First Bus has revealed its updated timetable for Bristol buses over the festive period, with revised schedules in place from Saturday December 24, until Tuesday January 3. There will be no service on Christmas Day and only Airport Flyovers, on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day,
First West of England managing director Doug Claringbold said: “Travel patterns are always different over the festive period, with fewer people using the bus network, so we’ve adjusted our timetables to reflect that.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our staff who’ve worked incredibly hard to keep the buses running throughout the year. We want to show our appreciation for this and give them some well-deserved time off, so as in previous years, we’ve taken the decision not to operate on Boxing Day."
Last year the A1 Airport Flyer was the only First Bus route to operate on Boxing Day with a normal Sunday service, while in 2020, there were no buses running on the day after Christmas. Before the pandemic, it was customary for several services to operate with a special timetable on Boxing Day as it's a popular day for people to go shopping or to the football.
This year Boxing Day is expected to be extremely busy at Bristol Airport, with approximately 20,000 passengers predicted to fly in and out. In one of the few exceptions to the Boxing Day cancellations, the A1 and A3 Airport Flyers will both operate Mon-Fri timetables.
Due to rail strikes and reduced bus services, First say there will be no AG3 serving Bristol City Football Club for the Boxing Day game. However, the AG1 and AG2 will run with increased frequencies.
Here's a summary of Christmas and New Year bus services below:
Christmas Eve Sat Dec 24
There will be a normal Saturday service, but some services will finish earlier, so check before travelling. No buses will start a new journey after 2000, except A1 and A3 Airport Flyers, which will run until their normal finish time.
Christmas Day Sun Dec 25
No service
Boxing Day Mon Dec 26
No service except A1 and A3 Airport Flyers, which will both be operating Mon-Fri timetables, plus AG1 and AG2 for those wanting to get to Bristol City Football Club, will be operating increased frequencies, which can be viewed here.
Tues Dec 27
Sunday timetables except for A1 and A3 Airport Flyers, both of which will be operating Mon-Fri timetables.
Wed Dec 28 to Sat Dec 31
Special timetables will operate, which can be found here.
New Year's Day Sun Jan 1
No service except A1 and A3 Airport Flyers, both of which will be operating Sunday timetables.
Mon Jan 2
Sunday service
Tues Jan 3
Normal services will resume
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