Bewildered By Bristols Buses (7)

 A Trip To The Seaside?

Three names appear in the coast of the Severn Estuary to the south West of Bristol.

Portishead, historically a fishing village, was once industrialised ...

... but is now more boating and sailing rather than bucket and spade. The main dock us now a thriving marina.

The old lighthouse is a reminder if its maritine past.

Clevedon, once a popular day trip beach beckoning resort ...

... now provides pleasant, quieter breaks from the nearby big city. The beautiful Pier ...

... provides a focus for visitors and a calling point for the Waverley on its annual round Britain tour.

But the big resort is still Weston-super-Mare, cruelly dubbed Weston-super-Mud at low tide.

It's Pier, the entertainment building destroyed by fire in 2008 ...

... is now fully restored, fully functional and full of fun!

Inland from these communities you will find the town of Nailsea, greatly expanded and an important commuter base for Bristol.

Also inland is the burgeoning Bristol Airport.

It is these localities that provide most of the passengers for an extensive network of First Bus 'X' branded services.

The X1 to Weston is reduced from every 15 to every 20.

Originally branded Excel ...

... then gaining Badgerline, a brand adopted for Weston depots services ...

... and now, apparently, WESTbus!

Similar identity changes have beset the area in recent times.

The other noteworthy change is to total withdrawal of the X7 (in PINK) to Clevedon via Nailsea.

This just leaves the half hourly X6 to Clevedon via the faster DARK GREEN route.

Passengers from Clevedon to Nailsea have a reprieve...

... shown now in DARK BLUE ...

... and journeys on an extended X11 (LIGHT BLUE, chosen to avoid confusion with the X9!).

This is the brand new route A2 from Portishead via Clevedon and Nailsea ...

... to the Airport.

The service runs hourly 24/7, so, if you want to get from Clevedon to Nailsea at 0200, you will be able to do so from 5th April! 

What a bonus and surely a worthy compensation for losing one third of your buses from Bristol?

In general, there are many more detailed timetable "revisions" but to the seaside routes and elsewhere on the greater Bristol network.

Of course, we have to expect that First Bus must act with financial probity in the interests of its shareholders (who, after all, have financed the company - and currently are not making their anticipated millions!).

But does that really mean tinkering with the network year after year?

Has anyone done an in depth study to identify how many customers are lost for ever with a network-wide set of confusing changes.

And will First have printed maps and timetables ready for the April 5th revisions?

No, fbb didn't think so!

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 28th March 

Bewildered By Bristol Buses (6)

First's Representation on Fishponds Road

 

At one stage buses were adorned by blue flashes and proclaimed routes 48 and 49 of longstanding familiarity, plus a novelty service 48A. More recently the badge has changed ...

... and we have 68, 48x, 49 and 49x.

But the route map adds 46, 47 and 47x to the mix!

Clearly the 'x' refers to buses which do NOT run via the time point at Eastville Robertson Road, a stop which might have been called Stapleton Road Railway Station. This is not the most lavish of transport interchanges!

The service has improved dramatically in recent years.

The 'x' suffix routes use a diddy bit of the M32 and its linking A4032 road from the city.

So the current 46 timetable looks like this ...

... running hourly to the UWE (University of the West of England) ...

... and the 47/47x is like this.

The observant blog reader will quickly spot that there is only one (early morning) 47, the normal hourly service is fast via its very little bit of the M32.

Which leaves us with the 48/49 combo.

We know, from old on-line pictures, that both ran to Emersons Green. The 48 ran via Downend, the 49 via Staple Hill. But the current map shows what the 'x' suffix means; the 48 and 49 are short workings (see map above) with both 'x' routes continuing to Emersons Green; then the 49x ambles ever onwards to Lyde Green.

Just to baffle on-line investigators, both suffix-less 48 ...

... and 49 have ventured into the mysteries of Lyde Green in the past.

For current users all four routes via Fishponds Road are shown in one table.

Each route runs half hourly, giving eight buses an hour to Fishponds PLUS the 46 and 47x, each hourly.

So what is happening from the forthcoming April 5th changes?

Not a lot!

