The Bradley Stoke Journal

The 73A bus route, which served Bradley Stoke and parts of Little Stoke, has been withdrawn by First Group.

The service, which ran in the evenings and all-day on Sunday and Bank Holidays, has been replaced by extra journeys on service  73, which uses the more direct route along Orpheus Avenue instead of making a loop along Braydon Avenue, Little Stoke Lane, Kingsway, Gifford Crescent and Gipsy Patch Lane.

Another alteration coming into effect today (Sunday) is a “completely changed” timetable on services 73, 73B and X73, which the company says will improve reliability and punctuality.

Daytime frequencies on the 73 remain unchanged at “every 15 minutes”, albeit at different minutes past the hour.

The last two journeys on the 73/73B route will now go all the way into Bristol city centre, instead of terminating at Filton Road (a consequence of the closure of the Muller Road depot).

Finally, the X73 express service, which currently starts and terminates at Stoke Lane (Patchway), is being extended to Cribbs Causeway and will now also stop at Bristol Parkway Station.

The axing of the 73A route follows the withdrawl of the 74 and X74 services in 2008.

Other services with changed timetables coming into operation today include the 312 (Thornbury – Bradley Stoke – Fishponds) and 482 (Chipping Sodbury – Bradley Stoke – Cribbs Causeway).

Related links:

• Revised bus timetables (South Gloucestershire Council)
• Bus services in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Local bus operator First Group has announced further cuts to services between Bradley Stoke and Bristol city centre.

The 73 service, which currently runs every 12 minutes during off-peak day time hours from Monday to Saturday, will operate at a reduced frequency of every 15 minutes from Monday 8th February.

The company says it is making the changes to “improve punctuality”.

Other changes on the route will see a few extra early morning journeys serving Cribbs Causeway.

The latest cut back follows the axing of the 74 and 74X services in February last year, which led to then Bradley Stoke Mayor Robert Jones describing the bus company’s actions as “death by a thousand cuts”.

The announcement is accompanied by a rare piece of good news for bus travellers: some multi-journey tickets are to become slightly cheaper. For example, the price of a First Day Adult Peak ticket will be reduced from £4.30 to £4 from Sunday 7th February.

Related link:

• Bus Services in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

First Group has announced that the route of the limited stop X73 bus service between Bradley Stoke and Bristol city centre has been extended to Stoke Lodge. The changes come into effect today (Monday 29th September).

The service previously started and finished at Woodlands Lane in Bradley Stoke but has now been extended to the Gloucester Road (A38) stop in Stoke Lodge.

The route is also changing to operate along Brierly Furlong and New Road near Parkway Station to allow buses to take advantage of the new bus link from New Road to Brierly Furlong.

Minor changes to the timetable have also been introduced, which First says will “improve reliability and punctuality” and “see buses departing more evenly”.

The X73 buses run at peak hours on work days only (no service on Saturdays, Sundays or Bank Holidays). Timetabled journey times between central Bradley Stoke (Kemperleye Way North) and Bristol city centre range from 29 to 38 minutes.

Related links:

• Bus Services in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Bradley Stoke bus users are being warned of temporary timetable changes on the No. 73 route that will see buses arriving a few minutes earlier than usual at stops in the town.

First Group has announced that many journeys on the No. 73 route heading into Bristol will depart Cribbs Causeway up to five minutes earlier than normal from today (Sunday 12th July).

The changes are a consequence of major roadworks taking place on Filton Avenue between Station Road and Stanley Avenue to install a new northbound bus lane. The work is being carried out as part of the £70 million Greater Bristol Bus Network project and is expected to last until October.

Traffic will be allowed to travel as normal from the city towards Filton, but part of Filton Avenue will be closed to all vehicles in the opposite direction.

Buses towards the city centre will be diverted to travel along Station Road, Gloucester Road North and then Wessex Avenue before joining the existing route on Filton Avenue.

Stops on Filton Avenue normally served by the No. 73 will instead be served by a shuttle bus operated by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) that links with the diverted First Group service.

First Group says the No. 73 services will operate to the normal timetable beyond the junction of Filton Avenue and Lockleaze Road.

More Information:

• Service Disruption Announcement (First Group)
• Filton Avenue Shuttle Bus Timetable (SGC)

Bus services have been partially restored to Bradley Stoke’s town centre this week, after a break of over twelve months during building works.

Services were suspended from April 2008, when construction of a new car park got underway, despite earlier plans to provide a temporary bus stop within the centre as building work progressed.

Bus passengers using the centre have since been obliged to walk to temporary stops in Savages Wood Road, which involved following a lengthy diversion along Bradley Stoke Way until the new Willow Brook Centre opened in October 2008.

With the recent completion of building works at the site, a new bus route through the centre has been opened up. Buses are now able to enter the complex via a slip road off Bradley Stoke way before progressing along the side of the mall building towards a new bus stop on the edge of the Town Square, opposite the soon-to-open Ladbrokes betting shop.

Remotely controlled barriers have been installed at both ends of the route through the centre.

The 73B service, operated by First Group, has now started using the new route on weekday and Saturday evenings and throughout the day on Sundays and Public Holidays. All of these journeys are said to be operated with financial support from South Gloucestershire Council (SGC).

Wessex Connect, which operates the 71 & 72 services, says its buses will soon also begin using the new bus lane. These services run throughout the day on weekdays and Saturdays (but there is no service on Sundays and Bank Holidays).

Geoff Clarkson, Assistant Operations Manager at Wessex Connect, told The Journal:

We are awaiting final confirmation from SGC, at which point we will be operating through the new bus lane at the store.

The planning agreement for the new town centre development includes an obligation on the developer (Tesco Stores Limited) to pay a Public Transport Contribution of £250,000, to be used for the provision of a new bus service into the site. Payments are to be phased over five years and any monies not spent after 12 years will be repaid to the developer.

Related Link: Bus Services in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

First Group has announced changes to the 73 bus service which will see journey times between Bradley Stoke and the centre of Bristol reduced but leave the Aztec West Business Park isolated from the public transport network.

The changes, which come into effect on Sunday 1st February, will see, for example, the existing 08:04 service (now retimed to 08:01) from Kemperleye Way (North) taking three minutes less to reach Bristol city centre.

Time savings between Bradley Stoke and Bristol will be achieved by cutting out sections of the route that visit Filton High School and MOD Abbey Wood. Passengers travelling to the school will have an extra five minute walk from Fox Den Road, while those wishing to reach the MOD will need to alight at the nearby retail park.

Journey times on the section of the 73 route between Bradley Stoke and The Mall, Cribbs Causeway, will be reduced by axing the peak hours only loop through the Aztec West Business Park.

The Aztec West cut, which leaves the business park without public transport of any form, is likely to anger workers from businesses at the far end of the park, who will now have a long walk to access services from stops on the main A38 or Bradley Stoke Way.

The move throws doubt on the rationality of parts of a recently announced Greater Bristol Bus Network scheme to introduce bus lanes at the Aztec West roundabout. Those plans include a new bus lane on the eastbound exit road out of the Aztec West Business Park.

South Gloucestershire Council recently announced plans to create an alternative bus access route into Aztec West from Patchway, via Waterside Drive (which is currently restricted to emergency vehicles).

Related Links:

• Service Changes in Bristol from 1st February – First Group
• Map of changes to services 73, 73A and 73B – First Group
• Guide to Bus Services in Bradley Stoke – The Journal