fbb boarded his M2 at the "Temple Meads" stop, the beginning of the City centre loop. The bus was well provided with bus lanes all the way round ...
... and at 0945 they were hardly needed. At two "critical points" arrangements differ.
There is a clear red-painted route at the end of Newfoundland Street (above, upper right) where the M32 disgorges its worst every morning ...
... but at St James Barton (a k a The Bearpit) ...
... buses have a traffic light controlled exit onto the roundabout, but actually on the gyratory all lanes are often clogged solid. The arrangements on these roads are the same for all buses; the wondrous M2 is no different from any other apart, of course, from its Monoliths.
The route crosses the Redcliffe Bascule Bridge (with a bus lane) ...
... alongside a two way cycle lane.
But the bridge no longer bascules. It is seen above welcoming a replica of John Cabot's ship, The Matthew, back "home" to Bristol. Mr Cabot has a claim to be the first explorer to discover the American mainland, possibly Newfoundland, in 1497. Fans of a certain Mr Columbus might dispute this, but our Chris only hit the bulk of South America in 1498 on his third voyage.
The M2 then trundles along Cumberland Road between the original River Avon, now known as the "floating harbour" and the man-made "cut" built as a watery by-pass to maintain the river flow. fbb passed by at low tide.
The most likely bus business along here is for tourists getting to the SS Great Britain (Brunel yet again) but, like many places "on" the route, this involves a reasonable trek.
The walk route is via the delightfully named Gas Ferry Road ...
... where once plied a ferry over to the north bank.
There, the equivalent is the spooky Gasworks Lane - where tourist ferry boats still call.
Also on the way to Brunel's biggie, you pass the HQ of animators Aardman, home of Wallace and Gromit.
Mysteriously, instead of being conveniently located at the end of Gas Ferry Road ...
... the stop is way past, after the footbridge (dotted line, lower left on the map above.)
But all the way along the Cumberland Road it is just an ordinary bus route. Things start getting a little more exciting as we fork off left to pass behind the magnificent Cumberland Basin warehouses.
At the former Ashton Avenue bridge we meet our first bit of guided busway ...
... and fbb managed to take several piccies beautifully out of focus!
(probably caused by the bright sun glinting on the bus windscreen; thus causing the phone's camera to automatically focus of the glass! Bummer!)
Next comes the flyover!
This is a hugely expensive bit of engineering to get the busway (seen below under construction - via Streetview) ...
... over the railway line to Portishead.
But what has happened to the guiderails?
Answer: you only get guide rails on short bits of straight roads. Once corners arrive ...
... it's back to standard two-way road. Even stranger, the carriageway is narrowed where there are guide rails, despite there being more than enough room for a normal roadway.
All of this means that the bus has to slow down to lock into the guides, making progress slower than if they weren't there!
Sounds crazy and it is!
Most of those on the well loaded bus back to City were having a jolly time; many enjoying an exploratory ride. So what have these Bristolians gained from the millions of oncers invested in this project?
LONGER JOURNEYS
A comment writer (Monday) suggested that with a "loop" some lose and some gain. Quite right sir, but the withdrawn 903 also ran via a loop. So here are some comparisons.
Not much evidence of "gainers"!
MORE EXPENSIVE JOURNEYS?
And here fbb make a mega bludner in an earlier blog. It would appear that the fares quoted for the 903 were RETURNS. The fares quoted for the M2 are singles. 903 was £4 at peak and £3 off peak. "great value travel" looks like this ...
... i.e. more expensive. But why would you pay £2.50 for a single when you can buy a day rover a k a return for £4. More craziness.
A SHORT SWITCHBACK RIDE
Yippee!
Other than the latter, the M3 offers no advantage over its 903 predecessor.
fbb chatted to a few fellow travellers on Monday and the general opinion was that the M2 is a ...
MASSIVE WASTE OF MONEY!
In an attempt to be less critical, the chubby one has trawled web sites and journalistic opinions to find some positives. It was not a very fruitful search.
One writer says the M2 will serve Temple Meads station once the eternal road works at the Temple Gate roundabout are finished.
That will make journeys even slower! Happy (?) memories of the Redcliffe flyover assembled from giant Meccano, in use here from 1967 to 1998.
Another article suggests that things will be much better, passenger-wise, when massive redevelopments, e.g. at Cumberland Basin, are completed.
MORE EXPENSIVE JOURNEYS?
And here fbb make a mega bludner in an earlier blog. It would appear that the fares quoted for the 903 were RETURNS. The fares quoted for the M2 are singles. 903 was £4 at peak and £3 off peak. "great value travel" looks like this ...
A SHORT SWITCHBACK RIDE
Yippee!
Other than the latter, the M3 offers no advantage over its 903 predecessor.
fbb chatted to a few fellow travellers on Monday and the general opinion was that the M2 is a ...
MASSIVE WASTE OF MONEY!
