Would it not therefore be better to terminate more services at Broadmead? Even if they still start at The Centre, it would scrap this silly situation where you can be sat around for ages waiting for a driver swap 1 stop before the terminus? It's not exactly unusual for buses in major cities to terminate in a slightly different location to where they start.
Broadmead won't exist next year!
I think the current stops on Rupert St (referred to as Broadmead on the m and T routes) will still be there, still with lots of buses sat awaiting drivers
It wouldn't actually change anything for the better (except for those people currently "caught out" by the driver change) - if you're travelling through to the Centre (particularly if you're then walking a bit further) you currently might have to wait a bit before your bus takes you there. If the bus terminated at Broadmead, you'd either have further to walk (and the walk is not particularly pleasant) or have to get (and potentially pay for) a second bus. Far better to arrange things so that drivers are already waiting when the bus they're taking over arrives!
How far ahead of time should the second driver arrive though? Most routes are loosely timed to give enough leeway incase the motorway is busy. If the motorway is clear though and the bus gets in 12 minutes early, you can't expect drivers to sit at the stop 10 minutes before the scheduled departure time just in case.
Which comes back to the issue of services arriving over 10 minutes early for a driver change on Monday/Friday as the timetables accommodate mid-week traffic.
Assuming the Broadmead stops are timing points then the buses would still have to wait - driver change or no. Time to recognise the “new normal” with different timetables on Monday & Friday perhaps (without detriment to those who still have to travel)
Another alternative would be to make Broadmead ‘set down only’ for buses terminating at the Centre (m3, m4, T1, Y1 and Y2), so if they are running early (and after changing drivers if required) they could continue without ‘waiting for time’.
Good idea!
Routes Y1/Y2, T1, M3 and M4 (the ones which use the motorway but terminate at The Centre), do not have Broadmead as a timing point.
Wouldn't make any difference because it's not a timing point. Any relieving driver can already just continue the trip when they get to the bus. However, this doesn't solve the problem that there is reportedly insufficient space at The Centre for all of the layovers. The only way to satisfy driver changes at Broadmead, passengers not sitting around for a significant amount of time 1 stop before the termini, and also not put more strain on The Centre for parking, is to move the terminus to Broadmead, or make the routes cross city with layover/scheduled recovery time at Broadmead (as per M1)
Of these, the long wait one stop before the terminus is the least of the evils- it just needs to be communicated to passengers so that they know what’s what.
Or move the driver changeover to Lewins Mead (first stop outbound) like on some m1 journeys
Even if communicated well, expecting passengers to sit in a dark (saloon lights off) cold (engine & heating off) bus for over 10 minutes is not customer friendly...
I am fairly certain they used to do this for the T1/Y1/Y2 last year when I had to use it for regular commuting. Don't know why it's changed, could be something to do with the timetable/route changes on the Y1/Y2/Y6
It is indeed an odd choice. That'll almost certainly be Bristol City Council or the Combined Authority paying for that. I wonder if there will also be adverts for similarly CAZ-supported 16 and 37?
The advert logos were WESTbus if that helps.
I think there's a few of those from the Somerset Bus Partnership...
I would imagine it was to get the bus back in service as soon as possible and they will do a proper repair when it goes in for repaint to lime green WESTbus?I think there's a few of those from the Somerset Bus Partnership...
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I'm used to First WoE having image problems but they're not so bad e.g. amending the Bath City buses that moved to Bath by removing the appropriate vinyls. However, spotted 39443 the other day...
You might not be able to really see it but the loss of half the Citylines fleetnames is because they've pot-rivetted a patch on top of the panel. What a bodge job!!!
It’s been like it for 6 months and the WESTbus repaints are focused on the 65-67 plate e400mmcs. It’s really quite poor
I think they'd come hard pressed not to. It's always been billed as a local bus as well as an airport one, they'd be cutting the only real direct bus between Bath and Keynsham, they'd certainly be flack from the council and residents.
Could this change perhaps lead to removing a few of the 39 journeys and instead converting them to x39s? I note a few of the 39 trips run at the same time as the 522 between Bristol and Keynsham (and vice versa) and the A4 would then cover links between Keynsham and Bath (and vice versa).
I think the first priority should be to return the Keynsham - Bath service to a reasonable level. Hourly is not adequate.
I suppose the problem there is that any bus service put on to do that would effectively have to draw all its custom from the stops between Keynsham “centre” and the A4. Central Keynsham - Central Bath already has a 2tph (train) service and once you’re back on the A4 there’s all theX39s.
All perfectly fair, but there has to be some scope to improve the links between the two, perhaps whilst strengthening some other links out of Keynsham which are pretty poor in certain directions. I suspect now that the A4 is part of the First network and ticketing ecosystem, it's value as an orbital route across South Bristol will only increase. While the 36 takes almost an hour to get from Brislington to Highridge Green, the A4 does it in less than 20 for most of the day. Perhaps the route in/out of Bath could be looked at too with a split made between Upper and Lower Bristol Roads (assuming the Twerton Arch twitch can be overcome).
Saw an ad saying the A4 is under the first banner on my bus to work this morning and mentioned how all first tickets are valid but not to Bristol Airport as that's a separate fare/ticketing system.
