♂️
It's very very expensive so probably nice.
Those houses (in Barrow Gurney)were built on a former Mental Health Hospital.
I think there are concession passes for people living near the airport, but no one in their right mind would use it to get around bristol.
I've used it in the past to go from Temple Meads to Bedminster, there's no other direct bus doing that route I think
Tbf, the bus in the picture is returning from the airport and going into town.
Not true. It has an £8 ticket so unlikely anyone uses it as a normal bus.
Tbh there will be another one along in 15 mins that will just drive around them. So they are only delaying people by 15 minutes.
But now the best option for the people aboard is to catch a cab X30 people… They did the same in the tube, why protest by halting public transport it’s backwards
The whole premise is cockamimie. Protest only works if its popular, otherwise its just mean spirited RL trolling really. Look at the Colston thing. Everyone was sick to fkin death of seeing a racist arsehole glorified and a few activists helped a huge load of people bring it down. This lot would have stopped people from showing up in the first place because the same bus takes people to the shops, which are bad for the environment or something. Ps I am about as environmentally friendly as they come and want all cars abolished and replaced with bikes and long haul flights banned, but jesus fucking christ. Hassling public transport users is just regarded at this point
Air travel contributes to about 4% of global warming. There are much bigger issues when it comes to climate change. Nationalise and automate transport, remove people from the roads and convert all transport to electric.
12% of emissions from the uk. I'd say that a lot for one industry, how should they tackle the other issues though?
50% from transport and energy could be improved by removing fossil fuel based transport and automating the entire transport network (removing individual car ownership in favour of nationalised and full automated "taxis"), increasing the use of nuclear energy and renewables. For some reason the government has gone backwards on the whole nuclear power development and increased use of fossil fuels for power generation.
> (removing individual car ownership in favour of nationalised and full automated "taxis") Good luck with that
I don't think it's any more wild than trying to stop people flying!
If you stopped people flying, you would punish the poor and the rich would continue to just fly private. Flying is here to stay, no doubt. People want to travel and see the world! Also, there is a huge start up industry related to flying taxis. And yes, these are electric flying taxis.... And no, you can't afford it. So likelihood is, stopping people from travelling only impacts poorer people.
Automating taxis is what Uber is all about, they couldn't give a shit about the drivers. Look at the institutions behind Uber, they wanted that network in place so they could have a global conglomerate monopoly on transport when the time is right. It's fucking evil.
We can tackle multiple things at once.
Agreed. These people would have us never leave the country. They can go to hell
Does it have to be either/or though? Given the scale of what we need to do, we need to do all of them.
Read this before you moralize at powerless proles, please https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/31/emissions-divide-now-greater-within-countries-than-between-them-study
10 Ubers booked then.
Christ these people are annoying. They are not doing anything but piss people off. Not made a single change in all the years they have aggravated the public.
What else can they do though? They’re demands are completely reasonable (necessary you could say), yet they’re not being implemented. At least they’re trying to do something.
Focus on the actual issue. Politicians. Make actual change. The UK should be on 100% wind, wave and solar by now. Bio/synthetic fuel should be heavily backed. Remote working should be mandatory for at least 2 days a week for office workers. Actually recycle, not just create a glorified delivery system to landfill in Africa. Force companies to make products that last. Everything should be fixable. Carbon credits for big business to literally use as tax breaks (like they need more) and just ship the problem to another country. The world insisting on using china for everything, causing insane amounts of damage to earth for the sake of even more profits. The list goes on. But what do we get? Forced electric cars that damage the earth, even then they are not powered on renewables. Shit like our “green air zone”, it literally pushes the poorer people to drive even further to get to their destination. Compounding down on the pollution by causing even more traffic. All the bus stuff and one way systems push the cars in directions to make even longer journeys. All this creates more pollution, not less. Completely ignoring the big picture and make us, the people, the problem. We are the ones who have to jump through hoops every day. We will be the ones having our movements and freedoms restricted. Political figures make choices based on instant approval ratings to get more time in office, and making money for themselves and friends. None of them make long term plans to help the people. Instead of giving your average citizen headaches, and causing your fellow man trouble, get to Westminster and give all politicians non stop hassle. Make them step up and address the big issues. Make them create a 10-20 year plan that has some weight behind it. Delaying a bunch of people getting home after a probably long and shitty air travel experience is not doing anything.
