Bristol: A city whose transport missed the train

For a city known for progressiveness, Bristol's transport network is in quite a sorry state. Abandoned train lines, bus lanes costing hundreds of millions, and a sadistic local authority (South Gloucestershire) all paint a rather unpleasant picture of "The Gateway to the West". But it hasn't always been this way, and it doesn't have to be in future, so what can be done to get Bristol's trains and buses back in shape?
Sources:
[1] www.racfoundation.org/assets/...
[2] aureamediocritas-tonyd.blogsp...
[3] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_ce... www.amazon.co.uk/Fight-Bristo...
[4] www.keybuses.com/article/metr...
[5] www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...
[6] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notting...
[7] www.railway-technology.com/pr...
[8] www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...
[9] www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england... Read "deferred" as de facto "cancelled" - it was, and still is, indefinite.
[10] www.business-live.co.uk/econo...
[11] www.gov.uk/government/statist...
[12] roadtraffic.dft.gov.uk/local-...
[13] www.systemed.net/atlas/
[14] travelwest.info/projects/metr...
[15] www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...
[16] westact.org/tram-study
[17] www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...
[18] inews.co.uk/news/how-much-did...
[19] www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...
[20] www.itv.com/news/calendar/202...
[21] www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/Im...
[22] democracy.bristol.gov.uk/docu... (map of Bristol Council Boundary)
[23] homesforthesouthwest.co.uk/ho...
Music:
Putting on the Ritz - Irving Berlin (performed by Freedom Trail Studio)
Side Steppin' - Otis McDonald
Photograpy:
(Banksy) Dominic Robinson, (Plimsoll House) Derek Harper, (Lawrence Hill 1970s) Andy Kirkham, (Banksy, Park Street) Roger May, (George Ferguson) Alistair Campbell, (Portishead Line) Reading Tom, (Portishead Line under Clifton Suspension Bridge) Greater Bristol Metro Rail, (London overground trains) Richard Vince, (Railway Path, Warmley station) Rob Purvis, (B&Q, Imperial Retail Park, Hengrove) Derek Harper, CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
(Antwerpen Pre-Metro) Vitaly Volkov/Волков Виталий Сергеевич, CC BY 2.5 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
(Bristol airport) Tomccoll, (Bristol Omnibus) Editor5807, (Greater Bristol Metro map, with modifications by myself) Pi.1415926535, (GWR steam engine at Temple Meads) Matt Prosser, CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/b..., via Wikimedia Commons
(Clifton Suspension Bridge) Chris Lathom-Sharp, (Bristol road map) RedSquirrel, (Crowd after toppling Colston statue) Greenhill22, (Marvin Rees) Rwendland, (m1 side profile) Geof Sheppard, (Class 165 interior) I Like The british Rail Class 483 (with cropping, alignment, and exposure adjustments by XAM2175), (Brunel statue) Bärbel Miemietz, (Hannover Stadtbahn) Clic, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons
(Bristol trams, photo of horse drawn tram and depot unknown) Garratt, (Brunel) Robert Howlett (British, 1831-1858) Restored by Bammesk, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
(Bristol Tramway Generating Station) Christine Johnstone, Creative Commons Licence
Ben Brooksbank / Local train at Lawrence Hill Station
(Bristol bus map) www.firstbus.co.uk/bristol-ba...
(metrobus map) travelwest.info/metrobus/#net...
(Tap On Tap Off machine) First Bus
(Boarding a First Bus) First Bus
(Pride of the North bus) Transdev
(metrobus fares list) TravelWest
(Bee Network buses in depot) Transport for Greater Manchester
(Departures from Lawrence Hill) Realtime Trains
(Portway poster) www.gwrsouvenirs.co.uk/GWR/p-...
(Railway path overview) Google Earth
(Monument station, Tyne & Wear Metro) citytransportinfo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
(Brabazon) www.brabazon.co.uk/
#bristol

[@andycooke6231]

Bristol did get the funding for a tram line from the centre to south Gloucestershire in the past but the two councils squabbled about the destination and eventually the funding was allocated elsewhere.

[@charlesbridgford254]

Yeah and the metrobus as a compromise ended up costing just as much.

[@christopherwaller2798]

I think the reason for Bristol having a relatively high rate of cycling is sometimes more to do with Bristol's poor public transport and traffic congestion, than how good the cycling is.

[@chnet968]

Yup. Bristol is hilly and not the best place to cycle.

[@kaihang4685]

I retraced the route my dad cycled 30 years ago from Clifton Downs to Bristol U and my one comment to him was that he must’ve had crazy strong quads to make the daily commute.

[@starlight122012]

Wrong, it is because of Labour and their anti-car policies, turning half of roads into cycle lanes. Stupid council and nothing will change unless you get rid of Labour

[@DefaultMale_]

@@kaihang4685 "Back in my day I had to walk 20 miles through a flood then climb a mountain barefoot to get to school"

[@John900C]

That's true, but you feel so liberated and smug flying past all the congestion and travelling door to door on your bike.

[@Tomniverse]

Lived in bristol for 4 years and this video is the first time I've ever heard first bus described as "doing a pretty good job". Still, I appreciate the research and detail you've put into this video, thanks for focusing in on this fun, artistic, radical, expensive, unequal corner of the South West

[@TedShatner10]

Bus service is mediocre but functions well enough to suit my needs going into town.

[@jeremypnet]

What he means is that the actual buses are fine. The services are not frequent enough and there are no orbital services.

[@ekaterinastaneva9922]

I laughed out loud when I heard. All my bus rides in Bristol have been horrendous accross the line. I would scoot in rain and snow any day then wait for an hour, have a crazy driver and pay more then a London double decker.

[@williammaddison3602]

I lived in Lincolnshire my entire childhood then moved to Bristol tmfor uni two years ago, busses every 5 to 20 minutes compared to 40 to an hour was honestly revolutionary Nd the fact I can get anywhere is insane. That's just a different perspective tho.

[@TedShatner10]

@@williammaddison3602 Yeah, people love to gripe about Bristol's buses, its public transport is mediocre for a city of its size, but its buses are better than in many Northern towns.

[@Thatclimbingirl]

As someone in the outer suburbs of Bristol, there is only a bus every 30 minutes that goes into Bristol. Trying to get between other outer suburbs by public transport is a pain as you end up going into Bristol and back out again which is a real pain. It can take an hour to get to places that are only a 15 minute drive away from each other by car.

[@BenskiBoi]

My cousin live in pickle church so not far

[@DefaultMale_]

My dad lives in Coalpit Heath (technically in gloucestershire), but all the public transport really just goes to Bristol so... The busses in Bristol are awful. First actually will often run "Ghost busses," they dont actually run a bus, but they make it appear like they are to pass it off that they are running the services that they are contractually obligated to do. They also run busses on slightly different times to what the app displays (Specifically on the Y2 and Y6 I've noticed) so that they can claim that the services don't need to be ran that often (as people never get on them and always miss them). This works for them because people who do need the busses will still be getting them, just on the far fewer services they end up running. What a disgusting company.

[@mr.wyrzykowski7522]

same in my small town of Moss in Norway actually lol

[@dylancode]

That's interesting, I'm not sure how that would work with the Downs Thompson paradox. Is traffic really bad where you live?

[@Thatclimbingirl]

@@dylancode Yes during rush hour a 15 minute drive to the centre takes 1h hour. It’s basically gridlock.

[@grief_hammer]

Bristolian here, this video is spot on; the public transport is utterly dire. I live in South Gloucestershire, but am just about old enough to remember before the east part of Bristol was divided off in the 90s, and the 20 min drive to the centre takes 2 separate buses on two separate operators and up to two hours. I'm a few mins from the Bristol-Bath cycle path and a train on it would be a godsend. This situation has gotten worse year-on-year sadly.

[@yorukaadams940]

The Bristol-Bath path would be fantastic for a train by it, esp since I'm only a 3 minute walk away.

[@grief_hammer]

@@yorukaadams940 Honestly that route connects lot of parts of the city that need several busses to access. I'd not want to disturb the cycle path- it's super active and a key route for many. We could have additional options though.

[@iwanttocomplain]

@@grief_hammer I thought about the cycle path alot. It would be better as a train line. But only if you could keep the pedestrian paths. I used to live on the path. It's so good for getting around by foot. I used it instead of the buses because it usually took about 45 minutes to walk or 30 minutes waiting at the bus stop, then 15 minutes ride.

