Secrets of The Motorway - M32

[@renes9966]

This channel probably wins the KZbin award for “shouldn’t be entertaining or remotely interesting but absolutely is”

[@crazyrocketguy4687]

People watch this for the same reason why people watch Geoff Marshall or Jay Forman; random and fascinating things to know about the infrastructure you use on a daily basis. Its the kind of stuff that you would probably never know otherwise.

[@shakedown1979]

One of the best KZbin channels at the moment 🥳 I look forward to John’s (or Jon’s?) Sunday issue… Quirky, geeky, nerdy, whatever… Awesome. There is definitely a whole lot to spark the imagination here… ‘What if…?’

[@wrnchhead76]

This and summoningsalt’s gaming speedruns.

[@Lot76CARS]

I’m not sure why it’s such compelling viewing either but it is 😂

[@bluevan12]

I suspect someone out there could make sewer covers interesting.

[@BMC_182]

7:13 Made my heart drop, the graffiti on the house in the background is DJ Derek. I lived and worked in a pub in the centre of Bristol for a number of years and DJ Derek was a regular of mine. Lovely, lovely man. I had moved away from Bristol a few months earlier and heard about him being missing in the news. RIP Derek. Had so many good chats with him, it's great to see Bristol remembering him the way he deserved.

[@chriswalford4161]

Thanks - I would have missed that without your comment.

[@AutoShenanigans]

I saw the graffiti artwork up close on the day and it was wonderful.. but I have to admit, I didn't know who Derek was.

[@oninbridders]

I went to Bristol last week and was able to bore everyone on the National Express with the facts I learnt from this episode. Well timed..

[@AutoShenanigans]

Clearly you know how to get the party started!!

[@OliB150]

Maybe I’m biased being Bristol based, but I felt this is one of the best videos you’ve done. I found it really interesting to hear the history of it and the humour around the councils was so accurate!

[@johnmurray9526]

"Before shitting you out not quite in the middle of Bristol" 😂 im dead 😂😂

[@AutoShenanigans]

hehehe :D

[@amazulu3401]

Allegedly Bristol has the worst traffic jams in the country, even beating London. So “Shitting you out” is wholly a appropriate comment.

[@chrispenn715]

Many of the children from Dower House went on to be politicians on Bristol City Council's transport committee. 🙂

[@southcalder]

I love Brizzle, but I hate the M32. Half assed doesn’t begin to describe it. It doesn’t have many junctions, but somehow they managed to put them as close together as possible in two groups. Also, that odd layout at the very end of the motorway/A4032 only dates from the mid 00s. Originally the route ended at a traffic light controlled T-junction on the A4044 roughly where the Superdry store is in the Cabot Circus shopping mall. The entire road was rerouted when the shopping mall was built to create extra space for the facility. While it was chaotic during its construction, it has actually improved the traffic flow in the area.

[@Hairysnid]

Give this man a TV series!

[@drinkingripa3928]

You are not wrong.

[@markjlewis]

Sunday wouldn't be Sunday without another exciting episode of Auto Shenanigans 😁

[@tombull89]

He actually did the M32, the mad lad. We don't talk about the Metrobus. We should have had a proper tram system instead :( Also I noticed the scortched grass by the Dower House is still there - someone thought it would be a REALLY good idea to have a BBQ on the dry grass in the crazy high summer heat. Dumb bastards.

[@joebryant5722]

Without doubt, the progression of this series is now easily (what use to be) terrestrial T.V standard and represents why I choose my 'channel' watching on KZbin. My actual T.V has sat in the corner, not switched on, for over a year and is now a dark flat paperweight. Boy am glad TV's got thinner and easier to push into forgotten corners.

[@geocoupe8144]

Fire the tv back up and watch youtube videos on it, its a gamechanger

[@AutoShenanigans]

I must admit.. I use the TV only to watch KZbin these days. remember the tube tv days... 40kg of JVC brick always in the way. Thanks for watching!

[@whyyoulidl]

@Joe Bryant couldn't agree more; not watched network TV in anger for maybe 3 - 4 years! The sheer depth of quality channels like AS is testament 👍🏿

[@ehamster]

Junction 1 was a roundabout in the early 90s, only became a teardrop in the late 90’s

[@ashturns61268]

