First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)

[RhysHand]

A lot of ex London stock has come down from Ensign on hire. B7 Presidents/ELC/Wright as well as numerous Scania deckers as well.

I’d imagine Rail Support would be able to procure drivers if needed?

There are a number of buses from ensign - they are also using three of our Newport Volvo B7RLE’s. We are also supplying them drivers to drive their vehicles, and surprisingly 8 seaters on standby along the Severn beach line.

 

[Whiteway215]

On Wessex Water duty in Bath today were 53857 and latest one from Cymru 44554. 47545/9/50 are still in Bath however. The purple B7TLs seem to be back running on the U2.
From tomorrow anyone travelling on U2 from Twerton side will get to Odd Down Red Lion, then down Wellsway, along Widcombe and up Ralph Allen Drive to resume normal route, the reverse of this for trips from University. This is due to gas works road closure North Road Combe Down. That should make the students happy!

 

[swifty]

All of the hired buses I saw at Temple Meads this morning, on rail replacement, had First West of England legals.

Plenty of coaches hired in including a Somerset Passenger Solution vehicles as well!

 

[Volvodart]

From the 11 November 2018 fares across the West of England are changing.

https://www.firstgroup.com/bristol-bath-and-west/news-and-service-updates/my-new-ticket

My new ticket

From the 11 November 2018 fares across the West of England are changing.

A feature of our new fares is that we are making things simpler – and we’re doing that in two ways. First, fares are now based on 4 zones: Bristol, Bath, Weston-super-Mare and West of England. So any tickets that were previously limited to our Bath & Bristol Outer Zone or Weston-super-Mare Outer Zone now cover the complete West of England area. Second, we are launching a flat fare in the in the Bristol Zone, so instead of having to work out whether a single trip will attract the ‘short’ or ‘long’ trip price, it’s just one simple price, which means that’s now the case for all single journeys in Bristol, Bath and Weston-super-Mare.

We’ve also now passed 10 million sales through our mTickets app, which is speeding up journeys and making buying tickets more convenient. Our new fares give further incentive to make the switch, with mTickets providing even better value compared to paying the driver. We also want to make sure that our less frequent travellers can use mTickets, so for the first time you’ll be able to buy a Single journey on the mTicket app and save against paying on board.

 

[northken]

Got the new Airport Flyer today. Overall it was lovely and smooth, especially through the Metrobus guided infrastructure. What was interesting was that the A1 shows up on all the stops. Someone hailed down the flyer and paid £8 for a single to the city centre when an m2 was one minute away! Moreover, if demand for the A1 increases along that section then I suspect they may delay the m2 as passengers can pay on board, which is completely against the Metrobus idea.

Main problem was Temple Meads. The loop round there with all the congestion added a lot to the journey time, so much so that the A2 that departed 8 mins after made it to city centre before us.

 

[freetoview33]

Got the new Airport Flyer today. Overall it was lovely and smooth, especially through the Metrobus guided infrastructure. What was interesting was that the A1 shows up on all the stops. Someone hailed down the flyer and paid £8 for a single to the city centre when an m2 was one minute away! Moreover, if demand for the A1 increases along that section then I suspect they may delay the m2 as passengers can pay on board, which is completely against the Metrobus idea.

Main problem was Temple Meads. The loop round there with all the congestion added a lot to the journey time, so much so that the A2 that departed 8 mins after made it to city centre before us.

You would have thought the A1 would have gone cashless too! With anyone wanting to pay cash left to the A2.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

You would have thought the A1 would have gone cashless too! With anyone wanting to pay cash left to the A2.

That would the Airport's decision rather than First, I suspect!

 

[carlberry]

All of the hired buses I saw at Temple Meads this morning, on rail replacement, had First West of England legals.

Plenty of coaches hired in including a Somerset Passenger Solution vehicles as well!

Waiting today at Parkway was a Van Hool double decker fully liveried for the X76 service Ayr-Glasgow!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Waiting today at Parkway was a Van Hool double decker fully liveried for the X76 service Ayr-Glasgow!

36219 down from Leeds!

 

[Class 33]

The current GWR replacement bus services in the Bristol area for the next few weeks are absolutely DREADFUL! That's my experience of them already anyway. And I've only been using them since yesterday. I shall tell you about my experiences so far of them.

