As residents will know First Bus ran a consultation on proposed changes to the No.2 bus route. On the whole the proposed changes have been rejected but there is a change to the Henbury & Brentry Area.

The full response is below:

“During May and June 2019, we consulted with our customers on ways to improve the reliability and punctuality of Service 2.

We were delighted to receive over 1,000 responses to the survey, and we also met many people along the route with our consultation bus to hear their views. As well as this, we also engaged with key stakeholders and attended public meetings.

After reviewing the results and listening to what has been said, we are now able to announce the changes that will be made on Sunday 15th September.

What is changing?

The route of Service 2 will change in the Brentry and Henbury area...

Feedback and data have confirmed that traffic congestion on the A4018 approaching the Old Crow roundabout is delaying traffic at peak times. Our proposal was therefore to operate the service via Station Road, Henbury Road and Crow Lane and no longer use the A4018. Two bus stops on the A4018 at Lyppincourt Road would no longer be served by Service 2, however Service 4 would continue to serve these stops. The majority of people who responded to the survey and said they would be affected by the change said they supported it.

We will therefore be providing an extra bus to enable us to implement this change which will provide new links to and from Henbury, and also help provide more consistent journey times by avoiding the congestion on the A4018.

More frequent evening services...

As part of the survey, we asked for your thoughts on the frequency of Service 2. The majority of people were satisfied with the frequency during the day and at weekends.

However, one common piece of feedback was that the service needs to be more frequent on weekday evenings. We are pleased to announce that we will be increasing the frequency Monday to Friday from approximately 19:00 to 21:00. The new timetable is currently being designed and will be published closer to the implementation date.

More buses...

As well as the improvements already mentioned, we are conducting a detailed review of the timetable to ensure the reliability and punctuality of the service is as robust as possible. Overall, we expect to allocate a number of extra buses into the service from 15th September to make these changes possible.

Future improvements...

The above changes represent the first step in a significant investment into the service.

Together with Bristol City Council, we have been conducting detailed analysis of the congestion hotspots on the route, and although rectifying some of these will require major works that will take some time, we expect to be able to make further improvements to the service in 2020. We will announce these in due course.

What isn’t changing and why?

The proposed change to the route in the Henleaze area...

There was a big response to our proposed change in the Henleaze area. The proposal to run buses via Henleaze Road and Westbury Road on journeys towards the City Centre was put forward to avoid delays to buses on North View when approaching the White Tree roundabout. The majority of
customers that would be impacted by the change did not support it, with many local residents stressing that Service 2 provides a vital link with local amenities, and that the proposed route would not be easily accessible, particularly for the elderly or less mobile. The feedback was very clear, and as a result, we have decided not to go ahead with this proposal. The feedback did also acknowledge that there was an issue with the congestion in North View. We will be working closely with Bristol City Council to resolve the issue.

Improving links to and from Southmead Hospital...

A proposal was made as part of the consultation to improve the links to Southmead Hospital. This would have involved Service 2 serving Southmead Road instead of Doncaster Road and Greystoke Avenue. Again, the majority of customers that would be impacted by the change did not support it. Much of the feedback was from customers who wanted the link maintained between Greystoke Avenue, Cribbs Causeway and Henleaze. After reviewing the feedback, we have decided not to implement this proposed change. There was support and demand for improved links to Southmead Hospital, but we have decided that this should not be achieved by negatively impacting our existing customers and links with other areas. We will continue to look at ways of improving links to and from Southmead Hospital.

Splitting Service 2 into separate services...

Options for splitting Service 2, as well as the option to provide alternative suggestions, were proposed as part of the consultation.

There were many differing views on whether and how Service 2 should be split, and after reviewing the data and feedback we have decided at this present time the service will not be split. We will continue to monitor the situation and will engage with customers and stakeholders again for any future changes.

We would like to thank all those who took part in the consultation. The feedback has been invaluable in helping us to make informed decisions on the forthcoming changes.”