A new bus service being introduced by First from Sunday 23rd August will introduce a much called-for direct link between Bradley Stoke and Southmead Hospital.
The new 77 service, which will operate hourly Monday to Saturday daytime, will also serve another major local hospital, the Bristol Royal Infirmary.
Running between Thornbury and Bristol city centre, the new service will follow the route of the current 83 between Thornbury and Parkway Station. From there it will travel via Southmead Hospital to Westbury-on-Trym, from where it will follow the route of the current 520 to the city centre via Henleaze, Cotham and the Bristol Royal Infirmary.
The 83 and 520 services will be withdrawn from the same date.
Entering Bradley Stoke from the Aztec West Roundabout, buses on the new 77 service will travel down Bradley Stoke Way to the Patchway Brook Roundabout (near Aldi), before traversing the full length of Brook Way, and on to Parkway via Orpheus Avenue and Hatchet Road.
The route of the new 77 service is very similar to one proposed to First and South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) by Bradley Stoke town councillor Tom Aditya almost a year ago, in response to requests from local residents. At the time, SGC’s transport operations manager Roy Steele said the route “might not be commercially viable in the current economic climate”, but promised he would discuss it with First.
Timetables for the new service will be available from early August on the First Bristol and Bath website (but are already available on the Traveline South West website). Hard copy timetables will be available from mid-August.
Other local bus services being changed from 23rd August include the X18, which will now run between Kingswood and Southmead Hospital (instead of Aztec West) and the X74 Bradley Stoke to Bristol city centre service, on which additional journeys will be introduced between UWE and the city centre (during UWE term time).
The local changes are part of a raft of service alterations being introduced across the wider Bristol area. Jenny MacLeod, general manager for First in Bristol said:
“These changes will create new bus links between hospitals, schools as well as where people live and work. We have worked hard with local residents to ensure that the bus services are working for the communities we serve.”
“Bus services in and around Bristol are increasingly popular and this is great news. We have increased the amount of time we give many buses to complete their routes to try to iron out those routes that are suffering punctuality issues.”
Related link: Bus Services in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
Map: Route of the First Bus 77 service (click to enlarge).
This article originally appeared in the August 2015 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,500 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
