Road, Rail & Access Issues

[TheLocalYokel]

was at Churchill gate traffic lights today and a falcon coach up from devon was hailed by a man and women. coach pulled into layby,put 2 cases in luggage compartment man and women got on and coach departed. my question is. is this a hail and stop anywhere on route or would this be pre booked. I was suprised to see this happen,but there must be a simple answer to this.it was about mid day.

All the bus stops along the A38 seem to have timetables for the Falcon (or at least the ones I use when I go out walking) which indicates that it will pick up or set down there as a normal bus would. I was waiting at the bus stop at the bottom of Redhill last week and was amused to see that the Falcon was available to pick up or set down about every two hours throughout the night. I can't think that there would be many takers at that fairly remote spot at any time let alone in the middle of the night.

The Falcon website timetable lists the main stops between Plymouth and Brent Knoll - where it leaves the M5 northbound to join the A38 (reverse going south) - after which it states: Any Stop Between Brent Knoll & Bridgwater Road, Ashton Gate & Bristol Waterfront.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

kraktoa said:

One of the metro mayoral candidates Mr Savage is today announcing plans to connect Bristol, Bath, UWE and Bristol airport by tram.

Pie in sky or vote winning strategy?

Probably pie in the sky because from what I've read Mr Savage is not one of the front runners. That said, whenever the local media does an item on the metro mayoral elections few people seem to have heard about it. Some, when interviewed, assume it's something to do with the MetroBus.

So as the voting turn-out is likely to be very low probably anything might happen in terms of who is elected. No wonder people are confused. Bristol will have a metro mayor for the wider conurbation, a mayor for the city and a lord mayor for ceremonial purposes.

 

[superking]

Pie in sky or vote winning strategy?
you are correct in saying that local. what with north somerset not electing a metro mayor,and the airport and most of the tram line in north somerset.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Weston Airport Flyer

The below entry appears on the First Bristol website. The route will begin in April.

Following a separate competitive tender run by Bristol Airport, First is to introduce a brand new “Weston Airport Flyer” service, offering regular fast journeys from April onwards between the town centre and Bristol Airport, via Cleve*, Congresbury, and Worle. The service will run hourly from 0300am until 11pm, Monday to Sunday.

https://www.firstgroup.com/bristol-.../first-west-england-expands-weston-super-mare

The route is a completely different one to that taken by the current service between the airport and Weston - First's A2 service - which is essentially a link via a number of villages. It seems doubtful that both routes would continue.

* Should be Cleeve

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Weston Airport Flyer

Further to the previous post, the travelwest website is showing the Weston Flyer as route A3.

So from the end of April the following services will serve the airport:

A1 Bristol Airport Flyer - Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol country bus and coach station, 24 hours a day, 8/9 minute frequency for much of the time. Operated by First for the airport

A2 North Somerset Link - Weston-super-Mare via local villages, 0715-1937, hourly frequency. Operated by First

A3 Weston Airport Flyer - Weston-super-Mare limited stop (different route to the A2), 0300-2300, hourly frequency. Operated by First for the airport

A4 Bath Air Decker - Bath via south Bristol, Keynsham, Saltford, 0300-0049, half hourly frequency for much of the time. Operated by Bath Bus Company

South West Falcon - Plymouth, Exeter, Taunton and Bristol city centre, 24 hours a day, hourly frequency for much of the time. Operated by Stagecoach

Route 216 - Cardiff via Newport, 12 return journeys each 24 hours. Operated by Edwards Coaches for National Express

All the above services operate in liveried buses/coaches. Still no news as to whether the A2 will continue operating after the new A3 service begins.

The overnight National Express 404 service between London and Penzance also stops outside the terminal at 0245 each night.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The airport has now issued a press release about the new A3 Weston Flyer that commences operations on Sunday 30 April (see below). The existing First bus service A2 which also operates between Weston and the airport but along a different route to the new A3 will be retained for the time being pending an assessment of the impact of the A3.

First has also won a new contract to operate the existing A1 Flyer service between Bristol and the airport from 30 April. New vehicles will be introduced as part of the contract. The current buses came into service in 2010 and 2011 and replaced coaches that used to operate the Flyer service. Frequency will again be the summer every 8/9 minutes for much of the 24-hour period.

https://www.bristolairport.co.uk/ab...-centre/2017/4/weston-super-mare-airportflyer

New Airport Bus Route
Created: 21st Apr 2017

New service between Weston-super-Mare and Bristol Airport

The first of a new look fleet of buses will commence a new service on Sunday 30 April 2017 connecting Weston-super-Mare and Bristol Airport.

