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 road "showcase route" and they genraly run from 7am until 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 during the rush hour and 8pm in the evening as people are on their way out. first have been expanding capacity by useing larger vehicles duning peak hours, and this has eased the problem.
However very few of the vehicles used in bristol are actualy new, first bristol has a policy of purchasing second hand buses and repainting them with their livary ,these veichles are better and are of an acceptable quality, unfortuntaly first still doesnt clean their buses and it is far to common to find bottles rolling on the floor and copies of the metro strewn everywhere, more worryingly the company has recently had its fleet reduced frm 300 to 250 due to poor maintenence of its vehicles, which i assumne means they were in breach of health and safety.
Finaly the worst thing about First Bristol, their bus fares. bus fares have recently increased twice, and first has withdrawn its returns before 9am, now you will expect to pay £1 for a "two stop hop" £1.50 for all journies under 3 miles and £2 for journies over this. A firstday is still £3, which is only 10p more than a return jouney over 3miles. and first does offer some resonably priced season tickets and a student fares structure. a student firstday costs £2.70, and many larger colleges have a special deal with first and the local council to provide cheaper student month tickets for around £36 compared with £57 for a standard first month (zones 1+2).
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Was in Bristol today! I usually catch the bus from Temple Meads into town and back again... never had any trouble - don't know if that's the same company? Good first review though. Sarah x
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Oct 29th, 2005
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