Further to my previous post (#420) it seems that the position with the former A5 route is a bit more complex.

Stagecoach is running a service (6 x daily return journeys) between Weston-super-Mare and Lower Langford for three months. This will replace part of the A5's route between Lower Langford and Winscombe, and the the route of the predecessor bus companies that ran all the way to Weston via the villages served by the temporary Stagecoach service.

According to the inked Weston Mercury report (see below) North Somerset Council is looking at a longer-term solution. Whether this will involve the airport again remains to be seen.

 
What ever is proposed NSC will only reject it,as it will be some thing airport connected.
 
What ever is proposed NSC will only reject it,as it will be some thing airport connected.
In truth the A5 never carried much traffic to the airport. In fact, it didn't carry many passengers at all. In the years before the pandemic I used it regularly when out walking in the area and got to know the regular drivers.

Given that North Somerset's political leaders and even the councillor who presented the case for rejection at the planning committee meeting say that they don't oppose the airport per se but are against further expansion, they ought to support anything that has the potential for reducing the number of travellers who use private cars to reach the airport.

I'm told that the A5 was subsidised by both the airport and the local authority. Someone must have done because Carmel is a small company and certainly could not have operated the A5 as a viable commercial entity with the relatively few passengers it carried.

Part of the airport's commitment in its rejected planning application was to increase public transport connectivity, with increased usage targets year after year subject to local authority sanction if they were not achieved.

Yesterday I walked the Mendips (up to Dolebury and along the top). I used the U2 bus service from Bristol to the Bristol University vet school at Langford, and it was s depressing sight riding past the airport on the top deck and seeing all the aircraft parked up.

During the day I saw two or three Stagecoach South West Falcons. They are big coaches to fill and can't be picking up much airport-related traffic. I also saw a Stagecoach 51 service which until I checked today was not aware of the route. The A4 Bath Air Decker is still running, albeit at a reduced hourly frequency, and that service is handy for me too. Still no A1 or A3 as far as I can see but the A2 appears to be operating.

In fact, none of the buses I travelled on yesterday had many passengers. They were all double-deckers and with half the number of seats taken out of use to facilitate social distancing, everyone wearing masks and bus windows open I felt confident about using them, especially after my second jab a couple of weeks ago. It's still necessary to be on your guard and aware though. I lost count of the number of times I sanitised my hands yesterday.
 
I don't know what is likely to happen with route 216 from Cardiff and Newport operated by Edwards Coaches for National Express. I suppose once flights begin to get back towards some semblance of normality, perhaps next year, then it might return.

However, when looking for something else on the net today I came across a Megabus service from Cardiff to BRS. It's not direct and I don't know how long it's been operating. Its website says up to 12 return journeys per day.

The service uses a Cardiff-Bristol Megabus, which I presume goes on to somewhere else, probably London in the majority of cases. Megabus uses Bond Street on the edge of the Broadmead shopping quarter as its central Bristol stop and interchange. Passengers for BRS have to change on to the South West Falcon that also uses Bond Street. Both Megabus and Falcon are operated by Stagecoach.

The timetable shows a typical overall journey time of nearly two and a half hours. If this service was operating pre-pandemic I can't imagine it did much trade given the length of the journey time when the National Express service was operating direct, unless fares were more attractive and someone was ultra price conscious. It might do a little better when flights begin to operate again in reasonable numbers hopefully this summer, if National Express remains 'grounded'.

The Falcon is certainly operating - I've seen its coaches on the A 38 in recent weeks - and the Megabus site is taking bookings for this week and on into the summer.
 
I too has seen the falcon on the a38 going north. The coaches i have seen have been yellow,and looked as best i could but there seemed to be lots of passengers but i dont know if they have various seats blocked off which would make it look more full than it is.
 
I too has seen the falcon on the a38 going north. The coaches i have seen have been yellow,and looked as best i could but there seemed to be lots of passengers but i dont know if they have various seats blocked off which would make it look more full than it is.
The Falcons that I've seen in recent weeks have been the usual large liveried coaches: predominantly dark blue with a lighter blue at the rear plus a long two-tone green curved stripe along the side. At times in the past non Falcon-liveried Stagecoach vehicles have replaced a liveried vehicle when the latter is presumably being serviced or off the road for other reasons.