[@aaronsmith9209]

Bristol's transport system is really frustrating to me, Temple Meads and the Bus Station seem to be able to get us to anywhere else in the country fairly quickly except other places in Bristol! I lived in Bedminster for a year and the local stations were a bit useless as service was too infrequent, buses hit and miss so I walked a lot. Apparently Bristol was supposed to get a new tram system 20 years ago but plans fell through as the councils couldn't agree on funding. For some reason, Greater Bristol is split between 3 councils (the city, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset), to me this is where it completely failed. There needs to be one authority, the West of England combined authority doesn't go far enough, the old county lines still exist and still obstruct the essential infrastructure that Bristol and Bath (may as well plan them as one place) needs to bring the city region into line with its European counterparts. Nothing will change until the council boundaries are brought up to date (London's boundaries are causing similar problems when it comes to improving infrastructure, solving the housing crisis and transport too). I rode the Nottingham Express Transit system the other day, which is a much smaller city and I think that could fit Bristol needs (trams are every 10 minutes on 2 lines, making it very frequent on the shared central sections and has a lot of smart traffic priority), the Nottingham system is very popular and busy. But I think Bristol still needs a 2 or 3 line tube system on top of trams to connect to places further away like the airport and restore rail access to places like Wells and Shepton Mallet, buses are very slow to these places. It is encouraging to see the Portishead and Henbury lines reopen too but it needs to be the start rather than the end.

[@miscellaneousstuff6346]

Well said, I think everything in Bristol needs to be simplified.

[@jamesmaleedy5017]

The funding fell though because universities where a large part of the funding. HOWEVER the bus companies threatened to stop supporting the universities if they continued so they removed funding and the whole thing collapsed.

[@philipsudron]

Wells should certainly be reconnected to the railway network.

[@iwanttocomplain]

@@jamesmaleedy5017 Ahh the universities. Is there no piece of land or landmark they don't want, like Victoria Rooms imposing classical music venue or the giant Habitat opposite. All the former grand residential properties around the main campus in the center. A giant piece of land here. Another landmark there. Have you got any idea how much funding the University gets from the government that it wastes on nonsense and uses to buy up the town.

[@SiVlog1989]

In terms of the costs, even for trams, which were rejected on the grounds of "cost" it's still a fraction of the cost, say, for HS2 or even Crossrail in London. I'm a Londoner born and bred, but in my view, every big city should have access to decent public transport to help both develop the city and ease congestion on roads. Projects that have gone ahead in London get seemingly indefinitely deferred everywhere else with the vague argument of cost. Another case in point is the Castlefield Corridor in Manchester. A huge amount of rail traffic, both passengers and freight, use the corridor between Manchester Piccadilly and Deansgate, yet with exception of Oxford Road Station, is just two tracks, meaning that trains run back to back, one holdup for one train holds up all the others waiting to use it. Ideally, it would have been quadrupled decades ago, but the government is very London centric and keeps putting it down. But I digress, I think Bristol deserves some sort of proper utilisation of the existing (or disused) rail infrastructure to take traffic away from the congested streets

[@biscuit715]

The investment in London really makes no sense given how more developed it is. There's only so much value that can be squeezed out of one place when there's so many other cities where just having anything would be worth so much.

[@JustAVaporeon]

I'm a Bristol local so I can expand on how transport is here, buses and trains It's a very mixed bag to say the least Some areas are well served by buses, I have one at least every 10-15 minutes in my area (mostly thanks to having multiple routes, all but 1 under the Citylines East brand) But the further you go out of bristol, the worse it is, and most routes are a 30-40 minute frequency, which is really bad for a large city with rich cultural significance, especially since buses have been important to getting around. There are also a few areas that used to have buses, but now don't Trains are pitiful sometimes, the current frequency is bad, I commute on the Severn Beach Line daily and I really wish it had a better frequency. And going between Temple Meads and Parkway has been painful, because its 2tph, since the Crosscountrys and GWRs leave behind each other. The plan to reopen the Henbury line is one I like, and one of the new stations is set to open this year (Ashley Down) so it's on the move As for electrification, yeahhhhh, we are gonna be waiting a long while lol

[@freddiepearce6455]

"Some areas" ie. simply Gloucester rd? Lines are getting reduced, popular lines are getting cut (25). Unacceptable ??

[@biscuit715]

Glad to see someone talk about this! Whilst the North gets a lot of rightful attention, in my experience the South West gets lumped in with "the South" as having decent transport and investment when it really isn't the case. I've always enjoyed Bristol simply by nature of having some buses, which is more than can be said for anywhere outside the city, South West Wiltshire I'm looking at you. A proper metro service between Bristol and Bath would be a start, but I'd really appreciate something better connecting the Frome-Melksham-Warminster triangle up to Bath and on to Bristol. For such a short journey already you could do something with a frequent service with plenty of stops, theres already small rarely used ones like Freshford and Avoncliffe on that line. A tram VLR type thing maybe, 2 more stops in trowbridge to accomodate the town expanding, Bathampton, Bathwick, Yarnbrook, etc. already places that are on the existing rail line. Could do a branch to the Uni, which the current railway avoids like the plague. Alternatively, give us a bloody bus service and make it cheaper than £5-10 to travel 20-30 minutes!

[@trainworms]

the south west has the 2nd worst transport spending in the country with the worst being the east Midlands. south Dorset has 0 intercity rail service to plymouth. this country needs something like English devolution desperately

[@biscuit715]

@@trainworms Yeah, the deeper you go the worse it gets. Despite living so close I can rarely go to much of Dorset given I don't own a car. Cornwall and West Somerset are pretty awful too. I do count myself lucky that I do at least have a train station locally.

[@iwanttocomplain]

@@biscuit715 lol Cornwall. I used to live there without a car. It's like being trapped. But maybe that's because you want to go to beaches and things and not around cities. But using a bus is an option that does not accommodate haste. They do work though.

[@EdwinWalkerProfile]

I use the railway path quite often and I'm a little sceptical that there's adequate free space to introduce a tram running alongside, though I believe the idea has been mooted before. It cannot be understated how disastrous it is for the region that the Supertram project was cancelled. (20 years ago!) It probably would have made its way to Bath by now.

[@John900C]

There was nearly a riot by the cycling community when the Bristol to Bath path was earmarked for the (cancelled) tram.

[@mark-nm4tc]

There's no space for a tram plus what about the big S-bend at Clay Bottom?. You'd have to compulsory purchase a few houses to create a straight line. Plus it spits you out into an industrial estate, where would the tram ultimately go to?. The tram idea died because it was fundamentally flawed and would have likely gone massively over budget.

[@sillygoosegoose]

the railway path is far too important for local travel to ever be closed - i use it daily and it's packed at rush hours. it's barely wide enough for the bike/pedestrian traffic in lots of placed, so i can't see how a tram would fit without demolishing a bunch of peoples homes.

[@JamesJamesW]

I used to live in a town around Bristol called Portishead. There is a trainline still under construction to Bristol that was supposed to be finished in 2017. It's looking likely to open to 2026 at earliest. That is the state of trains in Bristol and it's surroundings

[@tjg750]

I’ve heard of Portishead

[@TheMortalKombatent]

@@tjg750 the band or the town?

[@Dinoteddi]

Bristol needs at minimum a tram. Using the proposed Supertram route from the 2000s would be ideal, as its feasable to build, and would tie in well to a Filton Bank Electrification as well. The tram could also use the Severn Beach line as well, as a way to improve the line

[@sharpyt1]

As a Bristol resident, I have to disagree with First doing a decent job running the bus network. There are frequent cancellations, overcrowding, and long delays on some of the major routes, as well as the app being completely useless. They've also axed numerous less-profitable routes like the 5 to Yate, which now means that huge swathes of suburbs (myself included) have no bus options at all. There's increasing demand to follow Manchester's lead and take them back into public ownership, but I'm not optimistic given the financial black hole that the council find themselves in. If Marv and his chums had prioritised feasible projects instead of vanity efforts to get re-elected, and jetting around the world to give speeches about climate change (oh, the irony) we might have made better progress. Very much agree with your assessment of council boundaries and light rail, I'd love to see that implemented along with a much more joined-up cycle network that connects the someone disjointed one we have currently.