MONDAY 29th OCTOBER
---------------------------
I started using them yesterday morning. And to be honest there was no problem atall on my first journey on them. I got the 0945 service from Redland(the 0935 Clifton Down-Bristol Temple Meads) to Stapleton Road. And it arrived and departed bang on time, and arrived at the Stapleton Road stop just before the 1001 scheduled departure time. All good so far I thought. But then it went downhill fast from there, when I got my homeward bound journey that evening. The scheduled departure time for a Clifton Down service from Stapleton Road was 1759. I got to the bus stop just a few minutes before then so that I would get it. Anyway time was ticking by and it wasn't turning up. There was supposed to be the next one due at 1814. But so far no sign of that turning up on time either. I did notice the 1805 service to Bristol Parkway turned up 11 minutes at 1816. Anyway, the Clifton Down service didn't turn up till 1825. Whether that was actually the 1759 or 1814 service I don't know. I appreciate the traffic if heavy at this time of day and causing delays. But in that case, what happened to the 1744 service too?

TUESDAY 30TH OCTOBER
----------------------------

And today my experience was even worst than yesterday. I got to the Redland replacement bus stop at 0850, in time for the 0900 service to Bristol Temple Meads - where I would be departing the bus again at Stapleton Road. But the time was ticking on by 0900, and there was no sign of it. At about 0916, I did see two rail replacement bus services in a row heading up towards Clifton Down. I assume these were the late running 0903 service, and the 0918 service. I notice one of them was a gold liveried bus. Anyway, with the time now well past 0900 I assumed the 0900 service had been cancelled/not running for some reason. The next service wasn't due till 0945. At this point, I could have instead decided to get two normal bus services to work and I'd arrive there at roughly about 1005. But I decided to just go down to Sainsbury's on Gloucester Road to get a few things, and then get that 0945 service, and I'd still arrive at that same Stapleton Road bust stop at about the same time anyway. Anyway, at about 0948 I then saw that same gold liveried bus coming round the corner from Redland Grove and into South Road. As it was approaching the bus stop I put my hand out for it to stop. It had GWR on the destination display. But then to my utter astonishment I could see the driver of the bus just shook his head at me as if to say "NO" and then just sailed on by down South Road without stopping at the rail replacement bus stop! I couldn't believe it. Why an earth did he not stop??!! I was seething with annoyance at this point. There's nothing more annoying than putting your hand out for a bus, and the driver just shakes his head and doesn't stop for you!!! This is absolutely appalling and unacceptable! And with the next rail replacement service towards Temple Meads not then being until 1045, there's no way I was going to wait for that one(if that one actually turned up and stopped there I don't know!). So I had no choice then but to just give up TRYING to get a rail replacement bus service to Stapleton Road. And so I just got two normal bus services there instead. And arriving there about 1 hour 15 minutes later than I should have done!!

And tonight on the homeward bound journey. Well pretty much the same as last night really. The 1759 service didn't turn up on time, the 1814 service didn't turn up on time. By the way, I noticed that the 1805 Bristol Parkway service, arrived 20 minutes late at 1825! And then at 1828 I could see a double decker bus approaching. I could see it wasn't a 48, 48A, 49, or 49A, and so I assumed this would be the rail replacement service I want. But as it got closer I could see it had NOT FOR PUBLIC USE on the destination display. "Oh god! That's not it either!". But I notice it had people onboard the bus, and it was indicating to pull into the bus stop. Even though it said "NOT FOR PUBLIC USE" on the destination display and thinking it may have been some charter bus service, after it pulled into the bus stop and let a few people out, I then boarded and then asked the driver "Where are you going?". To which she replied "Montpelier, Redland, and Clifton Down.". Ah good that's the bus I wanted, so I got on for my journey home. But whyever did it say "NOT FOR PUBLIC USE" on the destination display? That's not a very helpful and appropriate destination display is it? But anyway, as with last night my bus home turned up half hour late than it should have. Whether that was the 1759, 1814 or 1829 service I don't know.

Also on the National Rail website on their live departures, is useless as they show these rail replacement bus services as all being ON TIME. But they're not all on time!

So so far I am not impressed by these rail replacement services atall. Absolutely bloody dreadful! They're either very late or particular workings are cancelled, and then one driver at least who failed to stop and shook his head at me when I put my hand out!! That instance was particularly annoying. And I shall be emailing First Bristol to complain about these services and the driver of that particular service this morning - the 0935 Clifton Down-Bristol Temple Meads.

Has anyone else here been using these rail replacement services? Are your experiences of them as bad as mine?

 

[KendalKing]

36219 down from Leeds!

Should be 36216-36220

 

[ooo]

And I shall be emailing First Bristol to complain about these services and the driver of that particular service this morning - the 0935 Clifton Down-Bristol Temple Meads.

It's probably best to complain to GWR as the buses are being operated for them.