In an attempt to be less critical, the chubby one has trawled web sites and journalistic opinions to find some positives. It was not a very fruitful search.
One writer says the M2 will serve Temple Meads station once the eternal road works at the Temple Gate roundabout are finished.
There is also talk of even more new-build projects along the Cumberland Road.
Both these will make journeys even slower.
Of course, to avoid this, you could run a dedicated Park and Ride service from Long Ashton Park and Ride - fast into the city.
Perhaps call it service 903?
And if you are a glutton for punishment, you could read fbb's three blogs centred on the Ashton Avenue bridge, now used by a very short bit of M2 guided busway!
Part 1
Both these will make journeys even slower.
Of course, to avoid this, you could run a dedicated Park and Ride service from Long Ashton Park and Ride - fast into the city.
And if you are a glutton for punishment, you could read fbb's three blogs centred on the Ashton Avenue bridge, now used by a very short bit of M2 guided busway!
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Tomorrow we take a pause from the M Y Bristol expedition and return to Europe.
Next Grischun blog : Thursday 6th September
What FBB fails to say is how the m2 will be more reliable due to the large percentage of the route running in bus only lanes/roads.
ReplyDeleteTaking the mid-point of the City loop (Cabot Circus) barely one third of the route is on bus only roads. There may well be a slight time benefit by using Cumberland Street, but this is negated by the fact that the M2 is a stopping service, the park and ride was effective non stop until the city loop.
ReplyDeleteSo, as explained in the blog, there is little difference - the City centre hold-ups will be the same. And. as also explained in the blog, the bus only section is likely to be slower than the "normal" main roads.
The extended running times of the M2 MIGHT help, but I very much doubt it. Time will tell.
Bristol has long wanted a light rail metro system, and numerous ideas have come and gone, including various guided bus "metro" systems.
ReplyDeleteMetrobus is the latest incarnation of these ideas and, thus far, the only one to actually happen. From the reports I've so far read it's trying to be various things, and possibly failing to be any of them.
It is very early days so far, but I wonder which way public opinion will eventually go?
A) Metrobus is great, more please!
B) Buses are fine, just make sure they have their own "track" throughout
C) Although Metrobus is great, just think what a real Metro could do
or from the opposite starting point:
C) Metrobus is rubbish; we need a real Metro
D) Actually, buses are fine, spend the money on the whole network and not on a few bits of expensive infrastructure.
Of course, whatever the public opinion becomes it will be the political one which really counts, especially if DfT comes waving money around.
I'll certainly be going to take a ride, but will let things settle a little first.
Apologies - B) should read "Metrobuses" not just "Buses"
DeleteI looked up information on the Bascule Bridge. As it happens, the Cabinet of the City Council had to make a decision yesterday about refurbishing it as it's in a poor mechanical state. Apparently they have statutory duties, both as highway and harbour authorities, to keep road and water traffic flowing freely. See: https://tinyurl.com/ybgzgq9b.
ReplyDeleteLooking again, I see that the decision was "yes" (subject to call-in). If the bridge doesn't reliably bascule now, it will again in the future!
ReplyDeleteFBB is making a bit of a Horlicks of this one.
ReplyDeleteThe old service 903 was a fully tendered service courtesy of BCC. The m2 is a fully commercial service - hence the previously cheapo fares have been changed. You can make an argument that why should Bristol taxpayers subsidise a service from the P&R that benefits North Somerset tax payers though arguably, it benefits Bristolians in terms of lower congestion and pollution but it's a view. However, that explains why the fares have now changed.
Whilst the bus only section has stops and there are delays for the guide rails, it is more reliable in terms of service delays. FBB arrived mid morning when traffic is relatively free flowing - he should join the lava flow of traffic as it feeds through Cumberland Basin and through Hotwells during the evening and morning peaks. Remember, the 903 times were often a work of fiction - a badly parked vehicle, some temporary lights, a car smash and the whole area would come to a grinding halt. The m2 will thankfully avoid the worst of that.
As for taking a vox pop, that is always fraught with danger. The local rag have been vociferous in their views, swinging from outright hostility to passive aggressive backhanded comments. Perhaps wait for a few months and a few winters mornings where the traffic on the A370 is at "pay and display status" vs the m2 moving underneath it, and then gauge reaction from the passengers? I suspect the views might be different!
Dare I suggest our blogger perhaps had a jaundiced view (who, he.... shurely shome mishtake) as well as perhaps not knowing some of the very important facts?
The real point here is why replace the 903 when it wasn't really broken with a worse and more expensive to use route that cost a fortune to build. The BCR must have been very "interestingly calculated". Also guideways so short are pointless and just give rise to accidents. As usual a half ass attempt at bus priority. Time will tell but initial reviews online are worse than appalling.
ReplyDeleteGuideways are the most effective way of keeping other vehicles out. The Fareham-Gosport unguided route suffers particularly from this. There is no evidence that the rate of crashes on guided busways is higher than that involving buses on normal roads.
ReplyDelete