[@hens_ledan]

One of the root causes is that Bristol isn't a metropolitan area in the same way that Manchester is. Party politics is part of it, but South Gloucestershire (previously Northavon) is in direct competition with Bristol City, in effect building the new towns of Bradley Stoke, Emerson's Green and Yate, and mega-shopping complex around The Mall. It doesn't *want* better rail transport links to the city, which is why reopening stations has been at the behest of Network Rail. There has been no shortage of money in SG for new roads, and it is quite happy with being at the nexus of the motorway system M4/M5/M32/A38. Thornbury could be reconnected by rail easily, since the quarry at Tytherinton is rail connected and just a mile away from the town. Why hasn't it? Ask SG. Wickwar could have its station reopened, and so could Charfield. Both very feasible. SG simply aren't motivated to do it. If you'd like a still more creative approach, how about reconnecting Bristol Parkway to a reinstated curve near Westerleigh, and then connecting Emerson's Green, Mangotsfield, creating a new park and ride at Warmley, opening up through to Bitton and a new link across the Avon Valley to Bath Spa. Again, very doable apart from where the old trackbed is now under the ring road, requiring a new bed to be laid. In terms of 'new' railways such as Thameslink or East-West Rail we're talking peanuts. It's all down to political desire. We have to remember that since these lines were closed the population along them has quadrupled. Another more limited project would be Lawrence Hill to Mangotsfield, and so part of a light rail city metro, including Whitehall, Fishponds, Staple Hill and Mangotsfield. Another simple reopening would be the sdtation at St Annes/Brislington, on the GWR to Bath. On the South of the city, Portishead looks like it's finally happening, but some light-rail opportunities exist for Clevedon-Yatton (and then to Temple Meads), and consideration could be given for a light rail reopening Temple Meads to Whitchurch (again massive building in the last four decades), but some of the track bed has been built on. In my opinion the hardest part is serving the centre of the city itself since it has the obstacles of the new cut, floating harbour, extensive road network and hills all around the West and North of the city. A circular tram route in the centre of the city (Temple Meads-Harbour-Horsefair-Old Market-Temple Meads or similar) will always be needed, but the question is integration with the rail network. Merely connecting with TM will never be sufficient, and more strategically rail linkages will be required to the South (somewhere in or around Bedminster, Parsons St or Ashton for rail links to Yatton, Weston, Portishead) and to the North (ideally Lawrence Hill for links to Parkway, Yate, and any new lines and stations in South Gloucestershire). Nothing is impossible, and I've heard the 'It will never happen' nonsense every decade since 1970. The question is how SG can be brought to the table, and to a lesser extent North Somerset and Bath & NE Somerset with Bristol City to 'think big' and work collaboratively. I would suggest that a new regional group (with transport users at its centre rather than politicians) is formed that reports to the next government, charged with making it happen, and have Network Rail play a central role.

[@user-dj7wv5ok2x]

Beautiful dissertation there!

[@hens_ledan]

@@user-dj7wv5ok2x Thanks pard!

[@charlesbridgford254]

I think wickwar is reopening. But, as long as councils have statutory duties for adult social care and SEN, there's no budget for any infrastructure that would meaningfully improve people's lives. So we're just left with the car, and ruined roads.

[@ianhalsall-fox]

The West of England combined authority is supposed to be the body that co-ordinates public transport and addresses the city boundary anomaly paricularly with South Gloucestershire and the denizens of Filton, Kingswood and Hanham certainly do not want to be part of Bristol! Nottingham has a very tight city boundary that only represents a third of the overall conurbation yet they managed to secure a tram system years ago.

[@GWVillager]

Unfortunately, the WMCA seems less than effective at delivering a comprehensive transport system.

[@biscuit715]

@@GWVillagerProgress is being made slowly, but I suspect with the way things are going we aren't getting funding for it any time soon.

[@mouf725]

@@GWVillager sorry to correct you GWVillager - WECA not WMCA (the latter being the West Mids combined authority where I am!)

[@GWVillager]

@@mouf725 Oh dear, not sure how I slipped that one up!

[@iwanttocomplain]

That council owns it's transport system.

[@truckerallikatuk]

The reason Bristol and Bath busses are nice new ones, is because the old ones get shuffled off down the road to less prestigious places like WSM.

[@stewartlancaster6155]

what is WSM ?

[@2112jonr]

Weston Super Mare I guess - town on the coast, 20 miles away. @@stewartlancaster6155

[@desmondatkinson4642]

@@stewartlancaster6155 The glory that is Weston-super-Mare.

[@John900C]

The British version of Miami 😂

[@Zen-rd9np]

If you’re going to the beach it’s Weston-super-Mud

[@michaeljohnson9421]

The reason there's a short length - and only a short length - of guided busway in Bristol is because having a guided busway was a condition of getting government funding for the Metrobus project. There was originally supposed to be much more, but guided busways are ridiculously expensive for what they are, and not as good value as normal roads: only buses fitted with the right kit can use them. Inevitably, the MetroBus project costs started spiralling upwards, so in order to save money the guided busway mileage was cut back. But it couldn't be abandoned entirely, because that would mean no government cash. So Bristol ended up with a token bit of guided busway, just enough to ensure the government paid up!

[@HenryLoenwind]

On the other hand, those guided busways are perfect for being upgraded with tram rails. If I were to make a long-term plan for introducing trams, I'd start by adding guided busways and separate bus lanes until I have a complete corridor into which a tram could just be added.

[@charlesbridgford254]

The metrobus had the same outturn cost as the tram, about £110m. But just shitter.

[@anthonyholroyd5359]

I wonder if Bristol and Leeds could team up (like Brest & Dijon did in France, when building their tram networks) and present a joint development case to the government. They could argue they would save money through economies of scale, by building similar systems using the same rolling stock, signalling systems etc. My personal choice would be to build automated light metro systems for both cities - using something like Hitachi rail Europes driverless light metro trains that are currently in use in cities like Rome, Brescia and Copenhagen.

[@MrUnderworm]

Having lived in (and love both) cities that's a great idea! But unfortunately, I believe it would never happen due to way our current devolved political system works.

[@biscuit715]

@@MrUnderworm could they not both make independent applications but have them using identical stuff, then both state the economies of scale argument alongside and publicly together?

[@MrUnderworm]

@@biscuit715 unfortunately that would be sensible. The way the devolved system works is on deal levels means that actually you can't do certain things with other authorities that don't have the same powers as yours... So unless transport to the exact same level that you have in your deal is the same as another authority you couldn't really link that in. And yes that is ridiculous.

[@biscuit715]

@@MrUnderworm typical of this country isn't it. It seems to me the gov have devolved enough to blame someone else but not enough for them to actually be able to do anything about it

[@Robotnik]

Someone that gets it at last with the whole nature of this purposely balkanized tosspit called Britain ​@@biscuit715

[@chbmckie]

Good video! I'd love to see a similar deep-dive into Leeds' similarly dire transport situation, especially after the cancellation of HS2.

[@petitkruger2175]

I doubt cancelled hs2 money will be spent anywhere on transport in significant amounts. Canceling it was bad but then not protecting the future route is unbelievably stupid

[@grassytramtracks]

Well the Tories want to salt the earth for​ Labour as much as possible so they can make something to blame on labour in 5-10 years @@petitkruger2175

[@sglenny001]

As a Yorkshire man I feel we should have build the subway that was planned in the 1940s

[@freddiepearce6455]

Is it a coincidence both cities are covered by First Bus? Genuine question..

[@vilhjalmurjohannson8460]

this is the first time i've heard anyone say first bus do a "good" job

[@GWVillager]

Ha, they’re not usually any good. But, in Bristol, they’re doing far better than many other cities.

[@stashyjon]

@@GWVillagergod help those other cities then, Last week I waited 2 hours for a 36 that is suposed to run every 30 minutes (they used to be every 5). I would have walked if had not had my disabled wife with me

[@vilhjalmurjohannson8460]

@@GWVillager I'm talking about Bristol here I used to live there

[@goodmano.]

I honestly couldn't believe he said that. First are one of the worst transport companies and they have a near monopoly on the transport in the city. Awful company.