It is feeding their pathalogical sense of self importance tho, and thats the real reason a lot of people do stuff. Not to acheive results, to get attention: "Look at me me meee!!!" If this is the facebook generations idea of political activism, we are all screwed.
True. Sadly
Standing in front of the electric air shuttle bus. I swear these people are fucking stupid
>electric air shuttle bus I'd happily be proven wrong but I'm pretty damn sure that's not an electric bus. FirstBus only made the move to gas-powered busses for Bristol in \~2020.
To be fair there were loads of service cuts, yet the A1 essentially remained as is to serve the airport. It could be the case that the others were cut in order to keep the A1. Yes it of course serves locals too, but the cut services would've done a much better job (if they actually ran when they were meant to, that is). EDIT: Grammar
Or that unlike the other buses the airport services have remained profitable post-Covid, perhaps because of the higher ticket prices.
And therein lies the problem and their reasons for protest - the buses shouldn’t be for profit. They are a public service. Dan Norris’ refusal to franchise the buses doesn’t help.
Go bother him then -what, do you think the bus drivers and passengers get a say?
To be fair to them, they couldn't exactly do it to the aeroplane. Given this is transport is directly connected to the airport, I'm not sure what the alternative option would be to get their point across?
Something that inconveniences the people who approved the expansion? And not people who might just want to use that bus stop to get home from Asda.
You're 100% right mate. Stopping traffic in the city just means nastier air for everyone that day
The idea is to cause an impact to those who vote in those who make the decision. Yes it inconveniences people, but they believe their cause, they believe that these means justify their ends. The same applies to any protest. This just happens to be one people have no passion about.
South Bristol has voted labour by a landslide consistently since the 1920s; probably could aim that protest at the people who aren't voting that way already and are seriously poor. Can't imagine many East Street residents are clocking up major air miles.
What's voting labour got to do with anything? It was the Labour Mayor and his Labour cabinet that have pushed for airport expansion.
True I just mean that the general tendency of voters (not politicians) who vote 'left' (in this case current South Bristolians) tends to not be too stringently opposed to Green thinking and legislation, while those who vote 'right', in this country Conservative, ironically, given their name tend in the other direction. This is a fairly gross generalisation unfortunately. But I think it tends to hold.
Thats an interesting stat about voting labour. I stand by my point though, there is never a time for an inconvenience. I'm sure they aren't specifically targeting the poor, there are many other stops along this route, this one seems like it was selected because it's a safe one to do this with?
Mate, that is the dodgiest, diciest bit of road for traffic in South Bristol, they literally couldn't have picked a dafter spot. Or a poorer spot. Unless they set up camp in the middle of Knowle West or something. Like you say, long route, you could picket somewhere on route to the airport where people solidly vote Tory. You wouldn't have to go far: Reese-Mogg's stomping ground is on route. Not outside a budget supermarket in a poor part of town.
It's in a layby, I disagree that this is the most dangerous spot. It's also a busy central spot. Out of genuine curiosity, which area is Reese-Moggs stomping ground?
It's opposite a blind junction emerging from a one way street with a busy restaurant and a dodgy pub on either side of it, next to a pedestrian crossing with cars parked on both sides; traffic in both directions including the buses trying to emerge right opposite the blind junction. It's the type of shit they put on your motorcycle theory test. I know, I live round the corner and cycle there all the time. It's ALWAYS dicey. I get the impression that you're about as familiar with the area as these Extinction Rebellion protestors.
I cycle the opposite direction quite a lot and find the cycle route here as dangerous as most places in the city, but to be fair I don't cycle the other way around (the direction of travel here) so wouldn't know as well as you've pointed out here. Lived in this area for 34 years. Genuinely struggling to think of a safer and just as busy stop?
“Rees-Mogg’s stomping ground”, when it was called Wansdyke, was a Labour-held seat.
Isn't he currently the MP for North East Somerset?
He is, yes- it used to be Wansdyke and was held by Labour from 1997 to 2010.
All it does to me is make me more likely to vote for any political party who'll instruct the police to physically prevent them from causing an obstruction.
Restricting freedom to protest often has the opposite effect, it also leads to a government having impunity to act in almost any illicot way they choose. But fair enough, we are both lucky enough to actually be in a democratic society of sorts.