The house was built in 1553 by Sir Richard Berkeley. Rebuilt by Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt circa 1760, it eventually became used as a dower house by the dukes of Beaufort at nearby Badminton House. This included Charles Somerset, 4th Duke of Beaufort (the son of Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort) and wife Elizabeth Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort whose daughter's obelisk can be found to this date on the hill she died on from falling off a horse. Dower House is rumoured to be haunted by the ghost of a girl named Elizabeth Somerset, who died in 1760 from injuries sustained after tumbling from her horse. Many visitors have claimed that they have heard galloping hooves as they travel through - although horses haven't been on the grounds for years. Steve England, a conservation educator and RHS horticulturist, states that “I’ve heard the sound of thumping hooves behind me on numerous occasions, once so vividly I jumped out of the way, but there was nothing there." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dower_House,_Stoke_Park

[@hermanmunster3358]

"The weed and graffiti capital of England" Did you get sorted? "It runs for a total of 4 1/2 miles, before SH*TTING you out not quite in the centre of Bristol" John I just adore your eloquence, pmsl 🤣🤣🤣

[@alunrundle162]

The M32 also affected railways. When it was being built, it was on the listings as 'Parkway'. They created an out of the city station to get the workers to work. They called it "Bristol Parkway". Now, most out of town stations on the network that have large car parks are called Parkway Stations. (Didcot, Tiverton, etc...)

[@Maddmank]

This is my one of my favourite channels on KZbin doesn't dance around words I love it

[@MrMpaclassics]

I'm glad that being mentally defective means I try to learn new things every day and further my knowledge with great KZbin channels and content such as this one

[@DavidRGray]

The large Tesco by Junction 2 is on the sight of Bristol Rovers old ground Eastville, the car park of the said Tesco used to have a floodlight pylon still in its corner for many years after its demolition and was a focal point from the carriage ways.

[@Dan23_7]

Same with Wigan rugby league’s old ground “Central Park” That was demolished and Tesco built on it

[@Meddled]

This channel makes me feel proud to be British. Taking one of our most mundane things and making it genuinely interesting without any smirk of irony or judgement. Brilliant channel!

[@maidbloke]

Worth a like for the Neighbours theme alone

[@tomarse99]

Really good research as a Bristolian I tip my hat to you. Also as an editor on countyasylums I can say you covered the mental defectives angle really well. One thing you did miss maybe was the site of the old football ground (now ikea) and the river froome that runs by it - when levels rise it’s diverted through the northern storm water drain - you can see the sluice gates on the left hand side before J2 if heading out on M32. One of the biggest and longest drains in country and helps keep Bristol flood free since 1960s (mostly….)

[@shaunw9270]

I don't miss Bristol Rovers being in Eastville lol , shame though because the Sunday market was a regular haunt as a young un 😊

[@tomarse99]

@@shaunw9270 nor the gas works behind it!

[@dangrove5794]

Bus priority at signalled junctions (I assume that's what he was referring to with buses "making a nuisance of themselves" lol) is great! Very effective and actually quite simple in practice. There's so much more going on behind the scenes at signalled junctions than people would ever realise. Would be interesting to see how Bristol have set theirs up as you can opt for varying levels of damage depending on how much you want to prioritise buses. Stuff like bus-specific infrastructure (eg the bus-only junction) is the most effective but massively expensive by comparison.

[@PingoUTFG]

they didn't i don't think, i regularly use the metrobus, its shittier than the average route

[@I_Don_t_want_a_handle]

Brissle's expense whores never utilize much brain. When they put the bus lane on Fishponds road the buses got significantly worse. Why? Because they simply moved the problem upstream as well as creating a massive traffic jam from The Causeway all the way into town. Previously, the jam started at Eastville park.

[@mrcogginsgarage7062]

The second viaduct in your film was not part of the Clifton extension railway but part of the old LMS route to Bath green park and then on to the S&D.

[@Mattoldred]

That’s a lovely looking HAA battery. More please!

[@richeharrison]

Thanks for finally covering this stretch that I have to find a way of traversing over (or under at junction 2) almost every day. The route cuts large parts of the city in half as efficiently as a giant wall, and underpasses or pedestrian bridges are all too infrequent. Bonus fun fact: Purdown tower is also known to us Bristolians as the UFO spaceport. You missed the fact it also runs over the River Frome for quite a long distance.

[@SteveAndAlexBuild]

Bloody criminal seeing that brick viaduct being blown up 💥🤯🥺🧱👍🏼

[@PurityVendetta]

What the hell... I think you could read your shopping list and make it entertaining. You've turned the most unpromising of subject matter into must watch entertainment. Who knew our motorway network has so many fascinating hidden secrets. Great work guys.

[@AutoShenanigans]

I might try the shopping list video.. sounds great.