But what IS happening, to confuse the regular user, is that the presentation of the 46/47/48/49 group of services will be completely different.

ALL buses via Eastville (Stapleton Road station) are now shown on one table ...

... but, thanks to First's ludicrously expensive non-AI software implementation, buses no longer run at regular intervals.

Well done First!

A second table brings ALL the 'x' suffix routes together.

Once again, buses run at irregular intervals.

You can't help thinking that bus passengers throughout this network will be beset by confusion and frustration with First's  erratic timetables.

What people want is, for example, a bus every 15 minutes at times past each hour that they can remember.

With First at Fisponds they don't get that!

Why not?

Bristol Brabazon?

There is no doubt that the Bristol Brabazon aircraft was a disaster. It had propellers when jet was acknowledged as the power of the future. It was designed for luxury travel when all predictions were for a future of cheap flights.

It does seem perverse that part if the humungous new development on the old Filton airfield should be called Brabazon!

But, we are told, work us "under way" on the railway station, also named Bristol Brabazon.

Originally the station was to be called North Filton.

In another dramatic move (?), Brabazon's only bus route, the M4, is being changed from 5th April.

Here is the current route ...

... with the dotty bit showing what is planned.

Get ready for the excitement post 5th April.

Wowsers!

For any passengers on the new bit, eager to speed their merry way into the big city ...

... it goes a VERY long way round.

It will be much quicker when the station opens ...

... which Notwork Rail confidently predicts will be in Autumn 2026.

So 2028 at the earliest!

  Next Bristol seaside blog : Fri 27 Mar  

Bewildered By Bristol Buses (5)

We Need Some Geographical Help

On the map above (published 1890), the "Ch" (centre left) is at Fishponds; the railway with its tunnel is The Midland, now closed. We also have a couple of villages, namely Staple Hill and Downend.

Here are some trams at Staple Hill ...

.. and, slightly more recently, the road junction at Downend.

Now move on to 1960 (ish) and there is more of Bristol ...

... but the splatter is more fill-in than dramatic expansion. Note the hamlet of Lyde Green top right and the huge extent of Mangotsfield! And lower right we have the triangular junction with Mangotsfield station. The "Ch" is still at Fishponds (lower left).

For the train buffs, we spy a passenger working at Mangotsfield station.

Is that a GW Hymek with green Southern coaches? Sacrilege!

There is no M4, bo M32 and no eastern relief road, now the A4174.

Move on to  recent map.

Our friend Keynsham is bottom right. Let's zoom in.

The main junctions at Fishponds is off the map, bottom left. Lyde Green is no longer a hamlet, but splurges between the A4174 and the M4 centre and upper right. While you are there, note also Emersons Green.

Sadly, fbb's detailed knowledge of the history of Bristol's bus routes is a bit thin, but on-line photographic evidence and a bit of fbb's memory, suggests that, pre-privatisation, the main bus routes to this segment of the city were 48 ...

... and 49 ...

... and they still are, sort of!

They retained those numbers after First's onslaught on to the former Bristol Omnibus Company; 48 ...

... and 49. Seemples.

Both buses show a terminus at Emersons Green.  The picture below may show post deregulation competition on the 49 ...

... or it nay not! A more knowledgeable reader may explain!

When fbb visited a while back, buses stopped at the back door of the Sainsburys store.

But fbb was there to ride the shiny new Metro Bus bus, the m3.

This, too, serves Emersons Green approaching from UWE Frenchay and travelling via Lyde Green.

But it is not the same Emersons Green as the 48 and 49. Whilst they take you to an obvious Sainsbury's, the M3 lurks on Emersons Way ...

... with just a hint of orange on the canopy over Sainsburys petrol pumps well hidden by an arboreal barrier!

Of course, being "new", super-smashing and trendy, the M3 has its trendy information thingeys ...

... whilst the 48 and 49, which carry far more passengers to Sainsburys than the M3, have ...

... nothing special.

But we do know (honest we do) that buses from Bristol and Fishponds still run to Sainsburys ...

... but they do not show route numbers 48 and 49! Shock horror!

Oh, fbb, you are such a tease; it is not that different today!

 Next 48 and 49 blog : Thurs 26 March