Despite efforts to improve services, passenger numbers are still down compared to pre-pandemic levels — with First Bus reporting a drop of over twenty per cent on some routes.
00:00Bristol has one of the slowest average bus speeds in the country, just 10 miles per hour across the city during peak times, according to Department for Transport figures.
00:12For many residents, that means that long waits, packed buses and unreliable journey times exist.
00:18Despite efforts to improve services, passenger numbers are still down compared to pre-pandemic levels, with First Bus reporting a drop of over 20% on some routes.
00:30I have done in the past, around Bristol, not so bad because they're quite frequent, but coming up in Somerset have had an absolute nightmare in the past.
00:41I got to the point where I was arguing with First Bus on social media daily because they don't have a customer support line anymore.
00:49They've outsourced it to Twitter handlers.
00:52They don't publish any results as to how many of their buses run later or cancelled ever.
00:57They just don't.
00:59And they would not ever answer questions to whether or not you could rely on them to get to work.
01:03While Metro Bus was introduced to improve rapid transit in the region, just 4% of Metro Bus tickets are now bought at bus stop machines.
01:15Most people prefer tapping on with a card or using the First Bus app.
01:19Yet, councils are still spending over £330,000 a year maintaining those machines, raising questions about how the money could be better spent on the network itself.
01:33How come I don't use buses?
01:37I'm not sure what the routes are, to be honest with you.
01:39You know, I'm a bit confused.
01:41With the train line, it's pretty obvious where it's going to go next, you know, with the buses.
01:47Again, inside of Bristol, it's tricky because it's quite short distances.
01:54So, I don't tend to use it much inside of Bristol.
01:57It would tend to be if I was coming into Bristol.
01:58So, I've lived in and out of Bristol.
02:00I'm living in Somerset at the moment.
02:01So, yeah.
02:03Inside Bristol, I don't know, really.
02:05I couldn't really answer that one.
02:06I don't use it enough daily.
02:08I think when I did, it was, I think it seems like there's a lot more going on now.
02:12There's more stops and cheaper fares and things, so probably better.
02:15A recent study from Transport for Quality of Life found that car ownership in Bristol is still rising,
02:22with over 160,000 cars registered in the city.
02:26Many say it's because public transport isn't a practical alternative.
02:30Congestion, patchy coverage and expensive fares continue to drive people off buses and back into their cars,
02:39adding more traffic to already crowded roads.
02:42Let's find out if locals think that Bristol's public transport system is a good alternative to driving a car.
02:48The train system is very useful for me.
02:51I have to set and beach line, use that to get to working back, so that's really, really handy.