[@PurityVendetta]

@@AutoShenanigans 😆😂🤣

[@jennyd255]

Haha Grundy... now there is a name from the past. In the early 90's, as a tape op, I used to see that logo every day at the end of transmitting episodes of Neighbours on BBC1. The main thing I recall about those Grundy re-editted neighbours tapes was that the tech standards were always all over the place... so on the whole I think you might be doing yourself down! Your video was fascinating as always. Every week I look forward to seeing the next installment.

[@ajuk1]

You didn't mention that the name Parkway Comes from Bristol Parkway however it was called that not because it was a park and ride station, but because the first section of the M32 was called The Parkway because it went through park land and they name just stuck. Also surprised you didn't mention the River Frome and the Stormwater Interceptor.

[@stegra5960]

The inner ring (circuit) road was notable for including a dual carriageway section straight through the middle of Queen Square leaving a statue marooned in the central reservation. Hard to believe when you see that area today.

[@wattster71]

Used to see/hear that road everyday as a kid before moving to Australia. The only time you didn't hear it was when Concorde (built about 3 miles away from the M32, not too far away from the Dower House) was on a test flight and drowned it out! The 5 bucks is a bribe to never use the instrumental Neighbours theme again! Love yer work!

[@AutoShenanigans]

Up at Filton that would have been. Bribe accepted and I shall never use neighbours again, many thanks for showing me the way :D Straya or Bristol... tough choice.

[@fluxington]

That's when good neighbours, become good friends.

[@richard999]

As a pensioner resident of Bradley Stoke the arrival of the Metrobus was a boon. The junction that is “not a junction” was used accidentally by my other half and she is one of those caught by the camera - luckily, it was right at the beginning of this system so she just got a “slap on the wrist”. It is still quite easy to take this slip road by accident thinking it was Junction 1 since apart from signage it really looks like a normal junction.

[@Tim091]

Congratulations on possibly being the only person on You Tube Comments to get the word boon in!

[@richard999]

@@Tim091Thanks - I think 😂😂😂

[@Jim-Scott]

Another motorway I use! Once a year to go to a Tug of War competition down near Bristol airport. After 200 miles from the east coast those few miles of the M32 go a bit unnoticed, and then it just fizzles out and you're trying to decide which lane to get in to find the airport. I normally get it wrong.

[@PillSharks]

Probably best to carry on and go south on M5 and come off at Gordano Services and make your way to the airport from that point.. that way you will miss the shithole of Bristol and it’s ridiculous traffic!

[@DeepSpaceNetwork]

That bus junction has ZERO signage. I’ve been caught by it. Now they send you a warning but if you do it again they slap you with a fine. But the thing is, if you take the wrong exit at the previous roundabout (which is common because it seems everyone in Bristol got their license in a McDonald’s happy meal) you instinctively take that exit to come back since the next one is literally miles away.

[@mittfh]

You certainly found a lot of interesting content to make up for the lack of length of the motorway! Perhaps one day, you'll do the madness of Birmingham's little motorway spur: the A38(M) - trenches, viaducts, pasta and a now disused vinegar pipeline - plus the continuation of the madness as the A38(not M) weaves its way through and under the city before dumping you unceremoniously at a giant traffic light crossroads on the Southern edge of the centre.

[@ulazygit]

Here we go again! Another motorway used quite extensively back in the mid noughties when working in Bristol rationalising and reorganising property/accommodation for the company I worked for. Always wondered about the ‘house’ (Dower) overlooking the motorway near J2 - thought the owner might have been a tad miffed at a motorway being built in his front garden … maybe even becoming mentally defective - and deciding to downsize into a very reasonably priced 3 bed terrace house in Napier Road … to get away from it all …

[@kirkmooneyham]

"that was all ignored, and they cracked on with it"...absolutely brilliant!

[@Stealth360stealth]

It had me in stitches! Reminded me of when Jay Foreman said in his ringways video, “and we wouldn’t want to build a motorway on this beautiful area because… eww” as a picture of the horrible neighbourhood as of today is shown

[@robinwells8879]

We have a similar guided bus system that serves Cambridge that some wag renamed the misguided busway! I love your delivery style. Just wonderful. Your humour is not dry, its arid!

[@silvertrident3103]

The roundabout at the M4 was still there for a long time after opening, it was made into a tear-drop in the 90s/00s when the lights were added to aid flow off the M4.

[@stevekelly5166]

And if you look at the overhead shot, you can see new shiny armco (exit of M4 west as well) where nobheads still drive into it at motorcways speeds. Coming off the M32, they used to get as high as the M4. Those were the days.

[@johnlladron735]

Great video - informative, snappy, harsh on grade one soil. Thank you!

[@PeteCourtier]

F**k off! 😂😂😂 grade one soil🤦‍♂️😂😂 Love this channel.

