First Bus has confirmed they are changing the route of the only bus which serves Ashton Gate Stadium so it also goes past the Long Ashton Park and Ride - but it won’t stop there.
Bus company bosses have decided it will take too long for the 24 bus to do anything other than drive along the entrance road to the park and ride.
Sports fans, local residents and have long called for the 1,500-space car park to be fully utilised whenever matches or events take place to help end the matchday parking nightmare in BS3.
There were would mean the park and ride car park would finally have a link to Ashton Gate.
The car park is the biggest in South Bristol, and a mile away, Ashton Gate is Bristol’s biggest sporting and events venue.
But now, the only bus that does stop at the Long Ashton Park and Ride - the Metrobus m2 - drives straight past Ashton Gate, and the only bus that does stop at Ashton Gate drives straight past the Long Ashton Park and Ride.
The changes to the route of the 24 bus were made so that it can switch from a single-decker to a double decker bus, and avoid the low bridge on Ashton Road at the entrance to Ashton Vale.
First said the changes would improve the service, mean the route had more capacity, and be able to take fans to games more easily from the city centre.
The route is being changed to go directly up Winterstoke Road, past Ashton Gate Stadium, and then into Ashton Vale via the new link road.
That takes it past the Long Ashton Park and Ride, opening up the possibility of a direct link between the car park and the stadium.
But a spokesperson for First Bus said: “The 24 is not intended to be a Park and Ride service as this would add further time into the service and the m2 already fulfils the Park and Ride role.”
Restrictions on the use of the Long Ashton Park and Ride were written in when the car park was originally built more than 25 years ago.
That, and issues over ownership of the land, mean Bristol City Council has not been able to take complete control of the park and ride and open it up fully.
The m2 Metrobus route replaced the old Long Ashton Park and Ride service a year ago this week, but although the nearest stop on the m2 route is a 600m walk from the stadium, Metrobus admitted that restrictions on the capacity of that service meant it was at Ashton Gate.
The council’s restrictions also mean that Bristol Sport have been unable to use the Long Ashton park and ride for their ‘AG’ matchday bus services that use every other park and ride car park in the city.
A Bristol City Council spokesperson said that they were nearing a position where a planning application is imminent.
“The Long Ashton Park and Ride is now open and being used on match days,” the spokesperson claimed.
The Park and Ride was closed for the first Bristol City game of the season last month, against Leeds United, because the match took place on a Sunday, when the car park is closed and the m2 Metrobus does not run.
“We are in discussion with North Somerset Council regarding the planning conditions associated with the site, including the supporting of Sunday parking, and we hope that a formal planning process will begin within the next three months," the council spokesperson added.
“We have had to focus on the Compulsory Purchase Order process ahead of specific proposals being brought forward.
“Measures have already been put in place to help to improve security and management at the site, following the introduction of Metrobus, to bring it up to the standards of other similar facilities operated by Bristol City Council,” he added.
It was more than two years ago, in August 2017, that Bristol City Council announced it had a plan to take over full control of the Park and Ride car park, two weeks after Bristol Sport’s executive chairman Martin Griffiths said ' at why such a big, publicly-owned car park just a mile from the ground was not open for fans attending matches or events.
The new route for the 24, a regular bus service that goes from nearby Ashton Vale, into the city centre, through Easton and Lockleaze before ending at Southmead Hospital, comes into effect at the end of next week, but there is one change to the original plan.
Residents of one part of Ashton Vale began a petition against the idea of the new 24 route including a loop around Silbury Road, and First Bus agreed to cut that part of the road, and new bus stops planned for the road.
To make sure the double decker buses can get down Duckmoor Road, alongside Ashton Gate Stadium on matchdays, and not be blocked by parked cars, Bristol City Council intends to increase the amount of double yellow lines on that street and on side streets.
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