[@JonWisbey]

@@vilhjalmurjohannson8460 and I still live here, the buses are awful

[@EnterStationNameHere]

What I think we need is a mersyrail style city centre loop that combines local trains from Severn each, yate, bath soon to add portishead and henbury. Taking people from some kind of new underground platforms at temple meads around to the centre, the bus station and cabot circus. To add to that, I am of the opinion that first bus should be taken over by the council or WECA. And while Metrobus is good, we desperately need bus lanes on the full length of the M32 as the service gets extremely unreliable during peak times.

[@bwhugul]

The remoteness of Temple Meads station is a very serious problem, and bringing the regional if not national rail services underground would help massively. Only that way will the suburban lines be convenient for Bristol city centre.

[@DIEMLtdTV]

£14 an hour to drive a massive bus around a busy city. Shocking pay.

[@ascelot]

Too high or too low?

[@DIEMLtdTV]

@@ascelot Far too low. I'd hate to drive a bus around busy cities, never mind when it's full of passengers.

[@ascelot]

@@DIEMLtdTV Currently on £12.06 ish as bus driver lol

[@DIEMLtdTV]

@@ascelot Total respect to you.

[@irrelevance3859]

agreed. Way too low for the responsibility

[@MacGuy3135]

This is the result of arguably the most progressive region in England being surrounded by a staunchly conservative mega suburb. I do not think Dan Norris and Marvin Reeves have ever agreed on a single topic, ever and for anything to get done the two need to agree. This has resulted in some crazy outcomes. For instance, the main bus from the train station to the centre is *single deck* and is _constantly_ delayed by wobling tourists asking the driver 37 questions before decidong the bus is too expensive. Moreover the bus to the airport is eight entire pounds and takes *forever*. The only way to solve this mess is to revive the Avon county and construct a hybrid under/overground.

[@charlesbridgford254]

Yeah. Too much old-money horsey types in the environs. Just look at the voting record. Even in Filton and Bradley Stoke it's fecking Conservative.

[@eilidhmm]

I would say that First being "okay" is exactly the reason for change - I don't know the situation in Bristol too well, but in other places where they have a near-monopoly (Glasgow, Swansea) they do the bare minimum and only improve things when it's either "commercially viable" ie. on the busiest routes or they get public funding to do so (metrobus in Bristol etc). Why not have a bus company owned municipally which does not have to cater to shareholders and earn dividends for them and instead reinvests profits purely in a better service?

[@GWVillager]

I would be inclined to agree - but in these cash strapped times, it would likely be better value for money to simply invest in improvement projects, when the existing structure is functional.

[@user-dj7wv5ok2x]

And then what if the municipality ITSELF is corrupt?!

[@uk-martin4905]

The deregulation of buses in 1986 legally required local councils (nearly 70 of them) to cease direct responsibility for bus services. The council-run services were privatised and invariably cut as operators were no longer allowed to cross-subsidise services. There seems, though, to be a move towards councils taking responsibility for transport in their area again and franchising their routes (as has been the case in London which was considered too important to lose control of its services) and, recently, Manchester. Of course, corrupt councils - the majority, I'm sure - are another matter.

[@j3j326]

Bristol In an interesting city, the old rail network should be reopened, and a London overground style service would be beneficial.

[@AlastairjCarruthers]

For a couple of years I lived in east Bristol and worked at Cribbs Causeway, which meant getting a bus into town and then another one out. It was a slog. I tended to leave even earlier than needed to miss the worst of the rush hour on the way into town, and grab a coffee between buses. I now live in London, where the biggest differences are frequency, and also the behaviour of the drivers - Bristol drivers are generally much ruder and more sadistic. If they saw someone running to catch them then they would take great pleasure in slamming the door in their face and driving away, grinning widely, whereas in London they will practically always wait, and even stop and reopen the door if already about to set off. It's the same with flagging down a bus, in London it takes the slightest raised arm to get the bus to stop for you, but in Bristol they'd cheerfully sail past a whole bus stop full of passengers if they did anything less than lean into the road flapping their arms like maniacs. It was so bizarre 😂

[@willr8854]

Great video! It's so annoying to see large cities in the UK with such limited transit when cities in Italy/Germany and elsewhere in europe have cities with less than 200,000 people and STILL have an underground metro?!

[@osasunaitor]

Which cities under 200,000 have metro?

[@lazrseagull54]

​@@osasunaitor San Sebastian in Spain (186k) and Lausanne in Switzerland (139k) and despite the extra 25k, I'll also add Rennes at 225k. And if you're happy to count underground lines that are part of a tram network, there's Charleroi (201k - please forgive the extra 1k) and Mülheim an der Ruhr (170k), but sure, these kinds of systems are more typical in cities with a population upwards of 300k.

[@annabelholland]

Caen in France has a tramway with a population less than Bristol. Pretty much Belfast, Reading and Norwich should have also had one. I think UK had plans to build trams to most places with over 300k, but only ~7 cities currently have it. Clearly France is taking the lead in building new tramways which suffered the similar fate to the UK.

[@osasunaitor]

@@lazrseagull54 I lived in San Sebastián lol, I wouldn't call that a metro, it's a commuter rail line (Euskotren) that goes underground in some sections and covers a metropolitan area of nearly 500,000 people

[@lazrseagull54]

@@osasunaitor it's as much a metro as line 3 in Bilbao and certainly more so than the one in Valencia but it will feel a lot more like a metro when the city centre tunnel stations open in a few years and when the Altza branch is merged into the branch to Irun, allowing more frequent trains along the whole line.

[@jonistan9268]

You mentioned that the bus lanes can be used by all buses there (not just metro buses) while a tram track would only be only for trams and wouldn't improve existing bus services. However, this isn't true. On the tram line you showed as an example in the video, it would be easily possible to run buses along the same path. This is done all the time in other cities, including Zurich where I live. We have several sections of tram line where the tram tracks are also used as bus lanes.

[@user-dj7wv5ok2x]

Besides, it's just plain BETTER to separate rail traffic from automotive traffic anyway; rail lines built specifically for the purpose of carrying rail vehicles effectively prevents ANY unprdictabilities associated with automotive traffic, including the general unreliability of the automobile in general.

[@charlie8562]

As someone from bristol, we need buses between local areas, there will be a new 15 from avonmouth to cribbs causeway, but services to brislington were just gone and rail to the south west and to the airport, open the portishead line and henbury line and extend a branch to the airport. Also a tram would be disaster with some of the worst traffic in Britain already. My only advice for buses are for them to be more punctual and go between local areas

[@kenwong8190]

I have lived here most of my life and I do wonder what happens when this is next is on the agenda at local government level. The transport here is atrocious. Anytime an accident occurs the whole city is at a standstill, especially during rush hour. Today was a fine example of this - there was an accident on the m5 and 2 junctions were closed. This resulted in an additional hour in the car for me on my way home. An overhaul is required like an underground or tram system. We are the only major city in England with a broken transport system

[@GWVillager]

I think Leeds might object to that last bit!

[@Mgameing123]

I think what Bristol should do is make a high frequency suburban rail system between Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway/Severn Beach stop at most stops possible to maximize passenger potiential. Then I would make a standard tram system (Doesn't need fully dedicated right of way) going to most parts of Bristol.

[@mondoman712]

You say that tramways can't be shared with buses, but they can. I live in Zurich and combined bus/tram lanes are quite common here. Also I'd love to see a similar video on Birmingham, which while it has a bit more than most other UK cities (and therefore I don't see it talked about very much in these discussions) , it's transport system is shockingly bad when compared to other similarly sized cities in Europe.

[@GWVillager]

Indeed, buses can use tramways, it was a stupid oversight on my part. Birmingham is another interesting case, and the city as a whole really punches below its weight, considering it’s got a metro area in excess of 5 million.

[@SuperEmperorNapoleon]

The public transport around Bristol and the southwest in general is so bad that it caused me to up sticks for London, especially with the increasing rent costs.

[@osasunaitor]

I visited Bristol in late 2022, and was appalled by the poor service of the bus network. On top of the low frequencies, every third bus was being cancelled (as a result of driver shortages I assume), and in consequence those that actually ran were so packed that they couldn't pick up more passengers when they reached the centre. It was a very frustrating experience and I gave up and walked or took a taxi most of the times. We even shared a taxi between several passengers one evening when we were left stranded in the Temple Meads stop under heavy rain, after the bus driver groaned that his shift was over and drove away without us. Surreal. I'm glad they have introduced the Metrobus system and hired new drivers, hopefully the situation has improved. I also took the train to/from Bath and it was fine, the trains were old but in decent condition and the frequency was not too bad.