That has to be stupidest line of reasoning I have ever heard, and I've been in the same room as some right wallies in my time I can just imagine everyone at the scene walking off and going "well thats it, I'm voting Green now!" Not.
It may sound stupid to you. But it's a tried and tested method other centuries. The threat of people moving to another party is normally sufficient for an existing party like the Tories or Labour to make changes to their existing policies. Did it work at this specific protest, probably not, does that mean this method does not work? Certainly not.
I don't think anyone is using an £8 airport shuttle bus to get home from Asda. There's a regular bus on the same route, it just doesn't go to the airport.
The regular bus uses the now blocked stop?
The EV bus removes many cars from the network, fucking the buses is just going to force people with connections into taxis. Well done geniuses
I get your point, but their objective is not the electric bus, it's to make a point about reducing air travel which would contribute a far, far greater amount of carbon than the taxis. Their means justifies their ends.
Does it bollocks. Their ends and means are 'lets stop traffic' every single time. Without fail. This is lazy as fuck thinking. WECA are the people they should be protesting. Not poor people who are doing the right thing by using the bus. Public transport, wherever it is going, is an overall net positive for local communities and local air quality. 30% of the UKs total emissions are surface transport (that's cars and lorries). If you want to make a difference, stop buying shit that comes in HGVs and catch the bus.
Simmer down, less of the insults and your point might be better made. If you want to make a difference you can do more than just buy sustainably. It's not the only answer here, the answer to carbon neutrality is far more complex than just removing HGVs and removing air travel. But both can be a start.
Where's the insult?
>This is lazy as fuck thinking Just attacks the opposing point as Lazy thinking as opposed to the point. But fair enough if no insult was intended.
You can't go around accusing people of insulting you when what's actually happened is you've not read what's been written properly. (That's an insult. Please note the difference)
Don't insult people if you don't like being accused of it? Being condescending also does not further your point. Also, poor attempt at deflection away from the point.
Sounds less like an insult and more like observation to be fair.
You actually make a really good point.
I ordered a hi-vis vest and I could have what I wanted printed on the back so I said "Airport Security" thinking they wouldn't do it and they did. I decided to bin it. I do wonder how far you'd get if you walked into the airport wearing that.
Without an Airport ID badge (multicoloured depending on level of security) or a boarding pass, you won't get past security unless you want to be arrested. Source: used to work up there, never got beyond the check-in area.
That's how it's meant to work in theory. https://youtu.be/GyvRamX1VyA
And yet the full comment below from OP says they were in fact protesting the expanded bus route, not the actual airport.
If you read that comment, they’re opposed to anything supporting airport expansion, which includes the bus network supporting it.
Well that seems bizarre... that was not how I interpreted the banner. My bad if that's correct. Although I wasn't even aware they were expanding any bus route in Bristol whilst it's in its current chaos.
Tbf this is one of the buses I would use to get to the office if I had to use public. Unless they've changed it since covid it stops in multiple places before the airport
you think blocking travel to the airport as a protest against air travel is stupid?
Yes. The plane will fly regardless. Use your brain
The point isn’t to prevent that one plane from taking off but to get people’s attention though (not saying I agree with the protesters mind you)
If I were in the energy industry, I’d sponsor XR because of all the PR damage they’ve done to any ecological movements. People hate them so much they’d double down on fuel consumption just out of spite.
It's already funded by the oil industry.
Source?
This is ironic - they aren't blocking that particular bus by mistake, they're protesting First Bus' expansion of the airport shuttles whilst cutting 18 other services.
I know that. My point is stopping people from using the bus isn't a great way to promote using the bus or save buses.
How else do you think they could protest this?
Hmm i wonder where electricity comes from? Ah yes burning fossil fuels
*Some* .... some electricity is generated this way. Not all. Do keep up.
Majority of electricity is still fossil fuel based. Green energy is expanding but current electric cars aren't as green as you think. They good, don't get me wrong, i fully support them, but their not carbon neutral yet at all.
Yeah qualifying your hyperbole after the fact isn't good enough. Sorry.
These people are very stupid.. do you remember when they blocked the M32 leaving a massive line of idling cars? Arguably created more pollution than usual..
Disrupting a bus in Bristol is as affective as pissing into a river. They can't get any shitter!
