Timetable changes introduced today (Sunday 13th April) have left Bradley Stoke with two fewer bus services and seen off-peak journeys axed on a third route.
Wessex Connect has cancelled the 482 and 483 services, which provided a direct connection from Bradley Stoke to Winterbourne, Frampton Cotterell, Yate and Chipping Sodbury. The move leaves two sets of bus stops (one on Webbs Wood Road, the other on Pear Tree Road) and a stretch of bus lane (on Bradley Stoke Way, north of the Willow Brook Centre) without any services at all.
First Group’s new 82 service, between Southmead Hospital and Yate is being advertised as “covering much of the former 482/483 route”, however, its route skirts around Bradley Stoke, operating instead along Stoke Lane, Little Stoke Lane , Winterbourne Road and Hatchet Road.
Getting from Bradley Stoke to the new Southmead Hospital, which opens in May, will require taking two buses, e.g. 13 and 18 (with a change in Filton) or 13 and 82 (with a change in Stoke Lodge), if an estimated 14-minute walk* (from a stop on the 73 route on Filton Avenue) is to be avoided.
Wessex Connect has also axed the hourly off-peak journeys on its 3B service, introduced only in January. The withdrawn journeys linked Aztec West with Bristol city centre via the Willow Brook Centre and Parkway Station.
Photo: Wessex Red service at the Willow Brook Centre.
* Source: Journey Planner on Traveline South West
Related link: Bus Services in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
Hopefully if there isn’t the demand for busses the council will see sense and stop planning to waste money on yet another bus lane and address our traffic problems.
If SGC/First Bus belive that Public Transport is the future, they will have to invest in the bus routes, and frequency to encourage drivers to use the buses.
If not, then they accept that the car is the future
We need a £1 bus fares (1 day travel card-unlimited) to go from North to South Bradley Stoke. This will help a lot the traffic. I can’t understand how First or Council can’t do this. They do it in a lot of places in Europe and they pay less council taxes too! £1 travel card bus fare within Bradley Stoke would help a lot. A lot of people would use the bus to take their kids to school (they could have a family travel card for £1.50/a day). People would use it to go to Aldi/Surgery/Pubs/Tesco etc…and we would see less and less cars. If we want to be serious about Public Transport we need to take serious action. Bradley Stoke could be a test in the country and council could start the scheme for 12 months and see what to do in future. First wouldn’t loose money because at off peak time, bus are pretty empty!
It’s no wonder people don’t ditch their cars. The services and timetables change so often you can’t rely on buses being a feasible option in 12 months’ time. And to axe a service after only three months! The only thing you can rely on in North Bristol is your own transportation.
Wessex apparently had no choice but to cancel the extended 3B service due to First (yet again) registering a fractionally earlier service for a significant park of the journey (including Glos Rd), therefore forcing Wessex out of the market. No doubt First will cancel this service now Wessex have pulled out leaving the route vacant yet again. Perhaps the council should try to help bus companies work together rather than allowing this ridiculous competition between them.
Our one and only experience of using the bus:
North Bradley Stoke to Parkway = £4.25 return during the evening.
We were shocked at the price so queried it with the driver (sub-standard English comprehension) who insisted it was correct.
No prizes for guessing who won’t be using First Bus again. The car is so much better and the earlier this fantasy that public transport will be the saviour of our traffic woes is put to bed the better. The only thing emptier than the bus lanes are the heads of the traffic planners who trouser their tax-payer funded salaries and pensions.
I use the bus from time to time to commute from one end of Bradley stoke to the other (bailey’s court rd – Aztec) as first have stopped the return ticket I now have to buy a day rider at £4… It’s no wonder the double decked buses are always empty!
Might have to get on the bike from now on as the 73 only turns up 50% of the time!
I use the number 73 bus Monday to Friday to travel from Aztec west to Cribbs Causeway and find it much better than it was 3-4 years ago, the bus lanes and live electronic timetables have helped.
I have a corporate travel bus pass which is £30 per month which I think is good value, but I would not be happy having to pay £4 a day for a day rider. First need to re-think the no return tickets as this is going to put a lot of people off using the bus.
The First bus app (free app download for smart phones) is really good as you can check when the bus is due using the next bus part of the app. It’s live bus times, always been very accurate when I’ve used it.
it’s hard to get anywhere now without a day rider these days…