Supposed to be like a tram on tyres innit?
The only thing we can say with any confidence is that MetroBust, if and when it finally arrives, will look nothing like the pictures in the original propaganda leaflets to support the "consultation". ("This is what we are doing. Please say why you agree with it.") There will never be a "bendybus" with the wheels cleverly covered so that everybody thinks it's a tram standing outside the Arnolfini. We are getting a couple of new roads, some bus lanes, and some new gas powered buses like the 110 other buses that First are ordering for general use throughout the city. It will not be a "tram-like experience on state-of-the-art vehicles using mainly segregated routes" but a bus-like bus, diesel for 2 years, on a road-like road in the main.
First have said they will order 30 (not sure if that is 30 more or 30 of the 110) to run on the MetroBust routes. They have undertaken to operate only the Ashton Vale to (somewhere near) Temple Meads (AVTM) so far. That has a total of 19 stops including the one-directional City Centre loop, and a total round trip journey time from Long Ashton Park and Ride to Long Ashton Park and Ride of around 45 minutes, according to the flawed studies. That gives a headway of 90 seconds, or a bus at every bus stop, with 11 stops having two buses. You would probably need 120 drivers, plus support, to provide such a service. First were envisaging 3 buses per hour to begin with, which certainly won't need 30 buses. Are they, by any chance, expecting to bag at least one of the other two routes, but haven't told us yet?
So, looking at some of the rather convoluted routes illustrated in that map, is that mileage determined 'as the crow flies', or by distance actually travelled along the route?
The routes are convoluted in order to pass close to as many "disadvantaged" people as possible, be they elderly, infirm, unemployed, or just plain old down on their luck. That helped to inflate the benefit-cost ratio (
BCR▸ ) as calculated by Webtag to just above the magic number 2, with a bit of creative arithmetic. MetroBust is a box-ticking exercise, remember, not a serious public transport option. What CfN asks may be an unintended consequence of this. From the Patchway stop at the end of Highwood Road to Bristol Parkway is comfortably under three miles by the direct route. But go via Aztec West, using the MetroBust route, and it is almost 3½ miles. If the "crow flies" standard is adopted, it would be cheaper to go further.
Similarly, the distance from the Long Ashton Park and Ride to Anchor Road (the most popular destination) is 2.5 miles - but not via MetroBust, which will go via somewhere near Temple Meads and Cabot Circus first. That will cost £5.00 return, as opposed to the current £3.00. You couldn't really do it "crow flies" because Cabot Circus is over 3 miles, especially with the BCR-enhancing dog-leg through Ashton Vale and over the new theme-park ride bridge. Anyone going to Cabot Circus could buy a ticket for Anchor Road, and get off early. Worse still, two children under 16 currently go free of charge with an adult paying a fare from Long Ashton Park and Ride. There is no mention of such a concession from MetroBust. All of which makes me think that the existing 903 bus service will be sacrificed to the gods of MetroBust, whether we like it or not.
You might almost think that someone hasn't thought all this through properly.
Click on the map to explore geographics
