Keeping Cardiff moving

Another meeting of the Countdown 2009 executive board this morning, reporting back on all the different components of preparation to re-launch the Cardiff as 'capital of shopping' this autumn. Much of the meeting was devoted to transport concerns - inevitably given the inadequacy of road infrastructure to cope with growing demand, and the need to make the centre as accessible as possible for workers and shoppers - worshippers as well.

Public transport won't be able to benefit the public if congestion from cars and taxis make punctuality impossible. Since de-regulation came to the taxi world, the numbers plying their trade has escalated. Regulation of their competing efforts to provide a public service has not kept pace with growth, despite the best efforts of Council and police. Those who issue taxi licenses in the Borough don't seem to understand the impact of their actions on other road users, nor the meaning of sustainability in a city which is paying dearly now for failure to implement far reaching infrastructure changes thirty years ago.

Changes there must be, and everyone will complain at having the change their habits of mobility. Unfortunately, current thinking is based on predictions of growth presuming little will change from the trends of recent years, yet already change is on the horizon. World recession could contribute to long term change in spending habits, especially when (rather than if) energy costs, and therefore transport costs make car use and ownership less attractive compared with the cost of public transport.

In my view, the sooner public transport becomes fully competitive, altogether more attractive than private transport (cars and taxis), the better for all - less congestion, less pollution. The City's forthcoming carbon reduction strategy is going to throw down the gauntlet on this issue, sooner rather than later. Yet, I sense that many of those wrestling with problems of today and tomorrow, if they are aware of what's coming the day after, are denying attention to things that could contribute radically to an effective longer term solution even earlier.

In the past five years Cardiff Bus has done well to improve services. A great start has been made. Lots more development is needed to prepare citizens for a different kind of (low carbon) future - more bus lanes and synchronised traffic signals, new vehicle designs catering for those on wheels, and those who don't cope well with being shaken around, by stop-start, weaving through traffic movement that can make bus travel an ordeal for both the very young and the elderly.

If only we could go for a light tram network ... if only.

Changing local travel habits and other knotty problems

After the Eucharist this lunchtime, I had to leave in haste to arrive at the Castle just in time for the second meeting of the Transport, Public Realm and Wayfinding sub-group of the Countdown 2009 process. I had managed to fulfil my small task from the last meeting, and report on the various Sunday start times of the various worshipping groups in the City centre. Many people coming into town use cars because they feel they can't rely on public transport to get them there in time.

Sunday transport services are not the same as the other days of the week, despite Sunday now being a trading day. We changed the time of our main service from 9.30 to 10.00am, and have seen a sustained increase in attendance because a few more people have found they can now use buses. The increase of buses is geared up to the later shop opening hours. Fine.

Long term City policy is to encourage short term useage of city centre parking, by pricing and time regulation, to suit shoppers, not workers. Sunday workers will tend to use their cars to come in and stay all day, unless public transport and/or Park & Ride allows them to arrive ahead of opening hours to prepare for the day, and is more cost effective than parking in town.

Those who come in for worship may not stay as long as the average shopper. Many of them would prefer to travel in by public transport, as many are bus pass holders - if only buses delivered people consistently and early enough where they want to be ahead of the start of services. The City wants to reduce congestion around the centre, and reducing the need to use the car with timely transport 7/7 not 6/7 has to be part of the answer. The 'no demand at present' responders worry over costs, and don't look at how to influence essential future developments to benefit everyone.

I made my little report and attempted to say that earlier services wasn't just a Faith Group issue, but concerned all who needed to get in early, whose habits of transport were determined by need not being met. Getting lots of people to make the switch, even if there are better services, will not be easy because old habits die hard, but efforts must be made in promotion and incentives to make changes of habit possible.

Questions about cleansing in relation to public transport came up as well. It seems to me that everyone who should make proper provision, whether on the streets or in bus and train stations and on vehicles makes the effort, but the outcome is still far from satisfactory. Like running in front of an avalanche - of rubbish. I just had to pitch in and say that were were failing because there were no curbs on producers of rubbish, the careless consumers on the one hand, and those who supply them - fast food joints and convenience stores - on the other.

More bins, more sweepers - these are not preventative measures. Yet everyone goes quiet and looks down if you start talking about sanctions or enforcement - except the people not at the meeting, who labour daily with the problem of the credibility gap generated between the messages the city gives out and the mess that never quite goes away.