[@stevekelly5166]

Pudown Tower. You needed a B&W photo when it was covered in microwave dishes to give it justice. Just past J2 used to be the home to Bristol Rovers where my dad would drag my in the early 70's. Now IKEA. Whilst the gasworks have gone, (Rover's fans weren't gasheads for nothing, the 6 high pressure gas bullets are still there. And did you notice the barbed wire fencing on the bridge (Heath House Lane). Believe it was installed to stop mentally unstable locals jumping onto the M32 and coming through your windscreen. At 8m44s, you get it all wrong. The outer circuit road you then call the outer ring road, doesn't help the scales fo your maps change. Well the outer on the B&W map was built as the A4074(R). I remember being taken there for a school trip to watch the tractors in the early 70's,. What a trip! 🙂They have recently added to it since in a fashion, and you can get all the way around to the A370. Still laughed and learnt some stuff I didn't know. I know it is 2022, but along the lane that passes over the M32 with the barbed wire fence... there is a building on Google Maps titlted, Bristol North Learnnig Difficulties Team. Maybe the fence is still needed. And don't mention the Metrobus to people who still live there. Could have mentioned Noel Edmunds used to drive a black cab in the bus lanes with a mannequin called Candice in the back to get to work on time - untol he got caught.

[@ukcog]

I seem to remeber the M32/M4 being a full roundabout in the 80s, can't remeber when they changed it but it might have been as late as early 90s

[@Stealth360stealth]

That outro was a cinematic masterpiece

[@Mike.Howard]

The "Grundy" at the end, is simply the cherry on the cake!

[@insignificantaftermathPROJECTS]

Your content is fast paced, informative, humorous and interesting to people who probably dont normally care about this stuff. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👌👌👌👌👌

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate!

[@NicholasPayne01]

1:12-1:20 The old part of the M4 Junc 19 roundabout only got removed a few years ago, and has only been a teardrop junction for about a decade. I remember it used to be s full roundabout but during the early-mid 2010s they took out the extra bits and made it the teardrop junction it is today.

[@tomr200199]

Missed that in the drone shots around 4:32 you can see there is plenty of burnt vegetation. This was done thanks to a group of numpties leaving a disposable BBQ to burn away whilst the country was in the grips of a drought. Genius.

[@J4NOObs]

i heard about that

[@AutoShenanigans]

ahh.. I did wonder why it looked different. Now I know!

[@adrianrutterford762]

Thanks for another wonderful video. Regular user of the M32 over the last 20 years. Often wondered what that big building on the hill was.

[@gregoryclark8217]

M4 Junction 19 used to have a full roundabout until surprising recently I think. I couldn't say exactly when, but I remember it being there maybe around 2010. Don't quote me on that though. I was born in '99 so it has only definitely changed in the last 20 years.

[@shaunmatthews3791]

very interesting, my grand parents lived in napier road in eastville and i remember them knocking down the houses up the road, also the only compensation my nan got was double glazing to keep the noise out of the m32 only yards away, both my grand parent were nurses at the hospital and it may have been a grim place, i did go there for xmas parties in the mid 60's. the aa guns on purdown hill were called purdown percy and the houses shook when they fired.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Great to hear about actual memories of these things.

[@skatman3278]

Fun fact. The bus junction on the M32 is too narrow for gritters. So when it iced up in winter, gritters couldn't spread and so the buses couldn't use it. Whole metrobus system is an absolute joke.

[@Johnketes54]

Stems back to Thatcher with her privatisation, Public transport should be the same as the NHS, Our one back in the 70s you still paid a fare but well cheap 13p for 7 miles but unfortunately no change given, But run from 4am until 2am the following morning 2 hours to fill up with diesel, 6 buses every hour, Today privatisation first bus at 6am till 11pm 2 a hour

[@skatman3278]

@@Johnketes54 no it doesn't. Stop talking absolute nonsense. It has nothing to do with Thatcher. The unions ruined public transport and everyone that isn't an idiot knows that. The buses in Bristol was a completely modern initiative. Public transport in the 70s worked less than any other generation. It's more expensive these days, but at least it runs (at all), is regularly on time, doesn't leak, doesn't stink, and isn't at the behest of greedy unions.

[@thebackyard7661]

these video's make me want to finally fix my traffic problems in cities skylines. Honestly a brilliant way to showcase these otherwise mundane series of automobile infrastructures. Greetings from the netherlands!

[@EatingMachine23]

One of my favourite things ti do in cities skylines … fixing traffic 😂

[@AutoShenanigans]

Bedankt. Are you guys "Open for business" I'm long overdue a trip to the Netherlands!