[@grassytramtracks]

As a rider of buses in Bath when they cancel buses, they tell you on the screen and app the bus is 4 minutes away, then 3 minutes then 2, and then it says Due, but then it just vanishes from the screen like it was never there. The frequency isn't too bad between Bristol and Bath, but it's a bit irregular, sometimes there's a 5 minute gap between trains, sometimes 20 or 25 minutes

[@osasunaitor]

@@grassytramtracks in Bristol the info screens did say "cancelled" but it was still a gamble and therefore taking the bus felt too unreliable to be considered as a serious option

[@rbejva]

It feels like Bristol would be a great candidate for a VAL system, like Toulouse’s. Especially with all those hills to climb. What Bristol should figure out is how to do it with relying on central government funding.

[@MrLukealbanese]

Almost impossible in Centralised Britain I'm afraid

[@lilyzzworld]

just my luck to be an avid train fan and to be born in the one city that basically hates trains 😭😭

[@batbeeps]

The main issue with the buses in Bristol is mostly that they share *any* road space with other traffic. Rush hour congestion in Bristol can frequently be utterly miserable, and the entire centre can come to gridlock if there's an issue on the M32 into the city. That naturally has a knock-on effect on the buses (which all run through the centre), making the quality of the buses and frequency of services entirely irrelevant. There has easily been more than a dozen occasions where I've waited close to an hour for a service that's supposed to be every 10 to 12 minutes. The lack of reliable frequency also means it's not uncommon for services to be crowded and skipping stops because of lack of capacity, dragging out the wait even longer for the folks stuck there. It has become an unfortunately Catch-22 situation where a good number of my peers view the buses as too unreliable to depend upon, so they drive, but by driving they contribute to the main reason the buses tend to be unreliable. It does feel like a problem that needs to be resolved on the municipal level-either through pushing for increased frequency or capacity on routes, or by restricting the use of private cars in the urban centre during the busiest periods.

[@caravanstuff2827]

Shouldn't be spending billions on building train line's and endless miles on extra roads just so city worker's can get to work and home 10 minutes early...if you work in the city then live in the city..not in the suburbs !!.

[@heinzer69]

Bristol won't get the funding for a tram system. Leeds and Cardiff are well ahead in the funding stakes. Manchester is a great example of a successful light rail system. It has a big catchment area with several decent sized towns being served by the trams. Bristol only really has Bath- population of 90,000 to serve outside of the city boundary.

[@katiecolclough4]

Brilliant video, highly researched and some fantastic points

[@jimmeltonbradley1497]

I've just returned from Auckland in New Zealand, which is about the same size as Bristol. It has a fully integrated public transport system, all accessible by a tap-on tap-off card. Compared to Bristol, which I know well, it's streets (no pun intended) ahead. Sydney, which I also visited recently, has an even better one. I know it's larger than Bristol, but I have no doubt that Bristol could learn a thing or two from from Sydney. AND, both systems are cheap.

[@GWVillager]

Certainly. I do like those antipodean systems, I think they're well integrated.

[@robtyman4281]

Public Transport in nearly all British cities apart from London, was pretty dire between the mid 1960's and late 1990's. That's not a sweeping statement, but fairly accurate. It's only become significantly better over the last 20 years. But there are still some cities where it remains not that great - like Bristol, and also Birmingham. Why? ....who knows. Better ask those who run both of these cities.

[@shaunism]

I’m surprised you think the current bus system is OK. I’m on my first visit to Bristol and I can’t believe there are routes that only run hourly during the day in the central city. No wonder everyone buys a car as soon as they can afford to.

[@notwhatitwasbefore]

As someone who lived in Bristol for a while I would saying driving around the city is a total nightmare at many times of day and that many of the people I knew who cycled did so because there wasn't a good public transport option and either had no where to park a car or didn't want the many hours sat in a car everyday lifestyle when they live only a small amount of miles away from work. I started out as a Driver in the city and quite quickly gave up on the car as it was so much hassle to find somewhere to park overnight and just wasn't very usefull to get anywhere in the city anyway. Love the city hate the roads/transport

[@xr6lad]

I think the grey looks classy and tasteful. Unlike many PT branding that looks as if it’s designed by people with short attention span.

[@GWVillager]

The thing with buses is that the people you need to attract (people in cars or on foot) will pass or be passed by the bus in a matter of seconds, so it really has to stand out in that time. It is possible to design eye-catching liveries that are also stylish, fortunately, Transdev Blazefield do this well.

[@xr6lad]

@@GWVillagermaybe I’m old fashioned. I just think when they use what I call ‘in fashion colours’ and many colours, they date incredibly fast and we end up having multiple colour changes over a decade that cost £££ or what looked great for 3 years as I said look dated because they were of an era. Muted classic colours I feel stand the test of time .

[@GWVillager]

@@xr6lad It's not to do with fashions - there are plenty of bright (or at least impressive) liveries that have aged extremely well. GNER trains, or, of course, London's red buses.

[@supersuede91]

bro why did I enjoy this video so much

[@VonPete105]

One thing they've got right which is tangentially linked to public transport is letting motorbikes in the bus lanes. It's so much safer and more efficient for us bikers to ride in them than to mess around filtering through jammed traffic when there's a near-empty bus lane you're not allowed to ride in right next to you.

[@MannyAntipov]

Trams have been thought about several times to Bristol, much to no success. Pedestrian Connections have a few interesting videos talking about this subject. However, given that Bristol's geography is a key problem to increasing public transport share, being located not far from the sea while also being very hilly, any large infrastructure works (ie railway tunnel or viaduct) would be a non-starter. Observing the bus network, Bristol should have a look at Brighton & Hove, a city with 2/3rds the population and similar in density, yet has an excellent bus network thanks to the co-operation between the bus companies and local authorities in providing key infrastructure improvements as well as an enterprising approach to increasing bus services. I would have to disagree with your points about "slow, dirty, old, uncomfortable DMUs". While the Severn Beach and Portishead lines unfortunately not had the chance for electrification, there are bigger problems that exists, namely the lack of double-tracking and the low, and often uneven, frequency. The London Overground's GOBLIN line demonstrates that running a high-frequency route with excellent upgrades to the infrastructure can still run reliably as a diesel-operated line (even if this was a decade ago). I can understand the point about the Networkers DMUs being uncomfortable with their 2+3 seating, but their age is hardly worth clutching one's pearls since, given they are well-maintained and well-built, trains can be just as reliable operating at 30 years old as they would be when new.

[@alistairwall5470]

It's worth pointing out that WECA has responsibility now for transport and planning, so movement on these areas will come from them, not BCC. It also doesn't help that for the first four years, WECA was headed up by a metro mayor that did less than nothing.

[@BabyWhyman]

I personally think tram trains would be a good way of expanding Bristol's transport network (much like Cardiff is doing). Not just because they would enable some of the local trains to run into the city centre, but also because they would potentially enable more trains to run into Temple Meads by separating these local services from the mainline services by having them call at separate tram platforms. It would also allow for more branch line services without having to upgrade the signalling. The fact that Temple Meads isn't electrified/getting electrified is ridiculous. They already did a lot of the bridge/tunnel work on the line into it from London and since they are currently spending years fixing the roof at the station they might as well throw up some wires at the same time

[@ItsAllAboutTheJourney]

I'll be honest, the introduction of the "metrobus" services in Bristol sounds like a huge and unfortunate compromise. Unfortunately Bristol isn't the only city in the UK that suffers from this problem. Take Leeds for instance, which has effectively zero public transport around the city except buses (and I believe is the largest city in western Europe to not have a dedicated transport system). This "Metro West" idea sounds like a great idea using the existing rail lines which have a lot of potential and expand to cover a lot of Bristol, but chances are it'll either be shelved or heavily reduced in budget. Bristol is getting more closely economically linked to south Wales, so better links between the Valleys and Bristol would be nice to see.

[@grahamariss2111]

The same with Coventry, its tram network was neglected before the war and then abandoned after being put out of use by bombing.