The linked site below shows pictures of the vehicles. The timetable from 4 April is showing a full 24/7 service with 19 journeys in both directions daily, mainly hourly through the day and two-hourly between 2300 and 0500. The site states that some seats have been taken out of use for social distancing purposes.

I can't imagine that there is much business to/from the airport at present but it appears that the overall journey from central Bristol to central Plymouth with the en-route stops at such places as Taunton and Exeter must be doing satisfactorily. Government emergency support for the bus industry might be a factor of course.

I have been surprised at the success of the Falcon which, pre-pandemic, has gone from strength to strength. In summer it's not unusual to see in excess of 40 people getting off a coach at the airport.

 
Well it goes to show we not seeing the same coach. Long may the service continue.
 
Well it goes to show we not seeing the same coach. Long may the service continue.
I was in the centre of Bristol today and saw a yellow Stagecoach coach that was either brand new or had been repainted. It appeared to be the same model as the usual liveried coaches operating the Falcon. I could not see it clearly as there were three lines of traffic between me and it and it was also moving in the opposite direction to me.

It seems that Stagecoach has decided on specific liveries for its various services with 'longer' route' vehicles painted 'amber yellow' - see pictures in below link.

Whether this means that the Falcon vehicles will be repainted isn't clear. The amber yellow coach shown in the picture differs from the Falcon coaches that have two rear axles, perhaps because of the weight of passenger luggage they sometimes carry.

 
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I was in the centre of Bristol today and saw a yellow Stagecoach coach that was either brand new or had been repainted. It appeared to be the same model as the usual liveried coaches operating the Falcon. I could not see it clearly as there were three lines of traffic between me and it and it was also moving in the opposite direction to me.

It seems that Stagecoach has decided on specific liveries for its various services with 'longer' route' vehicles painted 'amber yellow' - see pictures in below link.

Whether this means that the Falcon vehicles will be repainted isn't clear. The amber yellow coach shown in the picture differs from the Falcon coaches that have two rear axles, perhaps because of the weight of passenger luggage they sometimes carry.

The link didn’t work for me, but hopefully this is what you were eluding to TLY - https://www.stagecoachbus.com/news/national/2020/january/proud-to-serve
 
From sunday the 16th of may the A1 flyer will recommence the service. It will be running at its normal frequency. Good news as its another thing opening up from lockdown.
 
From sunday the 16th of may the A1 flyer will recommence the service. It will be running at its normal frequency. Good news as its another thing opening up from lockdown.
The First timetable shows the A1 operating at 20-minute intervals from early morning until mid-evening, instead of the previous 10-minute frequency, then every 30 minutes until 0045, following which it will resume its normal hourly frequency through the night until 0530, then back to 20 minutes.

The A2 that has been the only city-airport bus through much of the pandemic is not currently shown in the First timetable, neither is the A3 'Weston Flyer'. The A1 is operating its former route via Bedminster instead of via Ashton and the busway, which would duplicate the A2. No doubt that when things get back to nearer normality in the future the A1 will go back to the busway route with the A2 being reintroduced. Given the A1 and A3 are airport-operated buses albeit by First under contract it's surprising that the A3 is not back at the same time as the A1. The A2 is a First service operated by the company as a commercial route.
 
Local paper report today that confirms my previous post. It does say that the A3 won't return until this summer, although that is fairly vague.

The report confirms that the A1 Flyer will now operate the A2's route with the latter presumably suspended by First until passenger traffic to/from the airport picks up.

 
Plans have been announced for a multi-million pound improvement scheme along the A38 between the bottom of Barrow Hill and the the Edithmead roundabout junction with the M5 near East Brent.

North Somerset Council is working jointly with Somerset County Council on the plans.

They include the installation of an extra lane for traffic between the airport terminal roundabout and the silver zone roundabout in order to reduce delays. This the section of the A38 that was diverted a quarter of a century ago. The airport's own plan for compulsory purchase orders of land around Lulsgate Bottom in order to dual the A38 between the airport terminal roundabout and Lulsgate Bottom appear to be additional to these plans as it is not mentioned in the press report.
 