[@PingoUTFG]

good public transport and car alternative infrastructure, why the netherlands has better traffic than places like the UK and USA Been using this strat in cities for years and my cities are both pretty and on 85%+ traffic flow

[@boola69]

Auto Shenanigans: The gift that keeps on giving.

[@AndreiTupolev]

0:38Has to be the best phrase I've heard yet in this series 😻

[@vickielawless]

I know this grotty little motorway well as have a friend who lives barely a mile off jct 1. Hardly the most pleasant introduction to what is a fine city..

[@Prognosis__]

Funny as ever John...how anyone can make a laugh on a motorway is a legend

[@Deepthought-42]

Thank you for describing the dystopian graffiti covered motorway approach to the City of Bristol. The road and town “planners” have succeeded is destroying this and many other parts of Bristol and its surrounding countryside where Hitler failed.

[@PingoUTFG]

the graffiti is the only thing good about it, some of it is really nice. Mid century planning was one of the worst things to ever happen to the built environment

[@Deepthought-42]

@@PingoUTFG Wall murals are fine but the trompe-l’oeil seen in many continental cities are IMO better art. However, graffiti on street furniture, bridges and roadsigns is recent vandalism and the city deserves better,. There are a series of excellent books by Reece Winston showing pictures of old Bristol. They highlight the destruction of Bristol during the war and the vandalism of the town planners. Another out of print called “The Rape of Britain” drew attention to what was being done but no one listened. I love Bristol but makes me very sad to see what the city was and could have been.

[@handsoffmycactus2958]

Hitler is the iconic figure of the far left. They love him

[@gizzymoee]

Ikea, Home of Bristol Speedway. My Grandfather used to race his motorcycle there. Also the average speedcheck from Fishponds into town, the highest profit speed cameras in the country.

[@SteveW139]

I have a mental picture of your grandfather doing a ton through IKEA.

[@spodge1233]

4:00 ... and Bristol Council are still at it, entrapping motorists with poor signage, check out the Brisligton Park and Ride entrance. The sign for it points at a 90 degree angle for the motorist, and once you've seen it you're already trapped into the bus lane. Of course, the road is clearly marked, right before the traffic lights, and nothing ever covers up the road just in front of traffic lights does it. Very anti-car council.

[@I_Don_t_want_a_handle]

Yeah, they didn't exactly advertise their ULEZ-esque zone to anyone outside of Bristol. Troll down the M32 towards town and you are in the zone before you notice the signs.

[@philash824]

They lowered the speed limit on the Eastville flyover to 40mph because it’s not structurally sound, the perils of having something built by the lowest bidder. The motorway had been finished for at least 20 years before they changed the layout of junction 1, I think it was to speed up traffic joining the M4

[@a.rentertainment2232]

3:07 *PLEASE GOD, NOT THE SOIL. TAKE ANYTHING BUT MY PRECIOUS GRADE 1 SOIL!* 😭😭😭😭

[@skidmarkbill]

Great video John , no F*&KING WASPS this week lol . Keep up the fantastic content

[@robertansell4538]

😂

[@BillyKirbyUK]

By the way, how did you get hold of that old footage? Well done John. Yes you are a star, keep gunning for it

[@AutoShenanigans]

It's on youtube!

[@DJgregBrown]

Your timing is incredible me and my family was just talking about that stretch of road on Sunday. I love the "if you didn't like you kids back then, you could just fuck'um away!"

[@AmirBrooks]

In the old days, you were able to watch league footy from the motorway at junction 2. Sadly the Eastville Stadium (former home of Bristol Rovers) is now an IKEA. Also, if you're travelling northbound at junction 1, you can see an American football field to your left. This is the home of the UWE Bullets, who won the national championship earlier this year.

[@PingoUTFG]

i blame the motorway for Rovers getting forced out, the company short sightedly decided that the location was too valuable for football. (now a dead retail park+tesco and ikea i guess) . Nobody wants to be near a motorway. Very pleased the bit through eastville has gone past its best before date, hope they tear it down

[@YetAnotherGeorgeth]

This video is longer than the M32!

