Bristol: A city whose transport missed the train

As a Bristol resident, one of the biggest problems with Bristol's bus network is how radial it is. Almost every route is a direct line into and out of the centre, which makes any journey that doesn't have the centre as a start or end point extremely inefficient and time-consuming: so much so that I regularly prefer to walk unless my goal is specifically to get to the centre.

Having lived in Plymouth in the past, the bus network there was much more decentralised with routes going between a variety of local hubs, allowing you to 'bus hop' to and from most areas in the city.

What's most ironic about this contrast is that economically and socially, Plymouth is the far more centralised city of the two, with relatively little activity outside of the city centre. In contrast, Bristol has many decentralised hubs: Cliffton Downs, Kingswood, Fishponds, etc.

You mentioned that the bus lanes can be used by all buses there (not just metro buses) while a tram track would only be only for trams and wouldn't improve existing bus services. However, this isn't true. On the tram line you showed as an example in the video, it would be easily possible to run buses along the same path. This is done all the time in other cities, including Zurich where I live. We have several sections of tram line where the tram tracks are also used as bus lanes.

You didn't mention the eyesore that is Bristol bus station.

The are agencies drivers on First group and stagecoach drivers

We have 2 operator First group plc Wales and West, Stagecoach west The metro mayor Dan Norris Doe not want a first Group plc monopoly of First Group plc run Great Western Railway company as well

First Group plc run First group plc Wales and West buses Division and First group plc Great Western Railway company in Greater Bristol

Mayor Dan Norris rubs Transport Authority west of England mayoral combined transport Authority jointy with North Somerset council which need to join the west of England mayoral combined transport Authority

Not Bristol city council

This is the result of arguably the most progressive region in England being surrounded by a staunchly conservative mega suburb. I do not think Dan Norris and Marvin Reeves have ever agreed on a single topic, ever and for anything to get done the two need to agree. This has resulted in some crazy outcomes. For instance, the main bus from the train station to the centre is single deck and is constantly delayed by wobling tourists asking the driver 37 questions before decidong the bus is too expensive. Moreover the bus to the airport is eight entire pounds and takes *forever*. The only way to solve this mess is to revive the Avon county and construct a hybrid under/overground.

14:38 It doesn't look like "have got rid": the beginning of the cycle lane was moved from the intersection to a few meters after it and the adjacent curb was straightened – unless something has changed since 2022 or the remark was more general. :p

Bristol Airport is busy and there are plans to expand significantly. The public transport access is poor and the environmental cost is therefore very high. The city sold the airport off to the private sector years ago and there seems no proper incentive on them to reduce the dependence on the car. This is not good!

8:05 Mostly because the (Stupid) Tory government wasted over 100 BILLION POUNDS On a useless HS2 Railway, always cutting costs for the stupidest reasons and NOT putting enough investment a perfect example of not putting money to good use.

(Don't even tell me to Vote Labour)

I live on the outskirts of Bristol, there are no direct buses, so have to change, buses are 2 or 3 hours apart. First and Stagecoach pulled out of my area.

If you're in the suburbs, Bristol's buses are MUCH less good – and they're way too expensive for the service you get as soon as you get more than a mile outside the centre.

I personally think tram trains would be a good way of expanding Bristol's transport network (much like Cardiff is doing). Not just because they would enable some of the local trains to run into the city centre, but also because they would potentially enable more trains to run into Temple Meads by separating these local services from the mainline services by having them call at separate tram platforms. It would also allow for more branch line services without having to upgrade the signalling. The fact that Temple Meads isn't electrified/getting electrified is ridiculous. They already did a lot of the bridge/tunnel work on the line into it from London and since they are currently spending years fixing the roof at the station they might as well throw up some wires at the same time

Trams have been thought about several times to Bristol, much to no success. Pedestrian Connections have a few interesting videos talking about this subject. However, given that Bristol's geography is a key problem to increasing public transport share, being located not far from the sea while also being very hilly, any large infrastructure works (ie railway tunnel or viaduct) would be a non-starter.

Observing the bus network, Bristol should have a look at Brighton & Hove, a city with 2/3rds the population and similar in density, yet has an excellent bus network thanks to the co-operation between the bus companies and local authorities in providing key infrastructure improvements as well as an enterprising approach to increasing bus services.

I would have to disagree with your points about "slow, dirty, old, uncomfortable DMUs". While the Severn Beach and Portishead lines unfortunately not had the chance for electrification, there are bigger problems that exists, namely the lack of double-tracking and the low, and often uneven, frequency. The London Overground's GOBLIN line demonstrates that running a high-frequency route with excellent upgrades to the infrastructure can still run reliably as a diesel-operated line (even if this was a decade ago). I can understand the point about the Networkers DMUs being uncomfortable with their 2+3 seating, but their age is hardly worth clutching one's pearls since, given they are well-maintained and well-built, trains can be just as reliable operating at 30 years old as they would be when new.

Ugh

Improving rail links will not really help much – Bristol's main station, Temple Meads, is too far away from the central areas that passengers need to get to.

There nothing wrong with Diesel Trains thing like the Class 150,153,155,156,158,159 and HST (Class 43) all are great Diesel Trains.

@GWVillager I lived in Bristol and in the 1980s it could take ages crawling inch by inch out of the centre of the city towards the east (Kingswood, Bath, etc) during the evening rush hour. I returned for a brief visit in the 1990s and was astounded at the restructuring of the central area road systems to enable buses to get out of the Inner Circuit Road area really quickly. This must count as one of the most dramatic improvements of Bristol's public transport. Hopefully it is still like this today.

your volume is so low on this video i can barely hear it.. 🙁

might Brabazon be a name drummed up by Corporateria's corporateers there, for it looks & sounds like it'd been drummed up by cleptoparasitic 'entrpreneurs' of Quebec's?

I think what Bristol should do is make a high frequency suburban rail system between Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway/Severn Beach stop at most stops possible to maximize passenger potiential. Then I would make a standard tram system (Doesn't need fully dedicated right of way) going to most parts of Bristol.

Edinburgh is a city for Bristol to look for the good and bad of a modern public transport system. Lothian Buses is owned by the local council and is very well used and well respected, although still not perfect. The trams are the interesting thing though and Bristol could learn lessons from the city on what to do and what NOT to do. The initial tram line proved hugely controversial and ran way over budget due to mismanagement, nimbyism and other factors. The line was eventually cut short to save costs as a result and an inquiry is underway looking into the fiasco. Bristol need to follow the reports, do proper due diligence and learn lessons on what not to do. Having said that once built the line proved to be hugely popular with both tourists and locals, so much so that the curtailed line was then extended with the extension opening last year. Plans are now moving forward to expand the system with new lines and there's a lot less opposition to those new plans now as many locals are now in favour of expansion.

I now live in the area that is supposedly to benefit from Tracy Brabin's plans for a West Yorkshire integrated transport system and I really do hope it happens. The first stage has already been agreed with the buses set to begin coming under the combined authority control starting next year. The first part of funding for a tram line between Leeds and Bradford has been agreed too although there is still time for it all to get cancelled of course, but fingers crossed it happens as it is badly needed.

I agree with another poster, Bristol should join forces with Leeds when it comes to their tram system. Agree on common standards, infrastructure and vehicles meaning the two cities would be able to lower costs by ordering things such as trams together which would lower manufacturing costs from a combined order for pretty much identical rolling stock for example.

I live in Bristol is a shit hole