Bristol, Bath and the West

Performance statistics December 2008

These figures help us monitor performance and might help explain to our customers why a service may not have been running to time.

General traffic congestion, road traffic accidents, bad weather, road works and temporary lights are just some of the issues we face on a daily basis. We constantly monitor our services and conditions on the road, gathering information that will help us to run our services to time.

As a part of the monitoring process we constantly aim to achieve standards of punctuality and reliability set by Traffic Commissioners who are responsible for the regulation of the bus and coach services in the United Kingdom.

Punctuality refers to the percentage of buses that run on time. The required standard set by the Traffic Commissioner is 95% punctuality where a vehicle can be NO MORE than 1 minute early or 5 minutes late at any terminus point.

Reliability measures the actual mileage operated compared to the timetabled mileage.

The information contained here includes some of the major factors which have affected our ability to consistantly achieve the standards our customers should expect. We hope that you will find the information informative and helpful.

Our services are split into two areas - the urban 'Bristol' area and the 'Somerset and Avon' area. Somerset and Avon includes out-of-town services starting and finishing at Bristol Bus Station along with services in Weston-super-Mare, Bath, Wells, Bridgwater, Yeovil and Taunton.

Punctuality across our Somerset and Avon services for the period was 89% with reliability at 99.5%.

Bath delivered a 89% punctual performance

Weston delivered a 93% punctual performance

Wells delivered a 90% punctual performance

Somerset delivered a 86% punctual performance

Major disruptions to service affecting service punctuality in Somerset and Avon included:

Delays of up to an hour on all Bristol to Weston-super-Mare services on Wednesday 3 December caused by temporary traffic lights at St Georges.

On Thursday 4 December parked cars in Walcot Street, Bath caused gridlock in the city centre.

An accident in Wansbrough Road, Weston-super-Mare on Friday 5 December meant Service 7 had to be diverted.

There were also long delays around Dorchester Street in Bath with services running up to 45 minutes late.

An accident at Ebdon Road in Weston-super-Mare on Saturday 6 December caused long delays to Services 5A and 7.

On Sunday 7 December delays were caused by Wells High Street being closed for a Christmas Market. There were also long delays on all services to the south of Bath due to a rugby match and Christmas shoppers.

On Thursday 11 December work on traffic lights at Creech Castle caused delays of up to one hour on Services 21, 21A, 27, 30, 30A and 54.

Flooding disrupted services on Saturday 13 December in areas including Claverham, Shaftesbury, Wincanton. Martock, Ilminster, Bitton, Kelston, Hallatrow, Westbury (Wilts), Langford and Wrington.

An overturned lorry at junction 16 on the M5 caused delays all day on Monday 15 December.

There was also an accident on Long Ashton By-pass, with services diverted via the village with long delays.

On Thursday 18 December traffic light problems caused delays in Mount Street, Bridgwater, and London Road, Bath.

Emergency road works in Midsomer Norton caused delays to all services on Friday 19 December.

Heavy traffic congestion at Cribbs Causeway caused delays to services X14, X25, 309, 318 and 319 on Friday 19 December, Monday 22 December, Saturday 27 December, Monday 29 December and Friday 2 January 2009.

A fire at Cornhill, Wellington on Sunday 28 December meant Services 22 and 92 were diverted all day with some delays.

A bomb scare in Broadmead, Bristol, led delays throughout central Bristol on Monday 29 December.

Penel Orlieu in Bridgwater was closed from 5 January for three days for emergency sewer works, meaning services had to be diverted to avoid the High Street.


The punctuality of our Bristol services for the period was 82%, with reliability of 98.4%

Major disruptions to service affecting punctuality included:

A road traffic accident at Bath Road Totterdown Bridge led to delays to services in the area on Wednesday 10 December.

On the same day a burst water main burst Temple Meads caused significant delays to services in Bedminster, Redcliffe Hill and the central area. This disruption continued until 13 December.

On Friday 12 December a serious car accident at Bond Street resulted in Bond Street south being closed from Old Market Roundabout to Newfoundland Street. The M32 inbound was also closed. Affected services were diverted with severe delays.

Heavy traffic congestion on Gloucester Road due to Bristol Rovers Football led to delays in north Bristol throughout the afternoon of Saturday 13 December.

Traffic lights at Eastgate Roundabout malfunctioned causing significant delays to services in the afternoon and well into the evening peak on Tuesday 16 December.

On Friday 19 December an accident at Bath Road meant the road was closed for approximately four hours. Affected services diverted via Totterdown Bridge and Albert Road.

There were significant delays in the Cribbs Causeway area throughout the afternoon and evening on Monday 22 December, Monday 29 December and Friday 2 January causing major disruption to the services including 1, 40, 54, 73 and 75.

A bomb scare in Broadmead, Bristol, led delays throughout central Bristol on Monday 29 December.