Dan Norris, the Metro Mayor for the West of England, has unveiled a £7m package of funding to improve the frequency of bus services across the region. The money will go toward running buses at “London-style" frequencies during peak times on five key routes and buses every 15 minutes on mainline routes that serve passengers connecting to the new WESTlink minibus service.
The cash injection comes courtesy of funding secured via the West of England Combined Authority’s Bus Service Improvement Plan and will result in over 3,000 additional journey hours each week across the region from April. The Metro Mayor said that his “turn up and go” plans for five Bristol bus routes at peak times will see eight buses run each hour along Gloucester Road and Filton Avenue, nine buses an hour through Church Road, ten an hour to Fishponds and 13 from the University of the West of England (UWE) to Bristol city centre.
The announcement comes as Bristol Live has launched a campaign for Better Buses for Bristol. We are demanding an end to almost continual cuts to buses in the city now, and for the longer term solution, we are calling on the Mr Norris to start the ball rolling on taking back control of the buses in Bristol and creating a franchise system.
Read More: Full list of Bristol bus services set to have increased frequency
It's hoped that the new measures will help tempt passengers out of their cars and back onto the region's ailing network, as passenger numbers are still down by around 20 per cent on pre-pandemic levels. Dan Norris said that improving bus regularity so that passengers can simply "turn up and go" will mean users on key routes will no longer need to worry about checking timetables before travelling.
In addition, more buses will also be added to travel routes connecting areas where a new ‘demand responsive transport’ minibus service will operate later this year so that passengers can better link to a bus on a main route from Midsomer Norton to Bath and between Brislington and Keynsham to Bristol.
WECA says these routes will increase in frequency to at least every 15 minutes, as will the 1 (Bath to Southdown), 5 (Bath to Whiteway) and 42/43 (Bristol to Kingswood). In addition, the T1 service in Thornbury will gain an extra bus every hour.
Last year the region's largest private operator, First Bus, was forced to withdraw and reduce some routes citing rising business costs and labour shortages after months of struggling to deliver its timetable services. In January, the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) revealed further cuts from April, with around 42 publicly subsidised bus services losing support.
The latest figures from the Department of Transport Data indicate that the number of miles covered by buses in Bristol between 2016/17 and 2021/22 dropped by 30 per cent, according to BBC analysis. With the announcement today (February 23) of this latest funding package, it's claimed that the total distance covered by West of England buses each year will increase by 1.5 million miles.
Mr Norris said: “Turn up and go means passengers will no longer need to worry about checking a timetable as they will know a bus will normally arrive quickly. I’ll be monitoring this closely to see if London-style frequency is something that really encourages people to get out of their cars and onto buses as it does in the capital.
"If so, then this is just the kind of top-class bus service I would like to roll out right across our West of England region. "
The plan is an investment partnership between the Metro Mayor and commercial operator First Bus. Doug Claringbold, Managing Director of First West of England, said: “These new timetables will significantly increase the service we offer our customers, and I’m confident that our investment in new technology will also continue to improve punctuality.
"We will also be reinstating journeys in Bristol that we had to temporarily suspend last year, as we are starting to see the effect of our major driver recruitment and retention campaign. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and for continuing to be considerate to our drivers during what has been a difficult period.”
Read More:
- Impact of Bristol bus cuts as passengers share experiences
- 'I'd use buses if they were more reliable but now it's only as a last resort'
- Pressure mounts for Bristol region bus franchising deal as West of England mayor asked to consider option
- Another 42 bus services in West of England face axe in April
- Bristol and West of England bus cuts: List of services facing axe in April
- Bristol MP calls on Metro Mayor to take back control of 'shambles' bus service
