Announcement secures future of vital service from South Bristol to other parts of the city
First West of England is to take over the running of the m1 metrobus service, which runs from Hengrove through to Cribbs Causeway, from Monday, 5th September.
The bus company has signed an agreement with Bristol Community Transport (BCT), after its parent HCT Group, one of the world’s leading transport social enterprises, announced that it would cease operation of the route due to multiple challenges such as the financial impact of the pandemic and the current surge in fuel and labour costs.
The m1 was introduced in January 2019 as part of a £230m city-wide rapid transit system that also includes the m2 (Long Ashton Park & Ride to the city centre) and m3 (Emersons Green to the city centre) services as well as the soon to be launched m4 service (Bristol Parkway Station to the Mall at Cribbs Causeway). Today the route is back to pre-Covid levels, providing a service to more than 50,000 passengers a week.
The metrobus development was designed to unlock economic growth, tackle poor public transport links in South Bristol, long bus journey times and high car use in the north fringe of the city and M32 motorway corridor. metrobus vehicles have priority over other traffic at junctions and use a combination of segregated busways and bus lanes. The cashless service only includes key destinations en route to ensure faster boarding and shorter journey times.
Staff from BCT, including drivers and head office staff, have been offered roles at First West of England.
Says Doug Claringbold, Managing Director at First West of England: “The m1 service has played a vital role in connecting South Bristol to other areas across the city and therefore it’s crucial to ensure the continuity of this route, which has performed extremely strongly, with passenger numbers now at pre-Covid levels.
“BCT has been very much behind the success of the route and we will ensure that we continue to provide a first class service to existing and new passengers. As we have been operating the buses on all other metrobus routes and will be doing so on the new m4 service, we feel we are ideally placed to ensure that BCT’s legacy lives on.
“We also look forward to welcoming BCT’s drivers and head office staff into the First West of England family.”
Added Lynn McClelland, Chief Executive Officer at HCT Group: “We are very proud at what we have achieved with the m1 service and whilst this is a sad day for BCT, we know that the route will be in very good hands with First West of England. It has been an absolute privilege to serve the people of Bristol over the past decade and to have played a key part in the success of the metrobus network, and in particular the m1, which has been critical to delivering great connections for people living and working in South Bristol to other parts of the city.”
The m1 will continue to run as normal, operating Monday to Sunday. There has been a transitional period over the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of September to allow for the changeover of operators as publicised by BCT on Friday, so there will be no service today (Sunday). Details of alternative First West of England services that customers can use today (Sunday), plus the new m1 timetable from Monday 5th September, can be found on the First West of England website.