Confidence in buses is being 'destroyed' in Bristol because of delays and inconsistencies with the services, according to a local councillor. Tim Rippington, who represents the Brislington East ward for Bristol City Council, has penned an open letter to Doug Claringbold, the managing director of First Bus West of England.
In the letter, which has been posted on Facebook, Cllr Rippington says that he receives messages 'every day' from people who are unable to get to work or travel into town because of bus disruption. "I have to say that from the reports I receive and my own experiences, confidence in our buses is being destroyed at a time when we are trying to encourage more people to use public transport in order to cut carbon emissions," he wrote.
Mr Claringbold recently apologised for the “unacceptable” numbers of bus cancellations. He has blamed it on a "shortage of trained bus drivers", and a significant shortfall in government funding.
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In his letter, which was written before Mr Claringbold made those comments, Cllr Rippington was heavily critical of the services. He wrote that on the number 1 bus, people have reported two or three consecutive cancellations on the service. And he said that the number 36 bus, which runs every half hour, is suffering from "regular cancellations" which leave people waiting for an hour for the next bus.
He added that sometimes, people have been left "stranded" because the last bus of the day has been cancelled. He also called out the 'ghost buses' which First Bus has previously apologised for, when a digital screen at a bus stop tells passengers that there is a bus on the way, only for the message to disappear and nothing to show up.
"This is an extremely frustrating situation for the many people in my ward who rely on the bus system," he wrote. He also said that people in Brislington feel it is being treated as a "second-class area" when they compare its services to those along Gloucester Road and in Clifton.
Cllr Rippington's letter also asked First Bus to answer four questions:
- How long do you expect the current situation with multiple cancellations to last?
- What efforts are currently being made to improve our services and make them more reliable?
- Can they re-assure his residents that they are not being treated as second class citizens and that the burden of cancellations is being spread fairly across the city?
- What can be done to improve the bus stop displays?
Last week Bristol Live also asked First Bus for a response to these questions and approached the company for comment, but is still awaiting answers. In his comments published today, Mr Claringbold apologised and told a South Gloucestershire Council meeting: "The level of service that First has been delivering has not been acceptable because of the level of cancellations, largely driven by a shortage of trained bus drivers."
He said some staff had moved to the HGV sector or returned to Europe, and that despite huge efforts to fill vacancies this would not be fixed overnight. And referring to changing passenger habits, he added: “People’s lives are different now. We need different people to use the bus.
“About 95 per cent of our passengers are travelling again but they are not travelling as much. The serial commuters who were travelling five to six days a week are travelling two or three days.”
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