News / metrobus
Second Metrobus route rolls into action
Free coffee in reusable branded mugs was being given away at the Long Ashton park & ride on Monday morning to mark the first day of the new m2 Metrobus service.
Nearby, soon before 7.30am, the back of the queue for the ticket machine (or iPoint to give it its proper name) almost reached the queue for the bus that had just arrived, as around two dozen passengers queued to get their tickets before queueing again to get on their bus.
It was all very British, with people striking up conversations with those next to them in the queue to share grumbles about the new service.
is needed now More than ever
Two Metrobus buses at Long Ashton park ride
“This is stupid,” one passenger said. “It doesn’t take us where we want to go. It’s no use. They haven’t done their research at all.”
As First managing director James Freeman looked on, his team attempted to advise those in the queue what ticket would suit them best, and helped with the touchscreen on the iPoint.
At least the tickets worked on Monday; with the iPoint terminals operational on Sunday selling tickets for buses that would never come:
(The m2 route doesn’t even run on Sundays anyway)
On the journey itself on Monday morning, the skew bridge next to Winterstoke Road was the star attraction:
It’s also on this stretch of the route that the vehicle – specially lowered in order to fit under Ashton Avenue bridge – uses the guided busways.
The bus has to slow right down to fit into the guided sections of the route, that seem to serve no useful purpose whatsoever other than being an expensive gimmick.
At 7.59am about half of the passengers got off at Cumberland Road close to Wapping Wharf – the nearest to the stop on Anchor Road where the discontinued 903 bus used to call.
Turning left at Redcliff Hill and then right onto Redcliffe Way, the bus then hit traffic towards Temple Meads, where the nearest stop to the station is actually on Temple Way the other side of the busy six-lane carriageway, where a handful more passengers disembarked.
The orange and grey bus was then stuck in more traffic around the Old Market roundabout before stopping at the back of Cabot Circus and heading towards the centre, where it was time for another coffee.
On board the m2 service from Long Ashton
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