City mayor Marvin Rees has said he is massively concerned about buses in the city right now, describing it as a "challenged service".
This comes after bus passengers took up to four hours to get across Bristol as the “chaos” of a new timetable came into force after more than 30 services were axed or reduced. West of England metro mayor Dan Norris has described the situation as “unacceptable”.
First Bus made changes to some routes in and around the city in a bid to improve reliability and frequency, but the initial impact on the first working day since they took effect on Sunday led to nightmare journeys for some. The controversial withdrawal of the T2 from Thornbury to Bristol via Cribbs Causeway and the Y2 between Chipping Sodbury, Yate and Bristol appear to have caused the most disruption as commuters try to work out new journeys, often involving more changes.
Read more: Boy laid to rest in peppa Pig coffin after sudden death at Bristol Children's Hospital
In response, First West of England said early signs were that the new timetables had significantly reduced the number of cancelled buses and blamed much of the disruption on Monday on the huge lorry fire on the M5. Speaking on BBC Radio Bristol breakfast show today (Tuesday), Mr Norris, who leads the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), which is in charge of the region’s strategic transport, said it had taken a 14-year-old student four hours to get three buses from Thornbury to Filton College.
Speaking in a briefing yesterday (April 29), city mayor Marvin Rees said he is massively concerned about the latest bus changes and described buses as a challenged service. He said: "We talk about public transport that connects people to people, people to opportunities.
"Because again people are being left behind by the centre of the city - too often we think of Hartcliffe, Withywood, Southmead. Any time there is a loss of service, particularly to those most vulnerable communities, we think that costs the city."
Mr Rees said that bus companies are private companies and therefore they have no control over them, adding the company has to produce a return for its board that isn't based locally.
"I think public transport, like health or education, is a public good and needs to come back under public control," he said. "So we can wield it to build coherent, inclusive communities, so that we can drive the decarbonisation of the fleet as well."
