The Ashton Vale Park and Ride had carried a route number of 903. The free car park sits just off the A370 ...
... which eventually finds its way to Weston super Mud.
The on-line publicity for the now-replaced service was adequate but hardly stunning. There was a map of sorts which shows the route via Hotwells (the one-way "square" bit on the map below) and the A4 ...
... terminating in a large one way loop in the City centre.
It called at "The Centre" then plunged off via Bristol Bridge to Temple Way (for Temple Meads station) before following the inner ring road back to the Centre.
The web site borrows the timetable from Traveline ...
... and purports to show that you cannot board at Hotwells Hotwells Road on journeys TO City ...
... or alight nearby on journeys FROM City.
All the other stops are within the central area. Enlarging the map reveals stops served (which do respond to a click) and stops not served which don't.
Fares on the 903 were £4 peak, £3 off-peak with two children accompanying an adult for free.
The M2 leaflet is heaps better and themed in orange. The pictures are of two bright young things ...
... but accompanied by a cheery "senior" ...
... cheery because she/he/they can travel free on their passes at standard validity times. Many Park & Ride services nationally do not allow free travel.
We are told why we must pay before we board and reminded that the once-despised two door layout is now trendy again.
The list pf places where we can buy tickets is extensive, however, ...
... and the fares are cheaper than the 903.
The Park & Ride site itself is the only stop in Zone 2 ...
... so you are in pocket to the tune of £1.50 at peak and 50p off peak. Indeed, for the previous peak price of £4 you get the freedom of First's Bristol City network for the day. BARGAIN!
No mention, however, of childrens' fares - free on the 903.
Instead of running via Hotwells and the A4, the M2 leaves its guided busway at the Cumberland Basin and uses Cumberland Road ...
... between the original river and the later "cut". The road used to be served by the 506 but appears to have lost its "shuttle" despite evidence on Google Maps.
The City loop is different on the M2 and has been controversial.
Controversial because it doesn't serve "The Centre", a popular stop for commuters, until the very end of its long loop. Your choice is a lengthy walk from Wapping Wharf OR a grind round the inner ring road.
Either way, the complaint is that "popular" journeys will take longer. They will do. The 903 would drop you at The Centre after a ten minute whizz along the A4 (longer at peak) whereas the M2 offers the same ten minute ride to Whopping Wharf and a 15 minute walk. Or a Wapping 30 minutes all the way round the loop (again, longer at peak).
M2 - a dramatic improvement? Certainly no for Park & Riders to The Centre and its surrounding offices.
The other complaint is that, although the M2 has a stop called "Ashton Gate", near the stadium of the same name (as advertised on the web site) ...
... it is not much use on match days. The stadium is the home to Bristol City footy club and the Bristol Bears rugger ditto.
The M2 doesn't run at suitable times or frequencies for the final whistle at evening matches, and not at all for Sunday games. And even if it did ...
... there aren't enough vehicles equipped with busway guidewheels to carry the potential crowds.
Shortsighted?
Nevertheless, while most of our eager readers are perusing this blog, fbb will be riding the M2 and reporting tomorrow on the experience.
Also to come later, wise up on the Ys to Yate!
Whoops, forgot! The M2 leaflet has a full and detailed timetable.
Full marks to the Metrobus team; it would have been easy to sink to the unhelpful depths of a "simple" departure list. Full marks, too, for presenting the timetable in ssuch a way as to show all options on the City centre loop - there is no City "terminus" as such.
Refreshingly helpful.
M2 - a dramatic improvement? Certainly no for Park & Riders to The Centre and its surrounding offices.
The other complaint is that, although the M2 has a stop called "Ashton Gate", near the stadium of the same name (as advertised on the web site) ...
Shortsighted?
Nevertheless, while most of our eager readers are perusing this blog, fbb will be riding the M2 and reporting tomorrow on the experience.
Also to come later, wise up on the Ys to Yate!
Whoops, forgot! The M2 leaflet has a full and detailed timetable.
Refreshingly helpful.
Next M Y Day blog : Tuesday 4th September
It's a pity that the new Metrobus leaflet includes glaring examples of poor English ("different to" and "less delays"). Why do people whose job is to communicate make these mistakes?
ReplyDeletePresumably because they don't fulfill the personal preferences of an 18th century "Grammarian". Other sources available, but nicely summed up here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fewer_vs._less
DeleteMost "rules" of English grammar aren't actually "rules" at all, but were invented in the Victorian era on the basis of what sounded nice in Latin, a language that has no direct linguistic developmental connection to English.
Did you understand it? Yes. Therefore they have communicated effectively.
It's a bit lacking in capital letters too, when you look - but it gets the message across.
DeleteSorry but no, I didn't (and still don't) understand what "less delays" means. Could it mean "less delay" or "fewer delays"? These are not the same meaning at all! I can't see how that is any less true today than in an earlier century. Effective communication requires clear wording rather than ambiguity, and adherence to grammatical conventions often helps with this.
DeleteOh - and when did "fulfil" gain an extra l this side of the pond?
I had to look up "less" and "fewer". The consensus seems to be that they mean the same, but fewer is conventionally used with countable nouns and less with everything else.
DeleteIn our multi-media and multi-cultural environment such subtleties of language are not picked up until later in life if at all. Were these things ever in the O level / CSE / GCSE sylallabus or just picked up from reading and listening?
The author here probably has knowledge in graphics and leaflet design rather than just giving it in a paragraph of typed script. So less knowledge in one area, but balanced by more in another area. You could also get in to an interesting discussion on whether you are talking about one delay or multiple delays on one journey or the effect of one type of delay over multiple journeys, etc.
Whether there is less delay, or are fewer delays, is essentially irrelevant: your journey will take less time (or perhaps you would prefer fewer minutes?)! I find it hard to believe anybody cares whether delays will occur less often, or the same amount of times but be shorter. That is pointless pedantry beyond necessity.
DeleteAs regards "adherence to grammatical conventions", I suggest investigating a little more how such conventions came about. Less and fewer is a concocted convention. The ordering of adjectives is essential for fluent English (Red delayed big bus?)
Accidentally using American English spelling is a risk of using a browser set (for good reason) to such spelling. However, you still understood it enough to criticize, so my point is made!
With regard to the city centre "loop", I wonder what the time difference is between the old 903 from the park & ride to the centre (let's say, The Hippodrome) and the new M3 via its dedicated route and a walk? I don't know, other than people tend, not unreasonably, to look at the timetable because that is defined, and not at the overall journey. Oh, and as a third option, how long by car from the equivalent point on the Long Ashton by-pass to The Hippodrome, via a car park?
ReplyDeleteA loop is always going to have winners and losers, but at the same time the morning "losers" are the evening "winners".
But wait, isn't the walk from Wapping Wharf a selling point? What better start to the working day than a brisk, health giving, walk? Maybe Metrobus/First could give away branded step counters and really "sell" the idea.
Are they allowed to use the Metrobus name given it's a Go-Ahead Group trademsrk?
ReplyDelete