Bus passengers say they are having to stand in lengthy queues opposite Lawrence Hill station during the morning rush hour, as most of the buses pass them by having already reached full capacity. Temporary closure of the 6 and 7 bus stops along Whitehall Road has made matters worse, as those who were previously using that route into the city centre are now having to join large crowds of people opposite the station instead.
An Easton resident who works in the city centre, who asked to only be named as Kendall, has been doing the commute for the last seven years. Although he said the buses have “always been hit and miss”, his journey into work is now taking a lot longer. He says he is having to allow an hour and 15 minutes to get to work on time now due to constant delays and full-up buses.
Although there are seven different bus routes that serve the Lawrence Hill Station bus stop towards the city centre, at 8.20am on Wednesday (March 16) there were four full buses that passed the queue without stopping, before one finally arrived that had the capacity to allow passengers to board.
Read more: First Bus shares full list of Bristol services set to be cut back or cancelled
When that bus did arrive, the First Bus app listed it has only having the capacity to allow 10 more passengers on the bus, but there were at least 20 people at the stop who had already watched the four full buses pass them by. Kendall, who does the same journey every morning, told Bristol Live that full buses are a regular occurrence: “It takes one hour 15 minutes because of the bus delays and full buses.
“I used to leave at 8.20am or 8.30am but now I have to leave a quarter to eight to get to work at nine o’clock. I’ve just started a new job so I can’t afford to be late.
“It’s not made me late for work because I leave early enough but it’s very on the line. I don’t think I should have to allow an hour and 15 minutes when it’s just a 20 minute journey.
“All they need is to have a couple more buses on these routes. Even just one more bus and they could sort it out.”
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A closure at Russell Town Avenue has caused the 6 and the 7 services to reach full capacity, due to the diversion causing these buses to travel down Church Road rather than Whitehall Road, which is a less busy commuter route into town.
This temporary closure also means that passengers like Kendall, who would usually board the bus outside City Academy on Russell Town Avenue, are having to join long queues at the much busier Lawrence Hill Station bus stop.
First Bus announced the temporary closure of bus stops along Whitehall Road between Chalks Road and Russell Town Avenue on its website on March 4. It stated that due to bridge repair works, the three stops would be closed from March 7 until further notice.
The closure has caused confusion for some passengers due to the absence of physical signs on the bus stops, and because at least one of the three stops continues to display live bus times as if they were still serving that bus stop. Kendall, who regularly uses that bus stop and refers to the First Bus mobile app to assist him on his journey, said that it was not obvious to him that the stop was closed - when he opens the app on his phone the stop is displayed as if there were still buses operating there.
He said: “It hasn’t been notified properly that the stop has been closed. I wasn’t aware at first, it’s not very clear.”
First Bus said due to the short notice of the closure it was unable to provide temporary bus stops. In regards to the closure First Bus stated: “Whitehall Road between Russell Town Avenue and Chalks Road will be closed to services 6 and 7 from first bus Monday March 7 until further notice (likely to be at least five days) to facilitate bridge repair works.
"Although the road is open under temporary traffic lights it has been deemed unsafe for our services to pass through safely. Services 6 and 7 heading towards Kingswood and Staple Hill instead of turning left into Russell Town Avenue will carry on along into Church Road to the traffic lights by Aldi and turn left into Chalks Road to the traffic lights and turn right to resume normal routes.
“Regretfully the bus stops Russell Town Avenue, Devon Road and Lyppiat Road will not be served. Due to the short notice of this closure there are no temporary bus stops currently positioned. Therefore passengers are advised to use either Lawrence Hill Station bus stop or Gordon Road bus stop in Whitehall Road. Services will also stop at all bus stops on Church Road diversion route in both directions."
First Bus has been approached for further comment.
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