[@misterflibble9799]

Some minor points/corrections re: the bus junction: 1. The m3x "M32 express route" you've highlighted on the map is not the one that uses the junction. This joins at J1 and goes all the way into the centre of Bristol. The bus-only junction is actually called "Begbrook", and is used by the m1 and m3 bus routes, as shown on the map. 2. Contrary to a lot of the naysayers, it has actually made a significant difference. Before the Metrobus system, a bus ride in to the centre of Bristol from my house was a minimum of 55 minutes, and that's both (a) off-peak, and (b) assuming that the bus actually sticks to the timetable. With Metrobus, an off-peak journey is now typically 25 minutes. An hour saving for a return journey. 3. The opposition to the junction was not just down to "a few smallholders". If you look at the layout at 3:00, you can see that the slip roads for the junction start underneath Stoke Lane, then curve over the motorway on a huge bridge, only to end up coming out on to Stoke Lane itself. A much better design would have been to start the junction a few hundred metres further South, and have the slip roads just come up to T-junctions on Stoke Lane. After all, the junction is only used by a few tens of buses every hour (at most), so a simple T-junction (perhaps with bus-activated lights) would suffice. This would have resulted in a much simpler and cheaper junction, and a vastly smaller land footprint. However, the problem was that, South of Stoke Lane, Bristol City Council doesn't own the land either side of the M32, so it would have to go through the Compulsory Purchase Order process which might have delayed the project if the landowner objected. North of Stoke Lane were the allotments which Bristol City Council /did/ own. Therefore, rather than going through the CPO process to procure a small amount of land, they shafted a load of allotment holders to take a much larger amount of land and build a much more expensive junction. 4. Another reason for controversy over the bus junction was that there were also talks of a Park&Ride. If implemented at the bus junction, this would naturally end up taking over all of the rest of the allotment site for car parking. There was a lot of push for the bus access point to be built close to J1 instead, where it would be easier to find land for the P&R.

[@AndyFraserA]

I came here to mention your second point. Trying to get into the city centre on the 73 took so long, especially on a Saturday afternoon, that I wouldn't bother. To go out in Bristol without a taking car would end up costing a lot in taxis. The m1 has made it much more practical for us to use the bus and it's so much cheaper that we can go more often. It was very nice when they ran every 10mins when Metrobus first started but that was obviously too impractical. It's still a very useful service.

[@misterflibble9799]

@@AndyFraserA Yep. It wasn't quite so bad a few years ago; we used to have separate 73 and 74 routes; one would take the "slow" route around the North end of Bradley Stoke but bypass the South end, whereas the other would take the "slow" route around the South end and bypass the North; then they amalgamated the two into a single 73 that took the "slow" route in both cases. The main problem is traffic. In order to make the service reliable, they have to pad the timetable with so much extra time in case of delays caused by traffic jams on Filton Avenue/Gloucester Road. Then, if the bus has a good run due to light traffic, it has to sit and wait at bus stops in order to make sure it isn't running early. My neighbours have gone from a two-car household to a one-car household, since one of them now commutes by bus. This is exactly what Metrobus was supposed to do.

[@AndyFraserA]

@@misterflibble9799 I didn't know about the 74. It was probably before my time (moved to Bristol in 2016). Even with the padding the 73 is unreliable. When I had to regularly go from Parkway towards Cribbs the 73 was often very late (and sometimes it'd be early and just wait for ages). That's still going to be an issue until the m1 route gets to Parkway (if that's still the plan).

[@misterflibble9799]

@@AndyFraserA Yeah, before the Willow Brook Centre opened and all buses were diverted through it, there were separate 73 (that would follow the current 73 route around Woodlands Lane/Bowsland Way but then straight down Brook Way) and 74 (that would shortcut out the Woodlands section, but then follow the current 73 route). When Willow Brook opened, they combined the two routes into a single 73 that "served" both the Northern and Southern halves of Bradley Stoke, but of course it "served" both of them badly. Worst Bus has tried many different combinations of services to Bradley Stoke over the years. Back in the days before The Mall opened at Cribbs Causeway, the services all used to terminate up in Bradley Stoke itself, and they seemed to be changing the route with depressing frequency - some going straight up Gloucester Road, some using Filton Avenue, some doing most of Filton Avenue but doing a detour via Ashley Down Road and the (now demolished) bus garage on Muller Road, some taking a loop around MOD Abbeywood, and various iterations of loops/shortcuts in Bradley Stoke. At one point they were changing the route so frequently that, in combination with the route being a common one for them to put new drivers on, it wasn't unusual for a driver to take a wrong turn and get lost. I've had to give directions to the bus driver quite a few times over the years. I'm not sure, but I don't think the plan is to take the m1 through Parkway. I think the plan there is for a new service to go through Parkway, via the new Gypsy Patch Lane bridge and underneath the A38 onto the Filton Airfield development, probably terminating at Cribbs. Don't quote me on it, though. But, operator service problems aside, I think it's fair to claim that Metrobus has been reasonably successful, at least in Bradley Stoke. If only the two councils could have stopped squabbling and agreed on a proper tram/LRT like Bradley Stoke Way was originally designed for. :(

[@_stitch]

There was a hot minute, just after you'd started diving into these shorter motorways, where I can't have been the only one worried that there just wouldn't be as much to say. Yet you're cramming even more highly entertaining information in - certainly I am enjoying these videos even more although whether that's a product of the content, the razor sharp, shrink wrapped script and video editing or your sense of humour really getting into a groove, I can't tell. Regardless, this is almost as impressive as your refusal to drive north and do Scotland. The place names are easier here, what's stopping you?!

