Bristol, Bath and the West

First announces Bristol service changes to improve reliability

Bus operator First has announced a number of changes to services in Bristol to improve reliability.

Service 52 (Hengrove - Inns Court), 73/73A/73B (Centre - Cribbs Causeway) and Service 70 (Centre - UWE) will see changes to their timetables based on ‘real time data in order to reflect traffic conditions more accurately.

Service 52 will also have a new bus stop in Broad Quay (Cl) for customers heading towards Inns Court - this is in response to customer requests.

Changes are also being made to the route of Service 73/73A/73B. This service is not as reliable as it should be and we have looked carefully at passenger levels and at sections of route where traffic hold-ups are most common.

By simplifying the service and withdrawing from under-used deviations off the main route, we believe we can improve reliability for the vast majority of customers.

The changes to Service 73/73A/73B mean:

· Timetable changes including extra time being added in for Saturday journeys to allow for traffic conditions.

· A short section of Filton Avenue will no longer be served. This is due to serious delays on match days and issues with parked cars. The new route will follow Gloucester Road, Muller Road and then Filton Avenue. Customers will either need to walk around the corner to Muller Road to catch the 73 or walk to Gloucester Road which is served by a wide range of buses.

· Sections of route serving the Ministry of Defence at Abbey Wood and Aztec West (Park Avenue) will no longer be served. This is due to the unpredictability of traffic in these areas from day to day and the knock-on effect this has on the rest of a journey. For example, it can take between three and 20 minutes for a bus to travel around the Park Avenue loop at Aztec West and exit onto the main road, depending on traffic.


For passengers at Abbey Wood, the closest stop for Service 73 will be outside McDonalds at the retail park. There are alternative routes still serving Abbey Wood (312, 517 and 518) run by other operators.

At Aztec West, customers will need to catch Service 73 from Bradley Stoke Way or Service 75 on Coniston Road, which can be reached from Waterside Drive footpath.

On average less than one passenger per journey uses the 73 at Abbey Wood. Only one or two use the service to travel to or from Aztec West per journey on average.

Service 73 will also no longer stop directly outside Filton High School but will instead stop a short distance away on Brierly Furlong.


Other changes:

Service 318/319 (Keynsham/Bath - Cribbs Causeway) will also no longer serve the MoD at Abbey Wood. This was only a peak time service and is not heavily used - latest figures show that on a typical day as few as five passengers get on or off at this stop. The closest alternative stop will be at Sainsburys.

The changes will come into effect from 1 February 2009, with timetables available in week commencing 19 January.

These are in addition to the changes already announced for services 75, 75A, 76, 77, X62, 74 and X74. There are additional changes for buses in North Somerset and some running from Bristol Bus Station.

First Bristol, Somerset and Avon Managing Director Justin Davies said, "These changes are driven by our commitment to improve services and meet our customers' expectations for punctuality and reliability.

"We are making full use of the real time data provided by our monitoring systems and fine tuning these timetables to reflect actual traffic conditions in the city.

"We understand that in some cases passengers may need to travel further to their nearest bus stop, but we have to take these steps if we are to reach the required standards set by the Traffic Commissioner in an efficient manner. We believe these changes will benefit the vast majority of customers using this service."


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