[@2112jonr]

Visited friends near Bristol a few months back. The public transport anywhere outside of the city centre is appalling. One bus from the city centre to the airport PER HOUR and it's always crammed as it goes all the way down to Plymouth (!!!!!), as are the roads it has to travel along - mostly upgraded B roads. Folks I know who live in a village just to the north use their car all the time, because the place (500+ people) doesn't have a bus service. Just grim and badly managed, been like that for 30+ years apparently.

[@Gl33D]

Wow, this video couldn’t have been more perfect. For context I am originally from the north Bristol / South Gloucestershire area and the combination of the housing crisis and the horrible public transport situation was the reason I left for London and the greater south eastern area. When the time came for me to move out of my parents house it seemed pointless staying in Bristol when the price was so close to London with none of the benefits (to me) Absolutely agree with the underground tram idea, in fact it’s something I used to dream about while waiting for my bus to work! The only thing I disagree with is the idea that first does a good job running busses. Sure, the metro bus is great and their vehicles are smart and modern but the reliability was (when I lived there) absolutely awful. Metrobus routes were usually great but I would have to change onto a non metro route often and it would either not show up at all (simply disappearing from the app and board, not admitting it was cancelled) be extremely late, show up but stop for 30+ mins waiting for a driver change in the middle of the city or the service would be so busy you would have to wait for 4 busses to pass before one would have the capacity to pick up extra passengers. It made my commute painful and even now the experience of dealing with thameslink is a joy compared to first bus. The suburban rail network was always depressing to me, especially when it came to frequency. I lived very close to a train station but if I wanted to get to the office I would have to change trains at temple meads, that was fine but the problem was that my train would arrive just a minute after the train to the office left and I would have to wait almost a full hour for the next train (assuming it ran on time which was unlikely) add to that the horrible old DMU’s and single tracking it made the network practically pointless. I didn’t know a single person who used my local station and when I went there it was always deserted. As someone who never wants to own a car (I don’t need it, I have no mobility issues and I am not carrying around a lot with me) I was left with no choice but to leave, the transit there was simply not reliable enough and an extremely sad state of affairs for an otherwise beautiful city. (Also fuck South Gloucestershire council lol)

[@stashyjon]

This has been going on for at least 50 years. In his book 'The Portishead Branch', published in 1904, just after the lines closure to frieght traffic, author Colin Maggs, in the final chapter goes on at some lenght about the line becoming part of a new Bristol 'underground' system, that would include th Portishead branch, Henbury Loop, The Old Midland Mainline, the Seven Beach line, The North Somerset Route and part of the Bristol Harbourside lines, with new routes built to the Airport, Hengrove etc. With the exception on the new lines these would run on old alliegnments, but would burrow underground at places such as Lawrence Hill, St Annes Park and Cumberland basin, where they would feed into an underground loops section connecting city centre locations such as Temple Meads, The City Centre, Broadmead etc. Obviously nothing came of the idea, and loss of the routes, especially large parts of The North Somerset and The Harbour Lines to private development has rendered the scheme impossible. Then there was the tram idea in the mid 1990's and the first line Hengrove to The Centre was in the advance planning stage with much funding in place, until a change of council and an economic downturn torpedoed the scheme. Now we have this new underground propsal, and I'm all for it, but I can't see it happening anytime soon. Whilst Bristol City Council is pretty much behind the project as is the WoECA in principle, there is a lot of oposition from minority groups in both Bath and North East Somerset and South Goucestershire councls, which all both are currently Lib Dem controled, both have shire conservative oppositions who are fighting the proposal at every turn. Maybe it's Nimbyism, maybe it's just attacking those flthy reds in Bristol, but the result is they are trying to shunt the Bristol Underground into an endless round of planning reviews, legal appeals, reviews and rethinks in order to keep the scheme forever in the planning stage hopefully to abandoned t some future point. I'm lucky enough to know Mayor Marvin Rees and several councillors and officers involved in planning the scheme. I'm chair of my local tenant, association here in Bristol and transport is a hot topic around these parts, and they all say delay tactics they facing in Liam Fox and Rhees Mogg land are extremely frustraiting. Still we have local elections in May and a General election coming up maybe with the predicted torey collapse, we can maybe see the blockage cleared and the Greater Bristol area get the transport network it so urgently needs

[@BazilRat]

If you're in the suburbs, Bristol's buses are MUCH less good - and they're way too expensive for the service you get as soon as you get more than a mile outside the centre.

[@OnTheRailwayOfficial]

Wdym it’s £2 😂

[@BazilRat]

@@OnTheRailwayOfficial Yeah only by cap from the local government.... which, to be fair, I didn't know about. Before that it was a pisstake and no doubt will be again in 2025

[@UrbanVlogs9]

I like how you emulated the GWR logo. That was my University Trainline (Exeter). Make a video on Exeter public transport also

[@Saint_Dan132]

agreed they could do so much more, I'm lucky Glasgow has a great transport system

[@user-dj7wv5ok2x]

Even though your "subway" is rather "weird"....

[@Saint_Dan132]

@@user-dj7wv5ok2x i never used our subway until i was a teenager yes i agree it is weird comes in handy now i stay over in the south side, i genuinely just get surface level trains most places.

[@JG-xf3dv]

Very True that south Gloucestershire shouldn't control the suburbs around Bristol they should only really control Yate

[@parkgeonhees]

It's SO crazy to me that there's lines that go near Ashton Gate that haven't got funding. It's a nightmare (in comparison to other cities) for anyone travelling into Bristol to go to a gig or a football match to get to Ashton Gate and that would surely be a big money maker? Why is no one motivated to spend something in order to fix it?

[@user-wo6qn3vf9n]

Bristol used to have a great rail service from the centre at Temple Meads from the West to the West of England and Portishead from the north to Severn Beach, south Wales, north of England from the East to Bath via Fishponds and London and from the South to Whitchurch and Somerset. But of course many were closed in the 1960. In the late 70s a metro system was announced using most of these old disused railway lines, but typical Bristol nothing became of it.

[@louisp52]

How well do you think the part time driving scheme would work for other places? Would it work in somewhere like London? or is TfL a bit too different?

[@GWVillager]

I don't see why it wouldn't be universally applicable. Wherever there's a driver shortage, it would probably make sense.

[@nathanw9770]

This is something that my city of Exeter really needs since Stagecoach have been really suffering from a driver shortage since covid.

[@joshuahill5271]

This is literally the demise of my city in New Zealand, pin point.

[@conormacdonald8634]

Micromobility is pretty big in the city these days; it offers somewhat of an alternative to those who otherwise live in the transport deserts or who want to ride an orbital journey around the city.

[@chrissie7427]

Public transport coming in from villages to the West / Southwest of the city is poor. Many villages have zero bus service so using a car is the only option. Whilst there is a park and ride at Long Ashton it doesn’t run on a Sunday which is madness. If the council wants people to leave their cars at home there must be an alternative.

[@myotherchannel2729]

@GWVillager I lived in Bristol and in the 1980s it could take ages crawling inch by inch out of the centre of the city towards the east (Kingswood, Bath, etc) during the evening rush hour. I returned for a brief visit in the 1990s and was astounded at the restructuring of the central area road systems to enable buses to get out of the Inner Circuit Road area really quickly. This must count as one of the most dramatic improvements of Bristol's public transport. Hopefully it is still like this today.

[@GWVillager]

It is. That is a real positive in Bristol, buses can get out of the city quite quickly, but once they hit the main roads they often get stuck.

