Great Western Coffee Shop

I needed to find the fare for a simple return bus journey in Bristol, so I called the First Bristol switchboard (to avoid calling their 0845 number).  Lady was very friendly and put me through to customer services.

It then took 6 minutes for them to find my fare.  I assume she wasn't located in Bristol, even though I called an 0117 number, as I had to educate her that Coombe Lane (despite showing on their map as being in-between Westbury on Trim and Sea Mills) is not in Shirehampton.  She didn't quite understand when I said it was the other side of the downs to Blackboy Hill.  She also struggled with me asking whether bus 40 or 41 would be the best option.

I could even hear her asking a colleague nearly every question which I asked her - not even putting me on old whilst they were discussing how/where to find the prices.  Probably some of the worst customer service I've had recently.

I almost fell over when she told me the price: ^4.00 for a return from Clifton Down to Coombe Lane (which takes about 20 minutes).  For that price, I can get the train to Bath Spa and still have change left over, or even buy an advance single ticket to Southampton.

My next question was going to be finding out about the mysterious "First Bus Link" train tickets, which even their Travel Shop weren't entirely sure about, but I decided not to bother as she struggled with a simple fare question.

Why is it that such simple tasks turn into such a pickle these days?

To be fair to the lady, she might have been new and I doubt if First Bus had given her much training other than, "It's all on the computer" and   "Ask Mary if in doubt".

Perhaps you should invoice First Bus for your time training their staff.

I believe the ^4.00 you've been quoted is the FirstDay fare, giving unlimited travel across First Bristol buses all day. I think the return fare should be in the region of ^3.30, that's what I pay from Lawrence Weston to the City Centre, can't believe that the return is now the same price as a day ticket.

If it's The Bristol Uni Sports Complex you're heading to, then you want service 41, but bear in mind that this service does not operate in the evenings, the last bus that serves Coombe Lane leaves Clifton Down at approx 1835 (1825 Sat, no buses to Coombe Lane on a Sun).

The Bristol Buslink ticket is a train ticket to Bristol Temple Meads combined with a bus journey from the station (and return if applicable) which allows travel into Broadmead, The Centre and AFAIK up as far as Clifton Triangle/Wills Memorial Building.

Thanks bignosemac, that is where I'm heading (but not for any sports, thank goodness!) so I'll be using the 41.

She also said that a single is ^2.45, so ^4 for a return is quite believable.

Just for balance I thought I'd big up my driver on the Number 40 tonight. After crossing the Downs the service is due to go round a part of Stoke Bishop called Rockleaze. Unfortunately tonight someone had decided that, not only would they park on the bus stop, but also badly enough to prevent the bus squeezing through as there were parked cars on t'other side as well.

The driver tooted his horn to no avail, I got out and knocked on a couple of doors to try find the owner of the car - again to no avail. So in the end I became a temporary Traffic Warden and helped the bus driver reverse out - not easy as there were parked cars on the junction as well - so he could take an alternate route.

Our driver apologised to the passengers, even though it was not his fault, and refunded one person who was unable to get off in the right place as their stop had to be skipped.

When we got to my stop, the driver offered me a refund, I asked if it was coming out of his own pocket, and when he said yes, I politely declined. Still I got his name and a letter of praise is winging it's way to First Bristol.

Good work, bignosemac!  ;) :D ;D

A photo of that offending parked vehicle, being sent to the local constabulary, would round that story off very neatly?

Driver did just that after my suggestion, no cam with me today. I have a mobile phone that is just that - a phone! He later got a message over the radio that matters were in hand to tow the vehicle. Serves them right!

Maybe you could even drop the Bristol Evening Post a line as well so they have a chance to make ammends over false allegations against a First driver recently. Maybe they could show report on how some drivers go out of their way to help people

You read my mind!

Was just about to drop in a post to the effect of "this thread is starting to read like the letters section in the Bristol Evening Post.

 :D

the term First Bus really annoys me. The phrase FirstBus went out years ago and was only used for a short time after Bagderline and Grampian Transport merged. When they progressed into the rail market they became known as Firstgroup up until to the present day.
However as the name First Great Western is a brand name the company is known as First Greater Western in Companies House. Likewise the Brand name of Firstgroup in Companies House is as we all know First

Sorry, should've written First Bristol Limited trading as First.  Or did I speak to First Somerset & Avon Limited trading as First?  :D

I was just trying to differentiate between the bus and rail divisions of First.

Edit: Just noticed that First Bristol Limited used to be called Badgerline Limited and First Somerset & Avon Limited was Bristol Omnibus Company Limited.  Ah, haven't times changed!  I also found that Stagecoach in the Portsmouth area is still operated by Southdown Motor Services Limited trading as Stagecoach.

Odd!