The new A3 AirportFlyer service will commence on Sunday 30th April having been successfully tendered and won by First Group. The service links the Airport to Cleeve, Congresbury, Worle and Weston-super-Mare railway station.

The hourly bus service will operate daily Monday to Sunday and Bank Holidays with the exception of Christmas Day. The first bus will depart Weston-super-Mare Railway Station departing at 03.00 and will provide an hourly service with the last bus departing at 22.00 hours. The return journey will commence from Bristol Airport again providing an hourly service between 04.00 until 23.00 hours.

Tickets for travel can be booked in advance online (available from the end of April) via mTickets or by paying the driver on the day of travel. Tickets will cost £5.00 single or £7.00 return, with concessions available. Tickets purchased can subsequently be used on the wider First network within Weston-super-Mare.

The new vehicles are wheelchair accessible and passengers are able to take their luggage on board with them, providing peace of mind and speeding up the boarding process.

Andrew Sherrington, General Manager for Weston-super-Mare, Wells and Bath said:
“It will be great for people who work at the airport as well as those jetting off on holiday, who now can start and end their holiday in style. We will provide a first-class service with better connectivity with our expanded network in Weston, high-quality buses and a very reliable service. We really have got something to shout about in Weston.”

Robert Sinclair, Chief Executive Officer, Bristol Airport, said:
“We are delighted to expand the public transport connections between Bristol Airport and Weston-super-Mare. It is our long-term objective to grow public transportation to the Airport. The new bus service will assist both passengers and staff needing frequent services to and from the Airport.”

Click here to download the service timetable and map.

 

[tpm]

BBC West reports that North Somerset Council is about to agree to spend £650k on an options study for better transport links to the airport.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

BBC West reports that North Somerset Council is about to agree to spend £650k on an options study for better transport links to the airport.

I heard that too, with the airport helping with the cost.

How do you spend that sort of money on a study? The cynic in me thinks it might involve the chosen ones off on jollies around the country and abroad 'to see how they do it there'.

 

[superking]

Things mentioned were,road alterations,tram service and train services.That will be good to see a tram or train lines.But there was no mention where the tram and train services were operating from. Be good to have a complete road from the motorway.It wonders where the money is coming from to pay for what ever is decided. Mony for a study is fine but the end product is putting into practice if or any thing is chosen.They only need to knock on my door and I could show and tell them what they want to know for a very much reduced fee as what has been suggested.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

It really is hard to see from where meaningful surface access improvements could come.

Rail A non-starter on expense grounds alone. Even though the Bristol-Exeter railway line is less than three miles away at its nearest point connecting to the airport several hundred feet above would entail serious civil engineering work. Furthermore, where would the rolling stock and train pathways come from?

Tram It cost nearly a billion pounds to connect central Edinburgh with EDI by tram. Connecting Bristol with BRS would not be any less and I'm not sure about a tram's capability on the long and fairly steep Barrow Hill, assuming any tram line would run alongside the A38. If not it would still have to climb up to the airport whichever way it went.

Bus The already opened South Bristol Link Road will be joined at Ashton Vale with the M2 Metrobus route from Temple Meads that is currently being built and which should be open later this year. I believe some of the A1 Airport Flyers will use this route which should reduce journey times, as part of the M2 Metrobus route is along dedicated busways. The current A1 route via Bedminster sees a lot of passengers joining and leaving the Flyer in that suburb so presumably some Flyers will still operate there.

An expensive study isn't needed for this as it's already going to happen.

The A38 would have to be widened if it was decided to have a bus lane along its entire length between city and airport. In fact you'd need two bus lanes - one on either side of the road for inbound and outbound. There would not be much of a gain because once outside the city boundary the traffic is relatively free flowing along the A38 to/from the airport except at certain times of the day.

Both Barrow Hill and Redhill have been widened to accommodate three traffic lanes along the A38 since the days I lived in that neck of the woods until the early 1960s, but unless properties are to be demolished there is limited scope for further widening.

Private Vehicles The obvious answer if cost and environmental issues did not intrude would be a direct motorway link from the M5 which is about six miles away, but that's another non-starter.

I fear that this study will do more than make recommendations that are little more than tinkering around the edges.

 

[tpm]

And there I was thinking I was the cynic!

I agree that a widened A38 with some bus lanes is the most likely outcome. Having said that, there was also talk about new alignments in places, both south of the airport and north of it (if I understood correctly).

Better linkage with the M5 would be superb of course. It doesn't necessarily have to be motorway grade, a nice dual carriageway where you can go more than 30mphs for most of the way would do just fine. The old transport strategy from 2008 or so talked about moving one of the motorway exits and an entirely new road between WSM and the airport. This would fit the bill I think. It also suggested that it would only make economic sense if coupled with a WSM industrial area thing on the other side if I remember correctly.