[@wetasspaddington]

it's quite frankly embarrassing that the south wales metro, a transport project in another country, will soon be providing more service in the bristol area (increased service increase along filton bank from cardiff to temple meads) than the actual bristol governments. bristol transport isn't just an accute problem and i think a lot people in the comments here realise that a lot of it comes down to major issues with local governance in the southwest

[@katiecolclough4]

I fully support the idea that a london style undergroud/tube system would be the best thing for bristol's public transport, however I think that to be able to do that, the council needs to take control of the buses from First WoE. There is also the point which may not be available knowledge to someone who isn't a Bristol resident (I'm assuming you are not one of us lol) that the land which the city is built on is not fully suitable for underground tunneling at the scale necessary for a tube system, making it far far more expensive than the standard from around the world

[@andrewcowling5804]

The 165/66 class units are comfortable and fast if the track allows it. Increasing the frequency on the Severn beach branch could be increased and if it became really popular doubling of sections of the line like it used to be. New trains will be needed in ten years or so. Class 150 units are old and starting to show they’re getting to be past it. Rebuilding the line from Tytherington fright into Thornbury would ease very considerable traffic delays. Many commuters actually go north to Fairfield to get on the motorway rather than go down the A38. I’ve seen the queue and it’s not fun. Rebuilding part of the line to Radstock would help too. That was taken up in the 60’s and much of it built over or obliterated. But some exists far enough along a heavily congested that it would be worth it. Laying the Radstock to Frome line would help. There’s a group already campaigning for that. Trains could then run into Westbury and up to Bath and Bristol. It’s a bit of a way around but I bet it would still be faster if timetabled correctly. Busways are a joke. Total waste of resources. The present bus routes are inadequate. They need cross city bus routes without going into the centre. Downend to Soundwell kings wood and hanham would be useful. If not longer. Let it go through to say Keynsham or Brislington. The same goes across the north of Bristol. Cribs should be a centre from which a route should go across to downend abd down to Avonmouth taking in henbury. Etc

[@martinclark7935]

Improving rail links will not really help much - Bristol's main station, Temple Meads, is too far away from the central areas that passengers need to get to.

[@conormaher2283]

Lived in Bristol for 3 years, the buses were pretty good and I found it quite easy to get around. Plymouth on the other hand... Worst public transport in the country for it's size. It's a travesty here.

[@user-qj5io6ex8k]

coming from south bristol i don't see how an underground would work in bristol considering its hills and the harbour, without essentially missing out a huge part of the city. i think we could benefit from something like porto's metro system, which is light rail but travels quite fast to connect to the airport, as well as further towns, and it's both underground and overground however, there are actual improvements happening outside the city recently, like the on demand bus service "westlink" that serves rural/suburban areas around bristol which is really convenient for us in the countryside where the only bus into bristol was cancelled

[@charlesbridgford254]

An underground would be a nightmare to build. You'd be forever busting through uncharted monk's aqueducts and tunnels.

[@domt6802]

This is a good and interesting video, but personally feel misses the mark on the failings of first bus. I feel that saying even "its better than nothing" is too high of praise.

[@GWVillager]

Fair enough. What have they done in Bristol? I’m not a local but First have been a pain in some areas I’ve lived in the past.

[@domt6802]

@@GWVillager well luckily for me I don't have to rely on them because I live close to city centre and own a car. But they are just not reliable; either buses do not stop because they are full, or the bus does not exist (ie, on the dot matrix board at stops, it'll say a bus should be arriving but nothing comes until the next bus. Which creates full buses that can't stop and so the cycle continues.) I appreciate there is a driver shortage, and as shown in your video it's clear they are working on this in innovative ways. But they can afford to pay staff more in order to retain them (apparently many drivers change to HGV drivers once trained), they can afford more buses too - I know they are a private company but to turn 100million pounds of profit in 2023 whilst providing wholy inadequate product just is so infuriating and not what Bristol deserves.

[@user-dj7wv5ok2x]

This is why a RAIL SYSTEM is so very badly needed!!

[@lucacoccioli9244]

So, First hire bus drivers on an increasingly part-time basis, sometimes failing to even provide them with uniforms before their first shifts. And you think that's a good thing?

[@thesudricmerman3318]

this very well informed could you do a vidow on hull as it got simpler if not worse transport issues which have been promised to be fix but never happens

[@charrogate]

🚂 A similar issue in Yorkshire especially Harrogate, Leeds, Ripon and York:- Ripon a city with the railway removed; Harrogate without electrification and the dual track ripped up to/from York. Other areas undoubtedly suffered an even worse fate 🤔

[@nathanw9770]

Good video! Would be cool to see you take a look at Exeter which also lacks a reliable public transport system. Due to its size it doesn't necessary need new railways but the bus network is in a dire need of improvement.

[@desmondatkinson4642]

Yes, Exeter certainly needs improved services. Cities of comparable size such as Ulm in Germany and Besançon in France have tramways and much better integrated transport. It was good to see a new station opening at Marsh Barton and there is now talk of some new electric buses on a couple of routes. So much more needs to be done as cars and traffic gridlock seem to dominate here!

[@nathanw9770]

​​@@desmondatkinson4642 Exactly. And although the new station is nice it's not in a good location and only gets roughly an hourly service off peak. There's also no bus link to Alphington which is less than a mile away from Marsh Barton. As for the buses I think Stagecoach should be stripped of their contract and have another company take over. I don't think trams would suit Exeter but a more integrated bus sevice would improve things significantly.

[@AnthonyHeaton-ih6rk]

They have moved the Temple Meads (inward) bus stop about a quarter of a mile away from the station. Does that make sense? And because of the one way system you can't drive to Temple Meads without paying £9 toll.

[@MervynPartin]

Excellent presentation. Bristol should have improvements to its transport infrastructure, and you have made some good suggestions as to ways of achieving that. However, the elephant in the room is the Government, which apart from being London-centric, and now with possibly the most out-of-touch PM ever, has mis-managed nearly everything in which its Department for Transport has touched- the Great Western electrification being a case in point. So the likelihood of getting any funding is rather remote.

[@GWVillager]

Indeed it is. But, hopefully, things might change with a new Government at some point in the future.

[@crisp8432]

Very off-topic but would it be possible to make a "overview" video on the SNCB? (Basically Belgium Railways)

[@GWVillager]

It would be possible. I’m not sure I have a lot to say, though.

[@enisra_bowman]

guided busses have a place when you can run a bus route over the Green section between to roads or over the (separated ofc.) tram tracks so they don't have to sit in traffic ... like it was original invented, but well, you would need a tram line first but separeted tracks are somewhat more like a Lowkey Gadgetbahn

[@KyrilPG]

Very interesting! One city to look at as an example is Rennes in France and its 2 fully automated metro lines. The city is the smallest in France that has a metro, and the 2 lines carry a surprisingly high number of people every day, more than the population of the core city itself, offering a fantastic service to the city and its inhabitants. But before anything, the UK must solve their infrastructure cost ballooning issues. The simplest stretch of basic rails costs millions, it's bonkers. A massive cost difference between similar projects in the UK and in continental Europe is not normal nor acceptable. There's no justification for projects to be 2, or 5, or even 10 times more expensive than in neighboring countries. Without even mentioning the mad delays... Just for reference, Paris, a very densely populated area, is currently expanding its metro network by roughly 200 kilometers, with 84 new stations spread over 4 new lines and 2 major line extensions, 90% of it being dug deep underground. That is equivalent to the distance between Birmingham and London and the length of HS2, except that it's almost fully deep underground with many more stations and under very populated locations but it only costs a fraction of HS2, despite being heavily tunneled and full of environmental mitigation features. Building transportation infrastructure at absurd cost anyway only reinforces the problem and makes future projects less and less likely to come to fruition. The entire infrastructure project "pipeline" containing planning, procurement, construction, equipment and red-tape should be completely overhauled to weed out the spending leaks and rebuild the processes from scratch the way they are done in neighboring countries. The neighbors do manage to build major projects for a fraction of the cost that in the UK. Then, and only then, transit infrastructure projects could start raining over British cities like drizzle without fear of being rejected, canceled, reduced or postponed. On the other side of the Channel, there are about 30 French agglomerations with tram networks and 6 ones with metro networks There are many projects being built as we speak, from the humongous "Grand Paris Express" metro expansion that I mentioned to Toulouse's 3rd automated metro line and the dozen of suburban train service networks being implemented and expanded. Yet, they're still spending less per capita than Germany, Switzerland, etc. So, building great transit systems at a reasonable cost *is* very much possible, but the process must be completely changed, and the political will must be there to force and drive this change. In the meantime it's the British population that is stuck without great transit and that's unacceptable. It's unbelievable that great cities like Bristol, Leeds, Sheffield, etc. , and pretty much any city beside London, don't have better and more developed transit systems. Cheaper infrastructure costs means more projects... Kudos for the video, and greetings from Paris

[@MercenaryPen]

There is also the possibility of an elevated right of way for either light rail or heavy rail, which would at least be cheaper than building an underground line

[@GWVillager]

That's another option, but I doubt it'd get past planning.

