FirstCity Line is the primary bus operator within the City of Bristol and its surrounding area. There is virtually no competition for service in Bristol, despite the de-regulation that took place some years ago, enabling much greater opportunity for companies to compete for, and provide service ... Read review
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Advantages: New night buses are good Disadvantages: Unreliable
...primary bus operator within the City of Bristol and its surrounding area. There is virtually no competition for service in Bristol, despite the de-regulation that took place some years ago, enabling much greater opportunity for companies to compete for, and provide service on bus routes. As a result of this, and other factors, bus services in the area are generally very poor.
Service varies in frequency, quality and reliability from ... .../>
Fares
City Line Fares are probably set at an average rate, compared to other cities and services. A single journey of three or four miles typically costs between £1 and £1.30, with considerable savings to be made if you purchase a return ticket. Like most other forms of public transport, return tickets cannot be purchased before 9.00 a.m. Monday to Friday, so the commuter stands to lose out on the reduced price of a return. The ... more
FirstCity Line is the primary bus operator within the City of Bristol and its surrounding area. There is virtually no competition for service in Bristol, despite the de-regulation that took place some years ago, enabling much greater opportunity for companies to compete for, and provide service on bus routes. As a result of this, and other factors, bus services in the area are generally very poor.
Service varies in frequency, quality and reliability from one route to another, but in my time in Bristol, I have relied upon various different routes, and have found them to be largely the same:
Fares
City Line Fares are probably set at an average rate, compared to other cities and services. A single journey of three or four miles typically costs between £1 and £1.30, with considerable savings to be made if you purchase a return ticket. Like most other forms of public transport, return tickets cannot be purchased before 9.00 a.m. Monday to Friday, so the commuter stands to lose out on the reduced price of a return. The Company offer various types of "Rover" card, which deliver potential savings. A City Ten, for example, retails at £11.00 and allows ten single journeys - average journey price, therefore £1.10. This can be used on all services within the City Line are. Similar single journeys would cost £1.75 each way, so this could save you up to 38% over the ten journeys. Other tickets are available, including Monthly, Quarterly and Annual Passes, which offer increased rates of discount, according to the period of travel you require. Regular passengers are strongly advised to invest in one of these tickets. Reduced price tickets are available for pensioners and other concessionary passengers.
City Line have just started running a limited range of night buses - much to the disgust of the local taxi drivers - at very reasonable rates - £1.50 any single journey - which I am sure will become more and more popular.
Many newsagents and local shops act as agents for City Line and you can buy the rover style cards at hundreds of shops. Additionally, if you buy your tickets at the bus station you can pay by credit/debit card. You can now also purchase tickets online and have them delivered to your home.
Reliability
This can differ from one route to another, but as an indication, City Line have recently been fined £260,000 for failing to provide timely, reliable services. On some occasions I have found that buses are very punctual, but there are certain times of the day/week, when you can wait up to 45 minutes for a service scheduled to run every 10 minutes. City Line suffer greatly from the general problems of traffic congestion, and bad road layouts in Bristol, but the City Transport department have attempted to put Bus Lanes in place wherever possible. As there is no central bus terminus, there are key stops on certain routes where drivers will change over, and this will tend to add at least 10 minutes to your journey time - somewhat unnecessarily. Evening and weekend services are good, with a comparatively comprehensive service, albeit at a reduced frequency. Sunday and evening services tend to be subsidised by the City Council, and as such, you may find that the bus only completes 75% of the usual journey - you may have a long walk home!
As with most bus Companies, there is little daytime control over services, and once a backlog has built up you may rest assured that three or four of the same number bus will arrive. You would expect that a controller would instruct one of the drivers to divert and try to recover some of the timetable, but this seldom occurs.
Quality of Vehicles
This also varies greatly from one route to another, but the Company has invested heavily in new coaches over the last few years. Many services are now 100% fulfilled by brand new vehicles, with access for Disabled passengers and air conditioning. Sadly, the converse of this is that certain routes are consistently fulfilled by old, dirty vehicles. The older, double decked buses tend to fill up downstairs with fumes from inefficient exhausts and engines. Many of the older vehicles are disgustingly filthy - I tend to find that my clothes need washing whenever I have travelled. The newer buses lack supervision, and are already suffering from vandalism and a lack of day to day cleaning.
Another issue with the older vehicles is that breakdowns are relatively common - I travelled on a bus for nearly two miles where the automatic gearbox had broken. Gear changes involved holding your breath and bracing yourself for when the bus lurched and propelled you into the person in front. I am sure that the Company is breaking many Health and Safety regulations - a theory supported by the recent order that they should take 90 vehicles off the road.
City Line also runs three or four Park and Ride schemes on behalf of the City Council, and the service and coaches used on these routes are always excellent. The main Park and Ride scheme - on the A4 Bath Road - has seen two completely new batches of stock in the time that I have been in Bristol.
A major factor in delaying services is that all tickets are issued by the driver - which with some passengers can be a timely process. From the City Centre it is not unusual to wait for 20 minutes or more for all the passengers in a queue to be issued with a ticket, and a simpler fare structure, and better ticket technology would vastly improve this. Additionally, if your rover card is not accepted by the terminal the driver lets you on free - something that many passengers have cottoned on to and have deliberately damaged the magnetic strip to allow fare-free travel. Rather unfair to other, paying customers.
