Activists in Bristol have again blockaded an airport bus in protest at the state of the regular bus services in the city. The campaigners from Extinction Rebellion Youth gathered around the bus at the stop on Redcliffe Way as it was returning from the airport to Temple Meads station, unfurled a long banner and prevented it from continuing its journey to the station.
XR Youth Bristol said its action was part of a wider campaign called ‘Free Buses, Fair Buses’, which was launched in June and has seen a number of different protests and stunts in the months since. Last month, the activists boarded and blocked a Bristol Flyer Airport Bus as it arrived at Temple Meads from Bristol Airport, and the group has also sprayed messages including ‘This bus could be free’ on the pavements near bus stops in the city centre.
Extinction Rebellion Youth Bristol said that, because the bus had returned from the airport to the city centre, ‘no passengers were at risk of missing flights’ - although the bus was prevented from continuing on to Temple Meads to start a new return journey to the airport.
Read next: Bristol MP calls on Metro Mayor to take back control of 'shambles' bus service
The activists said they are targeting Bristol Airport’s bus service because, while First Bus has cut the bus services across the city, the airport bus service, which is subsidised by the airport itself, has not been affected by the driver shortages. All of XR Youth Bristol’s members are under 30, and their spokesperson Torin Menzies is just 17. “We are continuing to disrupt the Airport Flyer service because FirstBus have increased the scale of their cuts to the West of England's buses,” he said. “Our public transport network is in a dire state - FirstBus have shown that they are more interested in serving the potentially expanding Bristol Airport instead of our local communities."
"Metro Mayor Dan Norris needs to take urgent action and introduce bus franchising in order to prevent further deterioration of these vital services - it's time for WECA to step up and reclaim our buses,” he added.
The XR Youth Bristol campaign mirrors a wider one in the city, calling for the Metro Mayor to initiate a ‘franchise’ system for buses and public transport across the West of England, which would bring the services back under public control, with the Metro Mayor then hiring bus companies like First or Stagecoach to run them for an agreed fee.
Franchising is being looked at by Manchester’s metro mayor Andy Burnham, but would not go quite as far as the Transport for London system. Prominent politicians in Bristol have already backed the idea - including Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer and South Bristol MP Karin Smyth.
The XR Youth demands to the metro mayor also include making all bus travel free within the West of England for anyone under the age of 25, including students, apprentices and all those at school or working, and also the setting up of a major consultation and public forum to identify improvements to bus routes that would best serve communities.
The Bristol bus crisis - read next:
- Bristol's buses face 'toxic mix of challenges' says Metro Mayor Dan Norris
- First Bus admits 'live bus tracker' only predicts when buses are supposed to arrive
- First Bus just cancelled 1,450 Bristol bus services a week until at least April
- Student president says First Bus cuts 'absolutely disastrous' for UWE students
- Bristol MP calls on Metro Mayor to take back control of 'shambles' bus service
- MP blasts Bristol 'bus chaos' and says public transport is 'collapsing' in the city
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