Multi-million-pound package unveiled to boost key bus routes across the West of England

WECA Mayor Dan Norris has unveiled a £7 million package that will see buses on key routes run at "turn up and go frequencies" at rush hour

Author: Oliver MorganPublished 23rd Feb 2023
Last updated 9th Jun 2024

Dan Norris - the West of England Combined Authority - has today announced a package worth £7 million pounds to boost bus routes across Bristol and Bath.

The multi-million-pound investment will see buses running at “turn up and go frequencies” during rush hour on five key West of England routes.

In addition to these super-frequent services, other buses will also run every 15 minutes on more main line routes that serve passengers changing from a WESTlink minibus.

In total, that means over 3,000 additional journey hours each week are being added to timetables region-wide from April.

The plan is a partnership of investment by the Metro Mayor and commercial operator First Bus thanks to funding secured via the West of England Combined Authority’s Bus Service Improvement Plan.

"Turn up and go"

The Metro Mayor hailed the “turn up and go” plans for five Bristol bus routes at peak times, which 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.

Metro Mayor Dan 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”.

More buses will also be added to routes that travel through the heart of areas where Mayor Norris’s WESTlink minibuses are set to arrive this Spring and Summer.

This will mean passengers can more efficiently link to a bus on a main route from Midsomer Norton to Bath, and between Brislington and Keynsham to Bristol. These will increase in frequency to run at least every 15 minutes as will the 1 (Bath to Southdown), 5 (Bath to Whiteway) and 42/43 (Bristol to Kingswood). On top of this, the T1 service in Thornbury will gain an extra bus every hour.

Regions that will see "turn up and go" frequency at peak times

These areas will see 'at least' 8 buses an hour during peak times:

  • 75/76 on Gloucester Road
  • 70/73/74 on Filton Avenue
  • 48/48a/49 on Fishponds Road
  • 42/43/44/45 on Church Road
  • m1/m3/m4 serving UWE-Bristol

Regions that will move to at least 15-minute frequency

These areas will see buses run to at least every 15 minutes:

  • 1 serving Bath to Southdown
  • 5 serving Bath to Whiteway
  • 42/43 serving Bristol to Kingswood
  • x39/349/522 serving Keynsham, Brislington to Bristol
  • 173/174/522/379 (to be renumbered to 172) serving Midsomer Norton to Bath
  • 39/x39 serving Bath to Bristol
  • m2 serving Long Ashton P&R to Bristol
  • 376/379 (to be renumbered to 172) serving Temple Cloud to Bristol

Metro Mayor Dan Norris added: “Many more people will now have the chance to catch more frequent buses thanks to this significant investment from my West of England Mayoral Combined Authority. I want to go even further, as we train up even more drivers. Right now, I would encourage people to use the bus. More passengers means more fare income which I’ll reinvest in even better buses so we can build a virtuous circle”.

All this means the total distance covered by West of England buses each year is increasing by 1.5 million miles.

Mayor Norris said the aim is to ensure West of England buses are not just more reliable in future, but more frequent too - to attract back former passengers and win new passengers as people ditch their cars for the bus.

Towards the end of last year operator First said they were cancelling thousands of weekly journeys because of a lack of drivers - this news will bring some of them back - you can read more here: First bus driver slams Bristol system failures

The changes come into place from April.

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