A Bradley Stoke bus shelter has been “creatively dressed” as part of a stunt to celebrate the official launch of ten new showcase bus routes across the West of England.
The shelter at the Bradley Stoke Surgery bus stop (northbound) on Brook Way has been decorated with an image of a sofa and two hanging pictures.
It is one of 40 decorated as part of a £40,000 Super Shelter Trail, mimicking last year’s popular Wow! Gorillas initiative staged by Bristol Zoo.
Members of the public are being invited to have their photos taken with family and friends at the shelters and the best images will be rewarded with prizes that include an iPad, an iPod Touch and a family ticket to At-Bristol and the Bristol Aquarium. The closing date for entries is Friday 27th April and winners will be announced by Friday 11th May.
The 73 route through Bradley Stoke forms part of Corridor 4 of the Greater Bristol Bus Network (GBBN), a £79 million project that started in 2007.
According to a survey conducted in July 2011, more than 80 per cent of passengers using bus service 73 (Cribbs Causeway to Bristol city centre) were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the service compared to 2007 when satisfaction scores were just 42 per cent.
The total cost of the GBBN is £79 million – comprising £42.4 million from the Department of Transport and £22.5 million from First Bus with the balance funded by the four West of England Councils. The money has been spent on bus priority schemes, new buses, real time information systems, bus shelters and service improvements.
Progress on Corridor 4 hasn’t always run as smoothly as the local Councils might have wished. The scheme’s original plan included a number of new bus lanes and general traffic lanes at the top end of Bradley Stoke Way and on the exit road from the Aztec West Business Park. Those features were later abandoned in favour of a new northbound bus lane on the A38 Gloucester Road, south of the Aztec West Roundabout, after First Bus announced it was axing journeys into the business park.
The bus stop on the northbound A38 just south of the roundabout was re-positioned as part of the GBBN work but, despite that, had to be taken out of operation for the 73 service in September 2011 because buses pulling away from the stop were finding it impossible to get across the general traffic lanes to make a right turn into Bradley Stoke Way.
Within Bradley Stoke, hundreds of metres of pavement had to be dug up to bring electricity supplies to real-time information displays installed at the new-style shelters. Connections were made to nearby street light columns but these had to be of the “right type”, necessitating long trench runs which often passed “unsuitable” lamp posts along the way.
Improvements on other parts of the 73 route have included the installation of new bus lanes on Great Stoke Way in Stoke Gifford (near Sainsbury’s) and Filton Avenue.
The official launch of the Corridor 4 route comes just months after the Government gave approval for the latest major public transort project in the area, the North Fringe to Hengrove Bus Rapid Transport scheme. As currently planned, this will see the main bus route through Bradley Stoke switch from Brook Way to Bradley Stoke Way. Expected to be completed by the end of 2016, this new service will make use of the proposed new Stoke Gifford by-pass that will link the Parkway North Roundabout on Great Stoke Way to the Avon Ring Road (emerging opposite the Holiday Inn).
More information and related links:
- GBBN Showcase Corridor 4 & 7 leaflet [PDF, 3.1MB] (Travel+)
- Super Shelter Trail leaflet [PDF, 182kB] (Travel+)
Perhaps they should start by making sure that at all Bus stops on the GBBN route have shelters in the first place.
The previous stop between Courtlands and Saxon Way doesnt even have a shelter, even though its part of the GBBN route!
Seem to remember the Town Council were looking into doing something about that …
U7, u7a and u8 are being withdrawn after may. Now do we put pot plants and magazine holders in our bus stops to make the trek more manageable for those of us that have a long trek to the showcase bus stop. We could break our long walk with pitstops at the disused stops along the way.
Shaun – you won’t need a bus stop put up there – there won’t be any buses come May so won’t be waiting there.
And we will all have to shoulder the costs when they inevitably get vandalised.
What a ridiculous idea, I would rather the money was spent on more buses to improve public transport than half baked “art”.