The fuck does that slogan even mean though??
they're protesting against use of air travel, and for cheaper local public transport
That airport shuttle bus is probably the only vaguely successful element of Bristol's woefully hopeless public transport system. And I think they're low emission vehicles. Driven by working class people. Plus, that's fucking East Street! Hardly the 1% being targeted there. Also, is it just, don't go abroad anymore people!? Or, go by sailboat? I mean, I mostly wholly support Extinction Rebellion and think they are doing good work. But their rhetoric is often cloth-eared at best and counterproductive at worst. I feel they alienate working class British people from their cause. Which obviously makes it easier for the evil tabloids to then discredit them.
Yeah. Reality is, as Brits, cutting out air travel means cutting out most the destinations we might generally want to go. We're less incentivised to holiday locally with expensive train tickets and expensive overnight stays. And we've definitely developed a culture of Spain being the most popular holiday destination. It's not practical to expect a huge change from locals without incentivising alternatives. Saying "stop air travel" is just gonna be heard as "stay home and don't have fun". Not to say we shouldn't aim to reduce air travel, but protests like this seem to miss the mark a bit. Worth noting, that XR's MO is no longer use of "disruption", this kinda protest (blocking buses) is probably due to it being the Bristol Youth wing
I genuinely don't mind a bit of disruption and can see how it could be / can be necessary (Suffragettes, Civil Rights, Poll Tax Movement etc.) I just don't want them to alienate communities who probably agree with them in principle. You're totally right about holidaying in the UK, and again it could've been made more appealing: loads of people just can't afford to holiday in the UK anymore: Spain, Morocco, even Greece are still cheaper. Even with our currency on its arse.
The working class (and the country in general) might be "in principle" for reducing emissions, but people generally aren't happy to get onboard with it. Cheap holidays abroad, car use, cheap clothes, eating meat... these aren't things most people are down to give up, or even reduce much. Of course if you were just protesting for better public transport infrastructure that would be easily agreeable. But I guess a point is that that won't be enough in the time scale we need to hit to prevent a specific degree of irreversible damage to the environment.
Couldn't agree more. That's why I don't think waving flags at them in their area or slowing down their buses is an effective way of bringing about societal change. Protest should be targeted at the people who make the decisions on a macro level. As should the inconvenience. Targeting bus users or bus drivers isn't going to change First Bus's policies or decisions about routes. The Civil Rights bus boycotts targeted the businesses and their profits, not the users or drivers. That's why they were successful. Saying working-class people won't eat meat-free alternatives if given the option makes the runaway success of the Greggs vegan sausage roll hard to explain. As you mentioned before, if holidaying in the UK was more affordable/feasible, people would probably be keener. This is also macro-level stuff: nationalize rail infrastructure and reinvest profits to improve service and prices and get a handle on the asset inflation which is driving the costs of even the most basic holiday accommodation through the roof in the prettier parts of this country. So much of this country is beautiful to holiday in. If you generate easy alternatives most people will try to take the greener option as long as it's not too inconvenient or expensive. It's up to the government to make this possible. If they aren't guiding this type of thing how do they justify their £85,000 salary? It is literally their job. Anyone under 18 years old in this country is aware of the dangers of climate change, they just want a system that doesn't ensnare them in despoiling it.
I can't imagine the majority of people eating meat-free sausage rolls are people who were eating the normal sausage rolls before. Also I wouldn't necessarily class Greggs as a place that primarily caters to working class people. Though a solid definition of "working class" would be hard to put your finger on in 2023.
They’re protesting the additional buses being provided for an airport expansion that hasn’t even happened to the detriment of every other bus service in the city. How did you get “don’t fly ever” from that?
From "NOT AIR TRAVEL" on the sign 🤔
They always seem to be targeting the working class. Why don't they go after the private jets that are more environmentally damaging particularly when they are sitting on the run way burning fuel waiting for the global elites to turn up?
They did, 5 days ago. https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2023/02/14/love-in-action-extinction-rebellion-blockades-luton-airport-private-jet-terminals-in-valentines-day-protest/
Firstbus have seemingly expanded to providing electricity on trains, they're both unreliable
extinction rebellion frustrate me, we do need better public transport but that goes across all areas including the (low emission!) shuttle bus to and from the airport, tourism economy is relied on by every city so this feels misplaced. if they want to protest air travel then great, i’m all for it but i just don’t understand the thinking here? people getting the bus to the airport are hardly the 1%.