[@AutoShenanigans]

You only have about 2 hours of sunlight a day until April :D

[@stephencopps1561]

I think you do very well to be heard above the traffic noise 👍

[@whyyoulidl]

Hey 'My name is John' (I've salutated that so much, I just gotta keep it going lol) hands down, I think this is one of your finest works to date! Seriously, the legwork and research alone deserves some sort of YT Channel Of The Year award. Loved the witty humour (grade-A soil 🤣) tinged with a double-edged tounge-lashing of how society treated mental illnesses back in the day, local authority ANPR shenanigans, war stuff, bus routes - yo, my parsnips were well and truly buttered! And all this in a 3.5 junction motorway! Had to comment even before the outro finished, so going back in to complete. Keep up the good work fellas 👍🏿

[@AutoShenanigans]

Cheers mate! I think this episode worked out really well, it's probably my favourite so far I think.

[@TrondBørgeKrokli]

Thank you for this episode. I especially enjoyed seeing those graffiti images at Purdowns Camp, where it looked like they had enough time to paint some good portraits. I also had a feeling that your style of presenting this series of motorway shenanigans can be comparable to The Tim Traveller's way of presenting his videos, only with a more gritty feeling to it, which fits well in with the subject of motorway oddities. Nice work. Thank you again for giving us this sense of being there with you.

[@AutoShenanigans]

thanks for watching mate!

[@loisbolton1800]

I always wish these were longer & went into even more detail. I’m like, wait wait what!!??

[@01mememememe]

Cheers John, some classic script this week - bravo

[@michaelturner4457]

Welcome to the city I call home, it's gert lush.

[@estherlowlands1105]

I live right next to the m32 lmao, you can see my house in some of the aerial shots. It's worth mentioning the Dower House isn't the only old mental asylum near the motorway, there's another one just three minutes down from it and also the old Glenside Hospital which is now a part of UWE. There's also a hospital which is still in use today, Bristol used to be a centre of 'mental health research' back in the day so lot of asylums were built around what would have then been the edge of the city. There's an old skatepark just next to Napier Road which has seen some better days honestly, seems to attract the worst people. Used to be the police would get called there every week or so.

[@MiaMantri]

Also there was the orphanage in Ashley Down which later became Brunel Technical College. It was also used for the filming of the external shots of Casualty from 1986 to 2002 which fans of the show might know.

[@isaacplaysbass8568]

Possibly one of the most heart-rending climaxes to this episode. How might the series continue? Are there disappointing implementations of transit projects? Will John play hop-skotch in a utili-kilt upon a disused stretch of tarmac? Tune in next to find out! :)

[@AutoShenanigans]

You literally never know.... :D

[@andygriffiths4910]

Best one yet but I am a biased Bristolian who is old enough to have used that now blocked section of the roundabout!!

[@tedferkin]

Living in an area with nothing but grade 4 soil, the destruction of some grade 1 does actually sound awful. We need as much high quality growing area as possible.

[@HermitGeek]

He must be a millionaire, not being able to care about food prices, nor where it is imported from, because all the farmland here is getting turned into housing and infrastructure for said housing...

[@4879daniel]

His ‘comedy’ rant just made him seem ignorant just like every time he mentions anything to do with buses daring to slow down cars.

[@PingoUTFG]

There is allotments all round there for a reason, i am from that part of Bristol and would go stoke park if i didnt have to here that awful road

[@PingoUTFG]

@@4879daniel he makes motorway videos, do you expect him to know anything about how traffic actually works?

[@johnmurray9526]

He grass he was stood on when he said it definitely looked like it was enjoying the succulent tasty soil! Suprised there wasn't a vegan in the background chowing down on the grass tbh 😂

[@everyone06]

The IKEA used to be a stadium home to greyhound racing and Bristol Rovers. The stadium demolised at the end of the last century.

[@simondamsell5508]

also speedway the bristol bulldogs

[@autoeclectic8808]

The signage say that that the lane is bus only is massive and up to a mile before the actual junction. The fact that citizens were allowed to take the council on ( to the tune of thousands of pounds of tax payers money) and win was a massive waste.