I was surprised to learn that 1900 vehicles are licensed for private hire i.e. taxis, across the city, yet there are only 70 (was it really only 70?) spaces for them to occupy legally while waiting for fares throughout the centre. There are so many problems, because not all taxi drivers will accept passengers going too short, or too long a distance. They aren't supposed to pick and choose, but they do, and often won't take a short distance ride, because they don't want to lose their taxi rank place and have to queue again for a more lucrative job. Now that's a headache for someone to sort out. There's a big meeting of all interested parties, hosted at Central Police station tomorrow. I'd love to be there but can't.

I also learned Cardiff in-town vehicle performance at traffic lights is slower than the national average, and this contributes to congestion. It could be linked, so it was said, to signage being poor or badly placed, leading to slower responses as people work out how to get where they want to go, even if they aren't first time visitors with lie-ing sat-navs.

After the meeting I had time on my hands before a wedding rehearsal, so I spent some time clearing rubbish from the various locked churchyard gardens - first find the right keys, then a bag, then get to work, picking up, and fighting back anger at the evidence of six-packs demolished on the street outside and tossed over the fence, when even leaving them on the pavement would get them swept away within hours. Some of that stuff has been there since before Lent. I'm glad I got aorund to it at last.

Sister Wendy showed up to talk with Philip about the vigil event she is planning for Good Friday evening at St John's, just as my wedding rehearsal was starting. This was a stroke of good fortune, as I was able to tell her about the taxi meeting tomorrow, knowing she has a keen interest in 'taxi justice' because of her experience among clubbers.

Early festive season

Another Faith Focus group meeting this afternoon, with good things to report, about next week's meeting between soup run volunteers and Council officers about improving co-operation in the interests of both clients and the rest of the citizenry. The ideas about the design of a Faith Trail for city visitors, showing off our central area places of worship is on the agenda for development, also the public relations Faith communities promotional exercise in the run up to Christmas, around the theme of 'Celebrating seasons of goodwill'.

Plaid Cymru Councillor Jaswant Singh came to the meeting for the first time, which was opportune, as he was able to give the detail to the forthcoming Sikh festival, the 300th anniversary of the transfer of authority to the Granth Sahib to be the eleventh and final guru, by the tenth Guru, Gobindh Singh. The Cardiff festivity will run from 18th-21st October, with a vigil and continuous chanting of of the Guru Granth Sahib. I'm, hoping we can capture a little of the flavour of this occasion of film for use in our PR exercise, utilising the big screen on St David's Hall. We've now been promised video equipment, and the offer of a team from the Glamorgan University journalism faculty, for this and the making of festive greeting videos to show.

I've got a lot to organise before I go on leave.

A communications opportunity

This afternoon I attended a meeting of the Countdown 2009 Communications Focus Group, which began to lay plans for a succession of monthly publicity outputs over the coming year, to draw attention to the initiatives being undertaken in a range of ways to bring the city centre redevelopment to a timely fulfilment in Autumn 2009, when all the new buildings are open and in use.

It was suggested that the Faith Focus Group take the December publicity slot.

This is quite fortuitous, and will be an opportunity for the various faith communities of the city centre to raise their public profile as contributors to the whole - something we've been asking for over several years and now it's time to deliver - a real challenge.

As the conversation evolved, my mind was spinning around the strap-line 'Celebrating the season of good-will', something nice and general that applies in a dickensian fashion to the wider general public, not just to members of faith communities. But what we are able to do is give a bit more substance than sentiment to the idea.

It will be up to us to devise a programme of events that span our organisations under a common banner, through the month. I would also like to see the forerunner of piece of publicity, maybe a modest exhibition which showcases the 'offer' made by city centre churches. One way or another this is likely to keep me busy having ideas and prodding others to deliver to time ... hmm, three months to December by my reckoning.

St Mary street disruption looms

I went to the meeting of the Countdown 2009 supervisory board at County Hall this morning, and reported on what the Faith Focus Group had done in its four meetings so far in its efforts to improve communications with the Council and offer feedback on some of difficulties faced during the redevelopment. I was pleased to be able to give copies of the Spiritual Capital research report to the Leader of the Council, and one of his senior officers, Tom Morgan, who usually presides over ordinary Countdown board meetings.