Arrow Cars - BRS's Official Taxi Partner

The last time my wife and I used BRS was in December 2019. We used Arrow Cars to reach the airport from our home and back after the return flight as we had done several times for previous trips. We've always found them efficient.

The return fare in December 2019 for a journey of 9-10 miles each way, depending on route taken, was just over £57 which we thought was reasonable.
This evening I obtained a quote for this journey next month when we are due to fly from and to BRS. The quoted fare was just over £83.

So in 20 months the fare for the same return journey has increased by around 45%. I accept that all sections of the economy have suffered greatly from the pandemic effects but to increase something by this percentage amount smacks of profiteering in my eyes.
 
The A1 Airport Flyer is still operating at 20-minute frequency - it was every 8/9 minutes throughout much of the day pre-pandemic.. Furthermore there is no A2 at the moment so the A1 is operating the A2 route as well as to Temple Meads and the bus station.

I passed through the airport's bus station (I assume it's temporary pending the building of the new public transport interchange) on another bus at lunchtime yesterday and saw a Flyer loading. It was soon full upstairs and downstair leaving at least 20 would-be passengers behind when it left for the city. The next one wasn't due for another 20 minutes. In normal circumstances there would usually be a Flyer waiting whilst the one in front was loading.

Obviously the peaks and troughs of flight schedules mean an uneven flow of passengers but that was always the case, but it's not good for airport public relations where people have to wait for so long for a bus. It's not just BRS. I was in Glasgow last month and their version of the Flyer was running just half-hourly. The number of flights has been increasing very significantly in recent months but the bus services haven't seen much increase at all during that time.

The A1, unlike the A2, is airport-operated albeit under contract by First West of England with their vehicles (in airport livery) and drivers. Whether First's current extremely serious difficulties with staffing levels that is causing widespread service cancellations and reductions in frequency across the West of England is a hindrance to an increased A1 frequency I don't know.
 
Further to my previous post #436 I was in Cheddar at lunchtime today and saw an airport Flyer double-decker heading towards me. I wondered for a moment if a new airport route had been set up without telling the public. It was only when the bus passed that I noticed it was being used for driver training.

If the bus can't be used to shift waiting passengers (see #436) at least it's doing some good in helping to alleviate the chronic bus driver shortage in the West of England. I hope this means there are so many would-be new drivers that the company's normal clearly-identified training buses are not sufficient in number to cope.
 
Having seen one of the liveried A1 Bristol Flyer double-decker buses on driver training duties in Cheddar last week, I came across two liveried A3 Weston Flyer single-decker buses yesterday. The A3 route has been suspended for around 18 months. One of the A3 buses was parked at Bristol country bus and coach station and the other was operating a Bristol city route.

Both the A1 and A3 routes are operated by First under contract for the airport but the vehicles and drivers are First buses and employees.
 
Previously mentioned as being suspended indefinitely on the website, there is now mention on the Bristol Airport website that the A3 to Weston will restart at Easter.

 
Previously mentioned as being suspended indefinitely on the website, there is now mention on the Bristol Airport website that the A3 to Weston will restart at Easter.

The draft minutes for the Airport Consultative Committee meeting held on 20 October last year mentioned the A3 and at that time the airport spokesperson said they were looking at options on how the A3's absence could be addressed. It looks as though the option is to return it to service at Easter this year.


I've seen the A3's liveried single-deckers operating on normal routes in and around Bristol. The same applies to some of the A1 liveried double-deckers when not on airport duty.

Most of the services connecting the airport still seem to be running at around half the normal frequency with others still suspended.

From the airport website it appears that those routes currently suspended will be brought back into service in the coming months although the A2 seems not to be mentioned.

When the A1 began operating via the busway and South Bristol Link Road (SBLR) prior to the pandemic the A2 was started in order to accommodate those passengers on the former route of the A1 through south Bristol, especially the Bedminster area. The A1 has been operating via its old route through much of the pandemic so there has been no need of an A2. I don't know whether the intention is to return the A1 to the busway/SBLR in which case no doubt the A2 will return. I've not seen any of the liveried A2 double-decker buses on city services during the pandemic but that doesn't mean they haven't been.
 

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