Future of several Bristol bus routes thrown into doubt
The operator of Bristol's M1 Metrobus route and several others says its trying to sell them amid financial problems
Bristol's buses are in crisis as an operator of several major routes says it is trying to sell them off.
HCT Group runs the M1 Metrobus service and others including the 505 Long Ashton Park and Ride to Southmead Hospital, but says it is in advanced talks to get rid of them as it struggles with financial pressures.
The news comes just days after HCT Group announced it will completely scrap its Bristol Community Transport scheme, which includes Dial-a-Rides and community minibuses, as of this Friday (August 26).
"HCT Group can confirm that we are in advanced discussions with another operator about the potential sale of our M1 route in Bristol," a statement from the company reads.
"We are also in discussions with other local authorities in the area about finding operators to take on Bristol Community Transport’s other routes in and around the city.
"While discussions are ongoing, HCT Group is committed to continuing to keep its employees updated and we will provide any further update as appropriate, but there is no certainty that at this stage these discussions will lead to a sale or transfer.
"In the meantime, our bus routes continue as normal – our M1 and other local bus routes will not cease on Friday of this week."
As well as the M1 and 505 Park and Ride routes, HCT Group is also currently in charge of the 52 South Bristol Hospital to Cabot Circus, Bond Street and Old Market, the 53 Clevedon circular, the 54 Bristol Airport to Clevedon, 55 South Bristol to Bristol Airport, 506 Broadmead to Southmead Hospital, 511 Bedminster to Hengrove, 512 Broadmead to Bedminster, 515 Stockwood to Hartcliffe, 516 Knowle to Hengrove Park via Whitchurch, and the 62 Dursley to Bristol.
It is unclear at the moment whether any of these will be able to continue in the long term and earlier this week Labour metro mayor Dan Norris said there are "big question marks" over their future.
“HCT, the owner of Bristol Community Transport, is in trouble nationwide and has also recently pulled out of running bus services in Yorkshire and is selling off their London operations," he said at the time.
“When the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) became aware of the problematic situation it urgently contacted other bus companies to see if they would take over the running of both the buses and the community transport.
“Progress is being made on the main bus routes, including the flagship M1, and we are hopeful that some of the other services will be taken over by other providers too to provide continuity.
“There is also some limited interest from community transport providers to take over those services going forward but sadly not immediately.”
First, who provide the M1 buses under contract with HCT, also commented earlier this week.
“The M1 service is operated by HCT under contract with First and we expect the service to remain operating," a spokesperson said.
“We recognise this is an important route for Bristol and we will take all necessary steps to ensure that it remains so.”
In recent weeks Mr Norris has been holding public meetings with residents across Bristol, Bath, North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire, to get opinions on how to save bus routes across the region.
An end to government subsidies in October means many other routes run by First are set to end in the autumn, including the X2 Yatton to Bristol, X5 Weston-super-Mare to Bristol via Clevedon and Portishead and the 126 from Weston to Wells.
At a recent meeting in Yate, the majority of those who attended said they would be willing to pay more tax if it meant routes could be saved.
Calls are growing to give West of England mayor Dan Norris the same power as every other metro mayor to charge households and dedicate that funding to local public transport.
Mr Norris is the only one of nine directly elected heads of combined authorities without the right to set a precept, which would be a relatively small amount of money on top of the council tax to pay for specific projects in his remit.
We have asked WECA for a statement responding to the latest news from HCT Group.