During the meeting we learned that Wales and West Utilities, the distribution infrastructure providor for the gas companies has declared its intention of replacing the gas main that runs the entire length of St Mary Street - sometime towards the end of 2009 or early 2010 - just about or after the time when all the work on the city centre is due to be complete. There's been enough controversy about the 'experimental' changes to traffic and street furnishing in St Mary Street to last a lifetime, and consultation about the final arrangements is still going on. The thought of all this being resolved, the work being done, and then the street dug up again and subject to partial if not total closures to traffic doesn't bear thinking of.

The utility companies have powers that enable them to impose their presence and activity on the city. Fortunately, they have some obligation to give plenty of notice, so negotiations are going on at the moment with the aim of bringing forward the total disruption of St Mary Street by six to nine months. Planned work on the streetscape can then be deferred until after the piple laying and organised to follow through closely, and finish by the autumn deadline for getting everything straight again for the big re-launch of Cardiff, capital of shopping.

Many have protested about the closure of St Mary Street to traffic, and the impact this could have on businesses on top of that due to the recession/slowdown, or whatever else it is that is causing people to stop spending in town. Enforced closure will at least get people used to the idea and give everyone practice at work-arounds. Heaven know how it will affect people coming in to church.

Reports and consultations

I had to dash from a Retail Partnership meeting down to the Millennium Centre for a the launch lunch of Gweini's report on the economic contribution made by faith communities to the life of Wales. It was an excellent occasion, very much to the credit of all in the Evangelical Alliance who made it happen.

Two years worth of work came to fruit with a hundred people representing AMs, civil servants, and religious communities from far and wide, gathering to learn that faith communities contribute £102 million a year through voluntary efforts. £10 million of that is in Cardiff alone. Just knowing that is valuable to our Spiritual Capital research project reporting. It's a way of saying to local government: "Look here, we're investing this much time and energy in public service. What about finding a way to consult us more effectively? You might even benefit more"

I had to leave early and get back to St John's to give the last in the series of Lent mediations for the Tuesday women's group, last in the series, then go on from there to another meeting, this time, the first meeting of a work-group which I was chairing, which brings together city centre faith communities and gives them an opportunity to offer feedback on the development process to the Council, under the 'Countdown 2009' headline. It's the first initiative of this kind towards the city centre's religious communities that has occurred, and very much to be welcomed.

I was a bit fed up that only two out of eight representatives showed up, showing how churches and other religious communities don't recognise a worthwhile opportunity, even when it's spelled out to them. Is religion so busily occupied with its own internal affairs living up to its own vocation? Fortunately, the representatives from Tabernacle and Ebeneser who came were wonderfully articulate about the difficulties of maintaining church life in the city centre. Good to hear their voices saying many of the same things which I go on about. It's not quite a chorus, but it's better than simply being a lone voice.

Finally, we had our Spiritual Capital Steering Group meeting, to consider some of the fruit of the report writing that's been going on this week, around the survey report from the University. Paul Ballard, Roy Thomas and myself have been thinking drafting organising material, and starting to shape what we feel we can say in the light of our overall objectives. I'm pleased that some of the work I've put in on the Spiritual Capital blog over the past eight months is a useful reference point. It's a good start, but there's a lot more to be done to produce a sound working production model in the coming weeks. The worst time really, with Holy Week and holidays looming fast.

Anway despite a day of non-stop meetings, I feel much cheered by the day's mad dash of activities.

An un-refusable offer

A City Centre Churches Together meeting tonight.

Because I didn't look in my dairy before leaving the house, I turned up at Tabernacl, instead of Ebeneser, and felt a right idiot turning up late, but less of an idiot when the next late arrival turned out to have done the same thing.

For once, there was something different for me to report. The City Council's progress chasing exercise under the title 'Countdown 2009', aiming to co-ordinate the multitude of different aspects to the city centre redevelopment process ensuring everyone touched by it is in the know, has decided to have a Faith Communities Focus Group. Hopefully this will be a channel for useful two way communication. I've been asked to chair it. Those who've asked don't know how useless a chair-person I really am, swinging between tyranny and anarchy. Hopefully, if this group gets as far as meeting, I'll be able to pass the mantle to someone more capable and effective than myself.

It's just good that someone somewhere in the corridor(s) of power realises they've got nothing to lose and maybe something to gain from keeping the churches in the picture.

About time too.