BUS operator First has announced a series of changes to bus services in Downend, Staple Hill and Frenchay.
New timetables coming into force on April 5 include cuts in frequency to the 48, 49 and 50 services to the city centre, the 19 service to Bath and Bristol Parkway, and extra buses from Staple Hill to Southmead Hospital.
The city’s main bus operator says the changes are “designed to improve punctuality and create a more reliable network for our customers”.
It says a new 18 service from the city centre to Southmead Hospital via St George, Kingswood, Staple Hill will combine with the existing 17 service to provide a half-hourly service between Kingswood, Staple Hill, Fishponds and Southmead Hospital during the daytime.
First is revising the timetable for 48 and 48x services from Downend to the city centre and for 49 and 49x services from Staple Hill to the city centre.
The frequency of weekday daytime 48 and 49 services, which go to the centre via Stapleton Road, is decreasing from around one every 30 to 35 minutes to one every 35 to 50 minutes.
The decrease comes as First increases the number of 47x services from Oldbury Court in Fishponds to the city centre from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes, so that it can run a direct ‘x’ service, using the M32 in stead of Stapleton Road, every 10 minutes on Fishponds Road.
The frequency of 48x and 49x services will remain approximately every half hour under the new timetable.
The 19 service, which links Downend to Bristol Parkway station in one direction and Kingswood and Bath in the other, is being halved in frequency, from half-hourly to hourly on weekdays.
First said the cut had been made “following the ending of funding to increase the frequency that started at the last service change,” adding: “Journeys will no longer operate into the late evening.” The biggest cutback will be on the 50 service between Frenchay and the city centre via Stapleton and Eastville.
Instead of running from Frenchay between 6.25am and 8pm on weekdays, with 14 services per day, the service will now only run four times in each direction, between 9.30am and 2.40pm.
First said: “Due to low customer demand, this service will operate only during the off peak on Monday to Fridays and daytime on Saturdays.”
The company, which is Bristol’s biggest bus operator, say the changes will improve punctuality across the network.
More details can be found online at tinyurl.com/4dj9hrpj.