I suspect all of this has to be seen in a bigger context. The area between WSM and South Bristol will see many many thousands of new homes in the next 25 years. The question is mostly where exactly. Possibly three entire new villages along the A38 corridor north of the airport! That should provide at least a few more options for public transport.

Then surely the airport must be planning ahead for when passenger numbers approach 10mppa, the current cap. So this would be looking 10-25 years ahead at least.

The engineering difficulties and costliness of heavy rail access notwithstanding, I still believe it is essential for further growth in the long run and would work well within a wider MetroWest network. Where rolling stock would come from is probably the least of problems at this point. I suspect the airport's next masterplan will be for up to 15mppa and reiterate that heavy rail access is not economical below 15mppa in any case (and I'm sure they're right).

 

[TheLocalYokel]

10 mppa could be at the doorstep quicker than might be expected. In 2014 the airport handled 6.3 mppa. In 2017, barring an unforeseen catastrophe, it will be over 8 mppa. So that will be nearly 2 million more passengers in just three years. At the beginning of 2014 I would certainly not have suggested 8 million a year within the next three years.

Assuming they can get the 10 mppa planning limit raised the current site on the northside might be able to handle 12-13 mppa at a pinch and I bet it would be a pinch too, even with new stands on the area currently occupied by the admin block (old terminal). Beyond that the airport has suggested that a second terminal and apron on the southside would come into consideration, something they are not keen on because of operational complications amongst other things.

So there might come a time, perhaps around 12-13 mppa, when the airport really does become incapable of further growth. When (if) that level is reached who knows what the ramifications will be? By then the new villages and/or other substantial housing developments will undoubtedly have been built south of Bristol in the North Somerset local authority area and transport would have to be markedly improved airport or no airport.

 

[vickersviscount]

I listened to the interview with Elfa ap Rees on Radio Bristol the other morning,he was saying that Bristol airport was the only major airport without a dual Carriageway road or rail connection.When the interviewer mentioned that the spiralling cost of the Portishead line would preclude the chances of a rail line linking the airport being built he said that it might be possible to build a light railway connection.He also said that Bristol Airport was contributing over £400,000 of the consultation cost.I found a link to the Weston Mercury from last year where he mentioned the cost of an outline business case would cost two million pounds.

 

[superking]

The south side is used for the airbus contract now,so a extension to the building and reconfigure whats there could be done with not much cost. Then the likes of bm and the scheduled airlines could move over there. Extend the apron over there and strengthen the taxi ways and apron whats already there would free up a lot of extra space in the main terminal. As I remember this was talked about moving the scheduled air lines over there a few years back before they extended the main terminal.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The south side is used for the airbus contract now,so a extension to the building and reconfigure whats there could be done with not much cost. Then the likes of bm and the scheduled airlines could move over there. Extend the apron over there and strengthen the taxi ways and apron whats already there would free up a lot of extra space in the main terminal. As I remember this was talked about moving the scheduled air lines over there a few years back before they extended the main terminal.

This is what the BRS master plan says about increasing capacity above 9 mppa. It would involve a second terminal and apron on the southside, and a parallel taxiway from there. We know that currently the southside is general aviation and the Airbus corporate shuttle territory.

The master plan was published in 2006 and much has happened this since then that probably makes some of the conclusions out of date, particularly showing 9 mppa as the northside limit.

Nevertheless there would obviously come a time when the northside was 'maxed out'. Whether that is 10, 11 or even 12 mppa I'm not knowledgeable enough about the subject to give a meaningful opinion.

This is the relevant part of the master plan.

12.18 The Master Plan to 2015 delivers apron capacity for 9mppa by expanding the north side apron within the existing airport boundary. Options for further expansion of the aircraft apron include:

• Further expansion of the aircraft apron on the north side of the airfield. It might be possible to develop up to three aircraft stands to the west of the control tower by extending one stand depth to the north. Most of these stands would lie outside the existing airport boundary. The ground profile creates technical challenges with up to 4m of earth fill required in order to bring the ground up the required levels but this may not be an insurmountable issue. The noise impact on neighbouring residential properties of further apron encroachment north would be a concern and an acoustic wall to shield these properties would have an impact on the landscape. The capacity of the north side taxiway to handle the additional aircraft movements would need to be investigated further when more detailed information on the flight profiles is available. The north side apron is served by a single taxiway/apron taxilane and the issues concerned with its capacity of the taxiway have been considered in Chapter 7. Should it prove possible overcome these issues the additional stands provided might deliver capacity for around one million additional passengers per annum.
  
