News / Transport
Bristol’s bus network is ‘near collapse’
The Bristol area’s bus network is in a state of “near collapse”, a councillor has warned.
Scores of subsidised services are being axed amid a funding crisis and chronic driver shortage.
Mark Bradshaw says he has “never seen anything on this scale” in his 17 years on Bristol City Council.
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He was speaking at a West of England Combined Authority (WECA) audit committee where members aired serious concerns about routes that would be lost from April, many in poorer areas.
Bedminster councillor Bradshaw narrowly missed out on becoming Labour’s mayoral candidate in 2015, where his backers included Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire. He has the unique distinction of being sacked from both George Ferguson’s and Marvin Rees’ cabinets.
Bradshaw told the meeting: “There is a real crisis in passenger transport in our region. There seems to be a near collapse in the bus network. I have never seen anything on this scale.”
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Read more: Gathering evidence on Bristol’s ‘ghost buses’
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Public transport campaigner Dave Redgewell told the meeting on Thursday that thousands of residents would be left without buses from April.
He said: “For miles and miles in south Bristol there will be no bus services. This idea that it’s a 15-minute walk to a bus stop, I’m sorry, it’s not. Some of those gaps are two to three miles.
“East Bristol has no service at all on the whole corridor for some of the poorest citizens, which WECA should be worried about.
“No bus service in St Paul’s and St Werburgh’s through to Easton and Stapleton, no bus service in Lawrence Hill, parts of bus services cut in Southmead and across north Bristol, and the rural areas are really devastated.
Redgewell said the transport authority was not functioning effectively and also blamed WECA’s three unitary authorities – Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset – for refusing to increase their transport levy, which pays for supported buses on unprofitable routes.
In February, Labour metro mayor Dan Norris, who heads transport authority WECA, unveiled a £7m package from the £105m Bus Service Improvement Programme to increase buses on five key routes, promising “London-style frequency” during peak times and buses every 15 minutes on mainline services.
First Bus has previously said it would “significantly increase” the number of services from April.
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
- First Bus boss on the state of Bristol’s bus services
- Important walking and cycling route to be closed for at least one year
- London-style frequency to be introduced on key bus routes
- ‘Bristol will fall behind other cities if we fail to plan for the long term’
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