Scaled-back bus service in Ashton Vale will ‘put jobs and livelihoods at risk’ say residents at stormy meeting with First boss

Residents of a ‘forgotten’ Bristol suburb said that plans to overhaul bus services in the area will ‘isolate the elderly’ and ‘put jobs and livelihoods at risk’ at a stormy public meeting to discuss the issue.

Dozens of angry residents met with First Bus director Chris Hanson and local Green Party Councillor Tessa Fitzjohn who organised the meeting at Ashton Vale Community Centre on Friday evening (February 4).

Due to removal of funding support in April, First Bus are reviewing their ‘less succesful’ routes in Bristol and have turned their attention to routes through Ashton Vale.

The suburb, which is around two miles outside of the city centre, has a specific problem as double decker buses are unable to pass under the Bristol – Portishead railway bridge on Ashton Drive.

This resulted in the launch of the 24a shuttle bus, which used to meet Service 24, but the service was deemed ‘expensive’ and unreliable.

So now First have decided to replace the shuttle bus with a new single decker Service 23 that will operate via Ashton Drive, under the bridge and then onwards towards Bedminster and the City Centre.

The problem is that Service 23 will only run hourly and won’t run at evenings or at all on Sundays, leaving Ashton Vale residents ‘cut off’ from public transport and making it difficult to travel without a car.

Service 24 is still running but from Winterstoke Road, which means a long walk for some residents of around 25 minutes.

One woman who spoke at the meeting told Mr Hanson: “This is going to put jobs and livelihoods at risk - whoever is in charge is making life very difficult for the people of Ashton Vale.

“I have no transport and I use the bus network to go everywhere, from around 6am to 10pm a day, as I work early shifts.

“I can walk to West Street to catch a bus if I have to, but not everyone is lucky enough to be able to walk that far or at all.

“It also means that me and my young children will have to walk home in the dark and the rain if there is no bus after 7pm.

“I think for all of us, the best service is one that gets us into the city centre - from there at least we can catch a connecting bus.

“I’ve seen many people using the current service including early shift workers, night-time workers and elderly people catching the bus to the Hippodrome. This is going to completely cut them off.

“People are struggling for money. We just can’t afford to catch a taxi from town.”

Turning to other residents, she said: “It’s so important that we fight and don’t lose this.”

Mr Hanson said that while he was keen to find a solution, First was working against passenger numbers less than 70% of pre-pandemic levels while the firm were struggling to recruit drivers.

He added that First were standing on a ‘precipice of funding’ which currently meant the company was unable to increase the frequency of the Service 23 buses.

One elderly resident replied: “We know you’ve got save money but we feel victimised by this.

“We’d have to walk miles to catch the M2 service.

“There will be nothing for the workers, or for people who want to go out socialising in the evenings. Why can’t you just put a few more buses on?

“You’ve already put the fares up and now we’re stuck.”

Another resident said: “The thing is Ashton Vale is always presented as this older people’s residental area but there are young families here too.

“We even have Ashton Vale Primary School. It’s a community that has a mix. But we feel like the forgotten part of the city.”

Mr Hanson told the residents: “We are about 50 drivers short at Hengrove Depot and I simply don’t have the staff to sustain an evening service.

“None of this is your problem and I ask you to accept my heartfelt apologies that you haven’t got the service you want.

“It’s not good enough and we want to make it right.”

Comments from the public meeting will now be put to the West of England Combined Authority to see if a solution can be found.