• The development of aircraft stands on the south side of the airfield, in the area currently occupied by the general aviation facility and the Silver Zone Car Park. The redevelopment involved would necessitate the relocation of car parking and the expansion of the airport land into adjacent farm land.
  
  Further consideration of the merits of these options will be undertaken in future reviews of the Master Plan when more information on the nature of demand is available to guide decision making.
  
  Second terminal

1. 12.19 The draft Master Plan concluded that new apron development on the south side of the runway would need to be brought into use in conjunction with a second, south side terminal building. However some consultees suggested that it may prove possible, and more cost effective, to transfer passengers to the north side existing terminal from aircraft in this location. This would need further consideration at the time more detailed proposals are prepared but at this stage it is difficult to envisage how satisfactory operational arrangements could be put in place for this transfer process. In terms of long term land use planning it would therefore be prudent to safeguard the delivery of the second terminal in line with the Air Transport White Paper proposals.
   
2. 12.20 In principle a second terminal should be deliverable. However the following issues need to be considered:
   • A south side parallel taxiway would be needed to avoid the need for aircraft to cross the runway to get to and from the north side parallel taxiway. The terrain at the west end of the runway is particularly challenging and involves land outside BIA ownership.
     
   • The second terminal site is currently occupied by car parking. This would need to be relocated to suitable adjoining land. Expansion of the airport land into adjacent farm land would be required.

131

Bristol International Airport – Master Plan 2006 to 2030

• We have not given any detailed consideration to the design of a second terminal at this stage. However it is likely that a low rise recessive building could be developed to limit the visual impact from land surrounding the airport.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-airport-could-train-station-46511

The local rag has now gone with the story about the airport looking at better surface access. It's no doubt a copy of an airport press release, slightly rehashed to make it look like the paper's own work, although I can't find the press release yet on the airport's website.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

AI Bristol Airport Flyer

First recently renewed its contract to operate the Flyer for the airport and I understand that the current Volvo single deckers will be replaced by double deckers in due course. Currently the only double decker route to the airport is that of the A4 Air Decker to Bath.

The other four routes serving the airport are single decker buses or coaches including the recently introduced A3 Weston-super-Mare Flyer operated by First for the airport.

 

[superking]

Seen the A3 bus sunday morning leave airport empty. Not the best time of day to operate back to Weston. I don't know the loading to the airport.

 

[Foxlimayankee]

If you're coming up from the Southwest, could there be an expanded station at Backwell and bus transfer up to the Airport? Saves going into Temple Meads and back on the A1. I'm guessing it's just the regional services that stop at Backwell, but it's currently the closest station to the Airport.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Seen the A3 bus sunday morning leave airport empty. Not the best time of day to operate back to Weston. I don't know the loading to the airport.

The A2 bus that also serves the airport from Weston doesn't take that many passengers to and from the airport. I use it often as I do a lot of walking and the patronage to the airport is low. Most people use it as a village bus to get to Weston or from village to village. It does pick up some airport passengers in the villages - I was chatting to an elderly couple recently who got on at Winscombe with their suitcases.

The A3 takes a different and more direct route to Weston (A370) and won't have the ability to pick up village passengers for the airport. Places such as Wrington, Churchill, Sandford, Winscombe and Banwell have a surprisingly high population in total which the A3 won't touch. I was very surprised that the airport started the A3. Although it's more direct its overall journey time is only about ten minutes quicker than the A2.

If you're coming up from the Southwest, could there be an expanded station at Backwell and bus transfer up to the Airport? Saves going into Temple Meads and back on the A1. I'm guessing it's just the regional services that stop at Backwell, but it's currently the closest station to the Airport.

Nailsea & Backwell station is almost exactly three miles from the BRS terminal in a straight line but as you suggest it's only served by local services and not that many of them (4/5 trains an hour each way typically during the day). Every train calls at Bristol Temple Meads with final destinations being Cardiff Central, Bristol Parkway, Weston-super-Mare and Taunton.

The new A3 Weston-super-Mare Flyer commences at Weston railway station but this station is on a single track loop from the Bristol-Exeter main line and the express Cross Country services between Bristol and Devon/Cornwall don't stop there. Weston station has a similar programme to Nailsea & Backwell.

Many years ago I suggested to the airport that they consider Parson Street station on the south-west edge of Bristol, also on the Bristol-Exeter line, as a terminus for the Bristol Flyer. They replied that they had looked into the idea but none of the rail companies would halt their express trains there. Parson Street is also a constricted site within a very busy urban road network.