The Bristol Metrobus bus rapid transit network has carried almost 25 million passengers since launch, with the busiest of its four services – the m1 – celebrating its fifth anniversary in early January.
Metrobus is operated by First West of England (FWoE) with a fleet of Scania Alexander Dennis double-deckers, most of which are fuelled by compressed natural gas.
The m1 between Cribbs Causeway and Hengrove Park accounts for more than 13 million of the total number carried by Metrobus. That makes it FWoE’s busiest service, the operator says. It commenced operation in January 2019, with the first Metrobus route – the m3 – having started in May 2018. The m1 has seen growth of almost 30% since launch.
FWoE claims that Metrobus – which takes advantage of significant priority measures and bus-only roads – delivers better-than-average reliability.
Over the past 12 months, 90% of Metrobus journeys ran on time compared to the 80% average (for non-frequent services) in England cited in the most recent bus statistics from the Department for Transport. Frequent services are measured by excess waiting times under those figures.
In addition, FWoE says that 98.3% of Metrobus trips take place in full, with the remaining 1.7% cancelled or reduced due to issues including driver or vehicle difficulties.
Development of Metrobus has been via a partnership involving Bristol City Council, FWoE, South Gloucestershire Council and the West of England Combined Authority. Prior to its demise in 2022, HCT Group subsidiary Bristol Community Transport was also involved as operator of route m1 under contract to FWoE.
Speaking about the m1 anniversary and patronage levels, FWoE Special Projects Manager Alex Bain says: “These figures are great news for the bus network in Bristol, and prove what a success story Metrobus is.
“To have the m1 as the West of England’s most popular service, passenger numbers on the others continuing to increase, and so few services cancelled or cut short, is testament to the great work of our colleagues and drivers, which is encouraging more customers to choose Metrobus.”