I live in Bath which has First Somerset and Avon written on the side of its busses. And not so long back we had the yellow and green livery of Baderline adorning our streets.
Just prior the National Bus Company being split up the Bristol Omnibus became known just as Bristol operating within the city limits of the city with same name. Outside it was known as Bristol Country Bus. Privitisation brought about the Country Bus side of things under the Badgerline umbrella whilst the Bristol part of things were then known as Cityline and were seperate companies at privatisation. It was a little while after that a amalgation of the two took place although still run with seperate liveries etc, A little further along in time Mr Lockhead got together with Mr Smallwood and FirstBus (as it was called then) was born!

First Somerset and Avon also includes the former Southern National Ltd operations of south and west Somerset. The Southern National Ltd operations in Dorset became part of First Hampshire and Dorset.

Southern National Ltd, covering Somerset and Dorset, was created in 1983 as one of the 4 companies formed from the split of NBC regional subsidiary, Western National*. The split was the first step toward privatisation. This revived the Southern National name. The areas of operation in Somerset were previously part of Western National and had not been in the previous incarnation of Southern National which was absorbed into Western National in the late 1960s.

*The other three being Devon General Ltd (S&E Devon), North Devon Ltd t/a Red Bus (N Devon) and Western National Ltd (Plymouth and Cornwall).

I've had some good experiences and bad experiences with Buses in Bristol...

One thing that really irritates me is if you ask the bus driver for a fare he doesn't know about, and then tries to accuse you of being awkward...

Has anyone ever tried to buy a First Freedom Pass South West?? Well you can only get them on the buses...! I've had a rant about trying to get one before on this forum... I tried to purchase that ticket from 3 different drivers, at the railway station and at the bus station... The 4th Bus Driver did understand the ticket I wanted, but still sold me the wrong one... I wanted the South West Version and not the Bristol Only Pass... To which I spent 45 minutes having an argument in Bristol Bus Station trying to solve... The inspector there really wasn't that interested... So in the end I decided I attempted to pay the excess at BRI... The Ticket Office couldn't help me either and said "Make the journey and if anyone picks it up, offer to pay the excess (if applicable) and simply plead ignorance" So I made a journey right the way down to Midsomer Norton from Bristol travelling on 2 Trains & 3 Buses... Not one raised eyebrow! ::) :-X

To be honest that really annoyed me because I am a genuine fare paying passenger and desperately tried to pay the difference but nobody was willing to help me out... So really I was left with little choice... I could have paid for the tickets out of the zone seperately, but why should I be out of pocket because of a c0ckup by their staff and not me... also, I bet a passenger who is not a frequent traveller would have paid the driver and not even realised they had a ticket that wasn't valid!

My experience of Bristol's buses is pretty poor. Mainly due to the fact that the bus driver didn't know where he was (or was just being awkward!)

I had an argument with a driver over a fare on the 70 service at City of Bristol College - Ashley Down Road. The Driver should change his fare zone just after Muller Road depot stop. The Fare was normally ^2.70 (Can't remeber exactly) into the city centre. However this driver was certain he didn't change his zone until the Junction for Montpellier just after City of Bristol College. So he attempted to charge me the fare from Muller Road (^3.60 Again can't remember exactly). I argued that he was wrong and even showed him the day before's ticket and the ticket before that... He then said in a way less polite than i'm going to say now, Pay the fare or no travel... Now normally I would have waited for the next one as the 70 runs every 20 minutes... Unfortunately for me I had to connect onto a Coach Service at the bus station, so I paid up >:(

I got to the bus station and went straight to the ticket office to complain and ask for the 90p back, the women again was really unhelpful and said, "You should have queried the price with the driver" to which i replied "I did and he said, pay or no travel and I had a connection to make here" upon realising that I was going nowhere I demanded to speak to the manager upon which I now had an audience of about 20 people... The manager was a bit cheesed of that I was causing a major stink and told me it's only 90p, I replied that it was about the principle and that if he did not give me the 90p back straight away I would be writing a formal letter of complaint and getting trading standards as well as passenger focus involved... The speed in which my 90p appeared was astonishing ;D

Cuts both ways, that one. I'm often undercharged for my fare on a certain route operated by Wessex Connect. Again it is because the drivers do not know where the fare boundary is. I'm hypocritical when this happens. I'll happily accept the undercharging, but woe-be-tide anyone overcharging me!

Easy way to remedy this problem is at certain bus stops, have a sign saying start/end of zone x or y. That way even unfamiliair drivers should have no problem on when zones start or finish. The outlay shouln't be too much as it can be a quick sticker added whilst Clear Channel I think it is do the usual changing of adverts at bus stops.

In Torbay the buses run on GPS or something fancy like that, meaning the ticket machine knows where it is.

Bust stop signs have had something similar on them for years. A sticker or panel saying 'Fare Stage' is the most common.

They seem to be a thing of the past weirdly as the only places I've seen them are on old signs for bus stops from the days of South Wales Transport in South Wales for example. If anything they should be even more relevant now such signs with drivers not necessarily being local anymore as they once were

I know a certain Bus Stop in Flax Bourton definately has one... or it did when I was last there :) I've seen them on the outskirts of Taunton and Bridgewater too :)

Yes: at Cambridge Batch.  ;)