[@MercenaryPen]

@@GWVillagerwho knows what the future may hold- with a change of government likely, this may have significant consequences for how planning permission works going forward

[@theblah12]

Elevated light rail is a non-starter for any location that isn’t being built up from scratch (like Canary Wharf and the DLR). Especially in a city like Bristol with a lot of historic architecture.

[@CyclingSteve]

Clearly we need government to step in, just not the current one.

[@sMansGuitars]

Strong economy?? You ARE joking?? As for the colour schemes, who cares apart from possibly those left with the task of cleaning the buses. (Albert Steptoe: "I like chocolate paint, dark green and chocolate, them's the colours, they don't show the dirt!")

[@dizzydevil547]

If you live in south glos like i do coalpit heath / yate then 1st bus is a joke they have cut services here , were once you could get a bus from chipping sodbury to bristol that went through Yate , coalpit heath,downend and fishponds they got rid of that so NOW if you wish to get to fishponds ect i would have a VERY LONG WALK to westerliegh to get a bus that went through those areas , i dont drive and its also affected me looking for a job as i can't get to those areas anymore if there are jobs going in fishponds, downend ect I would have to go into bristol centre and then comeback on myself towards home for a bus to those areas wich is a long journey ( used to take 15 min to get to downend when the old service was running 30 for fishponds! now its nearly an hour to 2 hour journey one way!) and an expensive one too by bus as i would have to travel through all 3 bus zones so a yearly ticket would cost me the earth its ridiculous!...NOT to mention the money spent on a park and ride for buses just outside Yate then a week later cut most of the services , and spent a fortune also on new cycle lanes between framton / coalpit heath and Yate , iv have rarely seen anyone use them! that was all thanks to our local tory mp luke hall spending the cash on that to make himself look good as if hes doing something for the comunity / area ....MOST folks round were i live a livid about it being a waste of funds ect! ...but come election time i bet he will get voted in again lol

[@nate9735]

I would love to fly from Bristol more but its such a hassle for me coming from Gloucester. Its far far easier to take a direct train to Birmingham or Manchester airport. So easy. They added a low emissions zone and even driving through the city will cost you now if you choose to drive. Why on earth there is no trams/metro to the airport is a disaster

[@SAStarbucks]

The construction for MetroBus was so long and so bad it destroyed bus reliability during its construction. Because of this I finally got my licence and a car

[@chnet968]

7:03 The project was expensive because the project also includes building new roads (including the guided busway), new bridges and refurbishment of bridges.

[@chnet968]

8:13 The Severn Beach line is limited by the fact that, except "Clifton Down" and stations on already existing rail network, all new stations on this line only have one rail to serve both directions. Therefore the train schedule has to be calculated carefully, the southbound train has to reach Clifton Down and then the northbound train can start passing Clifton Down to go north (or west, initially), or two train travelling to opposite direction will become stuck and there is no place to give way. I think most likely building a single rail track is cheaper then double.

[@chnet968]

Btw, as resident in Bristol, I don't know why the stations on Severn Line northbound from Bristol Temple Meads have flat fare of £2, while Bedmister and Parson Street stations would have normal train fare according to distance of travel, when both stations are within the city's boundary.

[@chnet968]

And I think while we're talking about public transport in Bristol, WESTlink (Bristol's on-demand point-to-point bus) would be an interesting topic to cover.

[@TheMortalKombatent]

@@chnet968 my ticket from parson street to temple meads costs 3.70 whilst the ticket from temple meads to avonmouth is 2 quid and takes 3 times as long. absolutely insane fare system.

[@Zabzim]

You know the metro bus is in danger of being scrapped altogether as it simply isn't being used all that much and do you know why the metro bus was so expensive? Because they had to spend a fortune just planning it's route, putting a bus lane on the Well or Gloucester would be grand but it would probably cost comparable amounts to HS2 simple because the residence of those areas would fight you tooth and nail against any plans that disrupt their way of life.

[@stuartr7785]

Interesting summary, but more research would have given comprehensive answers to the questions posed.

[@GWVillager]

I’m not overly familiar by any means, do you have any pointers as to specific areas I’ve gone wrong (or not far enough)?

[@connortopping6943]

the bus system In Bristol is generally quite good however a small metro system would be very nice getting around the city. Even just reopening closed lines to passengers would be incredible.

[@davidredgewell7415]

Your research is poor west of England mayoral combined transport Authority is in charge of Transport

[@davidredgewell7415]

Not all metro bus routes are open the Bristol to whitchurch route is not open yet

[@desmondatkinson4642]

Bristol Airport is busy and there are plans to expand significantly. The public transport access is poor and the environmental cost is therefore very high. The city sold the airport off to the private sector years ago and there seems no proper incentive on them to reduce the dependence on the car. This is not good!

[@user-dj7wv5ok2x]

It's actually worse than just "not good"; it's totally STUPID and MORONIC!!

[@Thisoldhiker]

Worth mentioning that there is no metro area in the US the size of Bristol that has local rail transit at all. Honolulu and Tucson, Arizona appear to come closest.

[@gabbajon5654]

i reckon trolleybusses would be a good solution as you can install the lines over time without disrupting the entire traffic flow

[@jake_hys]

Bristol's public transport does indeed suck, suck hard. I was travelling around the city regularly for a research project last summer and it was painful how slow it was, also buses in general are just unpleasant experiences with the engine noise and the jerky motions. It's probably on a par with Leeds for 'city with the worst public transport in Europe'. Local politics does indeed play a role, the city has without a doubt the messiest and most dysfunctional local government situation of any British city. None of the four Bristol metro area local authorities get along. One refused to join the combined authority (North Somerset), another refused to join the NHS Integrated Care Board (North East Somerset), and the other seems to do everything in its power to prevent anything Bristol wants to do (South Glos). Solution? Bring back the county of Avon (and better yet rename it Greater Bristol), give it statutory powers to borrow its own money and authorize its own spending, and watch how quickly this sh*tshow could get sorted.

[@willitsucc9142]

Don’t quite understand why stagecoach should hand over their routes to first? There’s absolutely no reason to do this and competition is beneficial for both the public and the companies.

[@samuelsmith6281]

South Bristol in particular is really poorly served, all rail services run through the north of the city sadly. There is an old track bed in the south of the city that could be used as a potential LRT line to serve places like Knowle, Hartcliffe and Bishopsworth. Additional railway stations in the North of the city are already being built at Ashley Down, Filton and the Portway but the frequency of local rail services still need improvement and ultimately electrification. MetroWest's ambitions have been severely restricted by choke points that have sprung up along the route since the line's closure to passenger traffic with a level crossing being the only access into a busy industrial estate being one reason for the limited service.

[@PingoUTFG]

mate i think both sides of the river have it pretty bad, having spent way too much time on dangerously overcrowded 48s and 75s north of the river i can say that, the city centre-fishponds corridor really needs more than a cycle track known for muggings and drug running, estates like hillfields are as inaccessible as the ones south of the river, also all the gloucester road buses now seem to have long sections south of the river, which is great until a city centre driver change doesn't happen because of what ever reason so there is much less buses on the that major corridor (i caught one to the mem a couple weeks ago which was so full that the door could barely close and the stairs were all sat on and the guy was still letting people on)

[@samuelsmith6281]

@@PingoUTFG the main reason all the popular bus routes for the north of the city like the 1, 2, 75, 76, etc all have a southern route is it's the only way to force First to serve the poorer southern side of the city. Overcrowding in the rush hours has always been a problem on the city's buses made worse by the delays caused by rush hour traffic and having stop at every bus stop on the route.

[@syamil9912]

From the looks of it, I do wonder if the county of Avon does not dissolve, would the transport situation of the edges of Bristol could be better thanks to more coordination between the boroughs? Considering the fact that all the surrounding local authorities are unitary authorities (and also has a different political makeup than the Bristol city) I think it would be impossible for Bristol to even try to expand...especially since I don't think there really been a scenario where an expansion of a local authority area occur by taking just a part of another area (the usual trend is to merge the whole area with another one)

[@GWVillager]

Authorities certainly can "eat up" bits of neighbours - the formation of Greater Manchester is a good example, though it is divided into boroughs. It would need to be imposed from above, though, which is possible but might be politically difficult.