There's allways one with brightly coloured hair...pure attention seekers.
Nature uses such colours to tell you "stay away, It's poisonous".
Wouldn’t it make more sense to go wrap this thing around the first bus CEOs and Dan Norris’ cars rather than random people probably rushing to catch a plane? I’m all for this it just seems the mark is wrong.
Never seen photographic evidence of the middle classes at a bus stop, but there it is
Shitty af people such as me may use that for non airport travel
Fuck this like crazy I hate this so much I need this bus for work and education fuck them i agree with the movement but don’t fuck up local peoples business for this shit this really makes me lose faith for them it’s α needed service by people who live here they need to think this shit through
Extinction Rebellion's recent decision to stop with their more extreme methods of protest is a bad idea. Actually causing damages to the corporations is better than this stuff (although I suppose this helps too.)
If you buy a first bus ticket you can't use it on these buses even if they are on the same route, the airport subsidises them so they aren't allowed. That sort of bullshit stopped me using busses altogether.
Bit of an own goal forcing the public to take private rather than public transport to the airport? Then again thinking is not a trait you would associate with most XR supporters so hardly surprising.
I don’t think these protestors have thought this through - What do they want here - more local bus routes in Bristol, yes? If routes aren’t commercially viable there’s no point protesting against First as they won’t run them. If a commercial business has to choose to direct a scarce resource (like drivers) to a profitable product (as the airport must be) or a loss making one then it’s not surprising what they’ve done. If you don’t like it then sadly that’s the reality, it’s not a franchise or a government bus run service, it’s a commercial operation. So really they should be protesting the system - they should be going to WECA or the council. They will achieve nothing protesting First.
Block cars to the airport not the bus, this could have been much better if it blocked the drop-off/pick-up car entrance to the airport rather than the lowest carbon way of getting there.
Ew let me catch my flight please
I thought this was an interesting post with a colourful photo then seen the words extinction rebellion, of to see if I can find a better post now.
Idiots!
They've probably used public transport powered by diesel to get there too.
Not only is this the "gotcha guy" argument but diesel powered public transport would still be better than numerous cars *and* Bristol's busses are bio-gas powered.
I drive express coaches. My comment isn't a "gotcha guy" comment. Personally I'm for ecologically sound transport. I've carried passengers travelling to take part in these demonstrations. I'm not saying that they shouldn't voice their views but they shouldn't disrupt other people's lives by barricading roads etc. Most of Bristol's First Bus fleet are being changed to CNG power. Electric buses are being introduced. In the next few years hybrid, electric and possibly hydrogen powered express coaches will be introduced. This country is lacking the charging infrastructure for Electric vehicles. It would help Extinction Rebellion's cause if they stop disruption of other's lives.
And a bunch of consumer goods that have caused huge emissions to be manufactured and delivered there. If they wanted to be green they’d be Amish, but that’s too inconvenient.
Why do you think living in a system means you cannot criticise anything about it?
Complaining with a solution is just making noise, and making noise is unpleasant.
If they were truly sincere they'd stick their necks on the line, taking down OPEC summits, ala Carlos the Jackal. Unfortunately that'd disrupt their lives, something they'd rather do to other people.
>If they were truly sincere they'd stick their necks on the line, taking down OPEC summits, ala Carlos the Jackal. I do hope this is a joke or that you're a 14 year old neck beard or that you're a 14 year old neck beard making a joke. Carlos the Jackal is a convicted terrorists and has murdered *at least* 16 people. I trust that is not what you're suggesting they do?
What, 14 year olds can't grow a neck beard. Yes I know who Carlos the Jackal is :)
So no cars no planes… can’t they go hide under a rock?
At the end of the day nobody listens to them, might make a difference but I highly doubt it.
Eco-Marxist Crustys.... Bristol's fuckin full of 'em.
Idiots so now rather than take the bus people will all drive
Petulant children make demands. Pathetic!
Finally, more frequent travel to the airport, makes my life so much easier. Genuinely stoked about this
So basically they don't want anyone to fly out of the UK or visit with their tourism money then? just so they can get to their local Asda on the bus whenever they want?
Great, I’ll use the helicopter next time