Services on the Cribbs Causeway to Hengrove MetroBus route, which will pass through Bradley Stoke, connecting it with UWE and the city centre, will now not start running until “late summer”, the Journal can exclusively reveal.
Originally scheduled to begin running in September 2017, the projected start date for services on the M1 route, as it is now known, has been progressively put back, first to “early 2018” (in August 2017) and most recently (in December 2017) to “summer 2018”.
The latest projection was given in an update provided to the Journal in late January by the West of England Councils’ MetroBus team.
The installation of iPoints (combined information, route planning and ticketing machines which will be a feature of all MetroBus stops) is now not expected to be completed on the M1 route until July, a significant advance on the “late February/early March” date given to us just two months ago.
Elsewhere on the network, the previously advertised MetroBus route between Emersons Green and Parkway Station via UWE appears to have been quietly shelved, with the other (M3) route between Emersons Green and the city centre being altered to take in UWE and use the new bus-only M32 junction on Stoke Lane. Consequently, it is understood that there will now be no MetroBus services accessing Parkway until the Cribbs Patchway MetroBus Extension is completed in 2021.
A MetroBus spokesperson said:
“It is expected that, by this time, the extra patronage will be in place to extend the service so that it runs from Emersons Green to Cribbs Causeway via Parkway; utilising the stops at Hunts Ground and the associated Park & Ride site.”
Work to remodel the environs of Parkway Station to allow buses to arrive and depart through the rear entrance is expected to start in autumn 2018.
Announcements about which operator(s) will run MetroBus services have been repeatedly postponed. Currently, we only know that First Group will operate the Ashton Vale to Temple Meads (M2) route.
Asked for an update on when an announcement about the operator(s) of the Bradley Stoke (M1) MetroBus route would be made, the spokesperson said:
“The current information is that there will be an announcement in mid-February. The operators’ announcements are a matter for the operators themselves. We can only pass on the information that they give.”
For more information, visit travelwest.info/metrobus
Above: MetroBus route map (2017). Note the Emersons Green to Parkway route (shown in green).
Above: MetroBus route map (January 2018). Note that the Emersons Green to Parkway route has been removed and no MetroBus services are shown to access Parkway Station.
This article originally appeared in the February 2018 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine (on page 10). The magazine is 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.
BSJ, why are there virtually no details about what is causing the delays, I.e. what is wrong with the ticket machines being ready and installed, and why aren’t the operators yet in place for a service that should now be running? And why aren’t there any comments from metrobus or the councils to show someone is actually managing this and trying to stop the delays spiralling further and further away? It seems a complete joke and no one taking accountability for the failed delivery.
Thanks, Neil.
@Neil Pollard, You could put these questions to your MP or councillor: writetothem.com