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.