Customer Service
The company runs a local rate service for enquiries and complaints. You tend to have to wait a fair time to get an answer - which can be very frustrating, and some of the advisors to whom you can speak are somewhat unhelpful. For information purposes the Company also have an excellent website, with detailed timetables and fare information - much quicker than phoning the helpline number.
The drivers are generally rude and unhelpful -although there are some exceptions. They are generally very scruffy and one of the things I hate the most is that they still smoke in their cabs, even though the bus is supposed to be non-smoking throughout. They pay little attention to passengers, and if there is trouble on the bus don't expect support. This is evident in the damage caused to seats etc, and the amount of other passengers who smoke upstairs.
Last year, City Line turned record profits of £146 million, brought about by a lack of competition, and by putting profits before customers. This is evident in the penalties that the Company has recently incurred. Congestion in the city centre is a major problem in Bristol, compounded further by the dreadful public transport. The two factors are gradually making each other worse.
Advantages: Better than walking! Cheaper than taxis Disadvantages: Infrequent, not good value for money
I used city line buses before I got my car 9 months ago. Now I really appreciate having a car - especially with 2 under 5's.
The buses are cramped, hardly any moving space to get on or off, are usually full, not of old age pensioners going home after a day's shopping, but young to middle aged women, travelling alone who decide to take up a whole seat with themselves and their 10 - 21 shopping bags, leaving no room for anyone to sit down. Perhaps ... ...space.
There is a disabled persons space on some of the buses, meant for wheelchairs, however, usually taken up by young mum's with babies or toddler's in buggies (guilty!). The seats are uncomfortable and not very wide, The steps on a double decker are steep if you find yourself sitting upstairs it's a bumpy walk down while the bus is in motion. My experience of these buses aren't very good as I have often finished work in the rush hour, then gone ...
HelsBelsWins 09.07.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of City Line - Bristol
Advantages: I will get there.....eventually Disadvantages: Dirty, smelly, filthy, rude drivers, etc
...Well Duh!!! This is Bristol City Council! No their way to get people onto the buses is to raise the prices of car parking...by 66%!. In the central car parks it will now cost up to £3 for four hours, more than four it will be £5.50!. On Saturdays it will now cost up to £2.50 for more than 2 hours. This is of course the council ones, the private one in Broadmead can cost up to £15 for the whole day. Apparently this will relieve traffic congestion ... ...from one side of the city to the other, then they stopped them in the Centre so you had to pay a repeat fare for the rest of the journey. FirstBuses statement? "well we havent raised our prices this year". No you devalued our tickets instead! So lets look at the evidence- dirty buses, late buses or buses that dont arrive at all, no coverage of the most important business areas, stroppy drunk drivers, extortionate prices, who runs a bus company like ...
Emma1973 15.05.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of City Line - Bristol
Advantages: it gets you home Disadvantages: endless
It’s 5.15pm and you have just finished work in the centre of Bristol. You managed to get a lift into work this morning because your car is in the garage with ‘clutch problems’. You wait at the bus stop in silence for the number 51 bus or as its more commonly known ‘the rattler’. Glancing around you see a bunch of sullen, emotionless faces staring into space, also awaiting the arrival of the rattler. You observe these others discreetly, as you know ... ...some or all of the journey. A few normal-looking office type people; a sweet old couple linking arms; a huge woman with several teeth missing and an obvious sweat problem; a skinny guy in his mid-thirties with Terry Nutkins/Michael Bolton -style haircut (you know, bald patch on top but shoulder length around the sides); and the token loony wearing a tight grey anorak with the hood up and walking around in a small circle.
The Rattler arrives and ...
neiltom88 23.05.2001 (24.05.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of City Line - Bristol
Advantages: Good Website Disadvantages: Terrible, unreliable service
...and I purchased the First City Line timetable,
worked out my route and which bus to catch. Not wanting to be late, I picked a bus
that should have delivered me to my destination with twenty minutes to spare. The
bus arrived on time but took over 35 minutes (it should have been 15) meaning I
was late for the interview. Luckily, I still got a second interview the week after. This time I was taking no
chances and made sure I got to the bus stop ... ...a mad dash across Bristol City Centre to
find a cab, a £10.00 fare and I was late again. I didn't get the job. Since then, when travelling on the buses, I have kept my ears opened and heard a
number of horror stories and noticed how the buses do seem to travel in packs of
two or threes. I complained in writing and this was dismissed by the head office who offered no
real apology or excuse. One of the depot's received the letter and sent me back ...
Ork1927 06.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of City Line - Bristol
Advantages: extensive network Disadvantages: very exspensive, unrelyable around peak hours
I feel i should start this article by saying that the bus company in bristol is no longer cityline, it is now first as it is in many other parts of the country. i also feel that bristol buses often get an unnessisarily negative review. The bus network in bristol is good, and generaly buses in bristol have a relativly good frequency with the vast majority operating at least every 20mins (most every 10mins) up to 17 buses an hour along the gloucester ... ...11:30pm on weekdays, with services after 9:30 subsidised by the council. Reliablity on bus services is improving due to first extending the length of jounies causeing buses to wait in lay-bys, and due to investiment in "showcase bus routes" which are posh bus lanes, and investment in non-posh bus lanes. however it is still poor and the company is frequently fined because of its poor punctuality.
Buses in bristol are frequently overcrowded especialy ...
ricardoz_rox 29.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of City Line - Bristol
Quality of Rooms
Customer service
Frequency of bus / buses
Value for money
Reliability
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