 

[Dhassell]

Waiting today at Parkway was a Van Hool double decker fully liveried for the X76 service Ayr-Glasgow!

50206 OU09FMY, Now with Coach Miles of Thatcham.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Sounds like my decision to completely ignore the rail replacement buses and just use the normal First buses between Montpellier and Temple Meads may be the right choice then! Sure they get stuck in the same traffic too, but at least they are (mostly) able to be tracked by the live bus times app and are more frequent (and as I already have a Bristol & Bath outer zone monthly ticket, I am not paying any extra for them).

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

A few weeks ago, there was a lot of talk on the m2 being routed via Spike Island and that 903 passengers would be disadvantaged. Don't know how representative it is but saw an m2 swinging over the bridge by the Louisiana last night about 5.30 - absolutely rammed. Surprised Jeremy Corbyn wasn't tweeting about it! There were plenty waiting at Wapping Wharf who'd have been disappointed.

 

[DaveHarries]

Noted on a rail replacement service this afternoon as I was driving toward Temple Meads was Optare Metrodecker OM1 (YJ16 DBO). Wouldn't mind a ride on this if the chance arises: I have been on Optare Metrocity buses (courtesby of N.A.T in Wales who have a few) but not on the Metrodecker.

Dave

 

[Tommy Walters]

Back in Bath for the first time in ages today. Noted that Foxstar are still providing a Versa & VP526 for the U1. Also running were an Abus Scania & BBC airdecker A506. Bizarrely 33943 on the 1 and 10178 on the 10. No sign of any of the Aberdeen or W-reg bendis though!!

 

[Private Baxter]

Wells were struggling a bit for vehicles today. Bath's recent arrival e200 44553 out on the 126, whilst 66938 receiving attention in the shed, and one of the X39 B9s on 376. I went home on that and I must say it performed brilliantly! Had a superb run, much better than the streetdecks. The few that are currently in Wells for 173 are often picked out first for 376! Many were on there today, though I did note 37771 on 173.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Wells were struggling a bit for vehicles today. Bath's recent arrival e200 44553 out on the 126, whilst 66938 receiving attention in the shed, and one of the X39 B9s on 376. I went home on that and I must say it performed brilliantly! Had a superb run, much better than the streetdecks. The few that are currently in Wells for 173 are often picked out first for 376! Many were on there today, though I did note 37771 on 173.

37610 failed last night on a 172 though

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

66725 also now working at Wells - was working a 173 this morning

 

[Private Baxter]

66725 also now working at Wells - was working a 173 this morning

Tbh that might have been the one I saw in the garage yesterday, couldn't really get an id. Wonder why there seems to be a shortfall atm.

 

[Whiteway215]

Wells were struggling a bit for vehicles today. Bath's recent arrival e200 44553 out on the 126, whilst 66938 receiving attention in the shed, and one of the X39 B9s on 376. I went home on that and I must say it performed brilliantly! Had a superb run, much better than the streetdecks. The few that are currently in Wells for 173 are often picked out first for 376! Many were on there today, though I did note 37771 on 173.

32636 and 44553 on 172 today. 66938 must be feeling better as on D routes today.

 

[-Colly405-]

I see from today's Traveline update that the current timetables for the 2A, 50 and 50A are due to end on 5th Jan...

 

[freetoview33]

I see from today's Traveline update that the current timetables for the 2A, 50 and 50A are due to end on 5th Jan...

I wouldn't be surprised if it just went back to the 50 and 51 like it used it be!

 

[carlberry]

In what appears to be a classic case of a reporter bending the English language as far as humanly possible a comment from one of the mayors (we have a complete set locally!) that more people using buses was good news is now being reported as 'Bristol bus overcrowding and delays 'good news''.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-46059386

It's unusual for a reporter to try to stir things up!

 

[WelshBluebird]

Does it show more people are using buses? Are there actual numbers to show that?
Or is it more likely that the overcrowding and delays are caused by other factors like roadworks, traffic congestion, cuts in frequencies of buses, cuts in routes etc etc.

 

[83G/84D]

A double deck bus has lost it's roof in a collision with a rail bridge on Bristol Road at Bristol Parkway. The bus was thought to be on rail replacement duty but was not carrying passengers.

I am not sure of the bus type or operator at the moment.

 

[JamesGoldsmith]

It's An applegates ALX400. Roof has come cleanly off.

 

[-Colly405-]

Not sure which thread this should be in.

 

[DaveHarries]

Shame about that Applegates ALX400: I am pretty sure I saw it at Bristol Temple Meads yesterday. Glad nobody was hurt though.

Dave