[@Dan23_7]

It shits you out into the centre right where all the road works ever dreamed of are happening I was down there last week

[@LudwigHohlwein1974]

Great bit of Grundy at the end there.

[@TheCounty90]

Great video. This inner ring road caused the demolition a suburb called Totterdown. It was a close knit community and to add insult to injury the ring road was never built just leaving a short section of duel carriageway along the A4.

[@adamfizz]

Similar things happened around the J3/Easton Way area if I remember correctly. Huge chunks of St Pauls and Easton were demolished and the M32 basically cut the area in half, isolating half the community from the other half with only ridiculously high footbridges connecting them.

[@TheCounty90]

@@adamfizz My great grandmother was forced to leave her home under compulsory purchase in Barton Hill. She got £5 from the council and a council flat! Wild.

[@Lucy-fd6qz]

Omg I hate the ring road I'd rather chew my arm

[@stuartbridger5177]

Nice one, a lot of detail for such a short motorway. I had alays wondered what Dower House was all about, such a prominent building when leaving Bristol. You hva answered the question thanks

[@madpixie2]

Love this video John, great work!

[@gen157]

The quote about the "mentally-defective-children," oh KZbin is gonna love that, reminds me quite a bit of a game series called Fable. Specifically for me, Fable III had a wealthy character named Reaver, also immortal, who spoke similarly of children and workers during an industrial revolution era. The player can make choices on whether Reaver implements good or bad policies as King/Queen. Either let children work in his factories as a sort of children-watching for the parents or give them a school to get more educated, let a lake be drained for the ore as a quarry or restore it with the intent to make a nice looking part. All using funds of the kingdom. Anyway, sorry for the explanation. That's what that quote reminded me of.

[@charlestowler902]

The M4 / M32 junction was still a full roundabout into the late 1980s, possibly early 1990s - some time after the M32 had reached its maximum extent where it merges into the A4032. I think the conversion to teardrop might have been motivated by a desire to stop pedestrians / hitch hikers from being dropped off / picked up there which was a common sight in the 1980s...

[@Bongokingish]

As a resident of Bristol I knew almost none of this, particularly the history of Stoke Park!

[@KaosGaming668]

3:05. That was a genuine “fuck off” 😂😂😂

[@4879daniel]

Could really feel the ignorance of it.

[@michaelgarrison688]

Ontario Canada. There is a area of land by the Great Lake Erie, Point Pelee park, that has a lot of deer. Each year there is a culling of the deer. Animal activists stopped this. As there are no predators, deer population exploded. A few winters later, half of the herd starved to death. This is what happens when idiots get their way. The activists still wanted the culling stopped. Now the park is closed by the Caldwell First Nation every few years to cull the herd. The activists still try to stop it, but Point Pelee is Caldwell traditional hunting grounds. A group of people who has been together for a few decades think they know more than a group of people who have been together for almost 1,000 years. So fuch off is right.

[@michaelgarrison688]

@@4879daniel The ignorance of activists. I agree.

[@Tim091]

@@4879daniel Grow up son.

[@chriswalford4161]

Great video as usual, but we should think more about the soil: it grows our food and they’re not making more very fast.

[@scottishcarenthusiastsandtrain]

How times have changed Mentaly Defective Children.... Ah a guided bus way, Edinburgh tried that and that failed, so much so the trams now use it, another fantastic video mate as always.

[@davidquirk8097]

Nice one John. I've been down the M32 a few times recently, on my way to St Phillips Marsh train maintenance depot for work. It always seems to coincide with rail closures from Shrewsbury so I don't get to arrive by train.

[@MSJChem]

Great video - reminds me of my days using the M32 as a student at UWE Bristol.

[@truckerlee5975]

Maybe you should go on Mastermind John and have motorway junctions n slip roads as your specialist subject 🤣

[@johnwatson3616]

How dare you mock the grade 1 soil!

[@fgwHST43009]

2:38 the m1 and m4 also use that bus only junction. The m4 didn't exist at time of recording as it only started on 22nd Jan.

[@Vanders456]

The roundabout at the M4/M32 junction was a roundabout for quite some time, it was converted into a teardrop when the M4 to J1 section was widened in the 00's: if I remember correctly the Police had requested it, because joyriders couldn't use the roundabout to spin back around and head back into Bristol. I have no idea how true that is.

[@mh2177]

It was changed so traffic heading north no longer had to give way to the (extremely infrequent) traffic using that section to return to the M4 either east or west. This helped traffic flow off the M32 reducing tailbacks

[@joeweston3252]

hi john l always found your episodes informative and fun to watch 🙂

[@ncot_tech]

I wonder if some of the ex-residents of the colony were the same ones crying over grade 1 soil.