Great Western Coffee Shop

Full article: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/oyster-style-smart-ticketing-buses-3141811


Source: WECA (https://www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/climate-emergency-declared-west-england-combined-authority/)

Does this mean that the card tapping points installed along the Severn Beach Line quite a while back will at last have a use?

Wonder how far this scheme will get.

We were told that we were getting an 'Oystery' type system a few years ago and in came 'Touch', a First Group initiative which the LA's didn't like as FG would be running it and taking the lions share.

So the LA's (BCC led) came up with the 'travelwest' card which you can get from the I-points as well as other outlets.

We also got m-tickets.

There is also the little known AvonRider which is available from and can be used on the majority of bus services in the former County of Avon area.

The latest issue of Firsts local fares guide also advises that you can now buy 'Freedom Pass' from bus drivers as well as rail stations and the prices have been reduced too.

How many more systems do we Bristolians want.

What WECA needs to do is actually SPEND some dosh on fixing some current infrastructure problems like getting the double yellow line paintbrush and paint out and installing a few hundred metres of double yellow lines. Remove a few trees that lean away from the sidewalks into the roads and prevent high sided vehicles, buses included, from using the full width of the road. Enforce the bus lanes rather than walking away like cowards and not enforcing the no parking in bus lanes in peak hours and extend the bus lane operative times.

When I have been in a heated discussion with council officers over the lack of double yellow lines here or there, their response has been that we cant prevent people from parking in front of their own homes. I look them in the eye and say, "try telling that to the people living in houses fronting Muller Road from Fishponds Road to the M32 Muller Road roundabout, they'd flatten you with a right hook, you took their right to park outside their home by painting yellow lines along both sides of the road, when they started parking on the grass of Eastville Park opposite their homes you put recent, at the time, felled tree trunks to stop the parking and forcing them to block over their front gardens but even that does not prevent encroachment onto the footpath forcing pedestrians into the road, baby buggies included. Red Squirrel would probably concur with me on this.

I'll finish before my blood evaporates but I hope you all reading this gets my 'gist'.

This document fleshes out what's planned somewhat (scroll down to Slide 17). It is clearly recognised that a unified system is required - and it looks like that's what WECA plan to deliver - including 'tap-in' and capping.

Edit: Erhem, here it is: https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/documents/s34444/Public%20Transport%20GR%20Scrutiny%20July%202019.pdf

The report's section on bus travel is interesting. It claims that Bristol is bucking the trend of declining bus usage and gives various reasons for it but omits the main one, namely, the paucity of rail based alternatives compared to other cities. Without that inclusion the remaining explanations look very fragile on their own.

We got 'tap-in' NOW, we got capping NOW (Bristol Zone DayRider, AvonRider, West of England Zone DayRider, West of England Extended Zone Dayrider).

Will WECA encompass North Somerset in the scheme even though they are not an integral part of that organisation.

Will the capping allow me to travel from my home in South Gloucestershire to my sisters in Taunton and return for the same capped amount as someone commuting from say Hotwells to Thornbury, or Lyde Green to the City Centre. Will the area be zoned and capping be applied within zones, across zones, etc. How will I fare if I travel to Bath from S.Glos. zone to Bath inner zone through Bath outer zone when I have to travel back to my home from Bath inner zone through Bath outer zone, Bristol outer zone, Bristol inner zone then  Bristol outer zone again until I finally finish my travels in the S. Glos. zone at home. Will the capping be applied to the SHORTEST journey on the one bus or the LONGER journey on two buses.

I have my own ideas for public transport in the Bristol area and when time permits I'll share it with you forum members.

Is that really the case? Compared with say London or Manchester, yes, but most cities are no better than Bristol and there are plenty of cities with a much greater paucity of rail-based alternatives, such as Birmingham, Leicester, Leeds, etc.

There are several more than you mention, for example; Nottingham, West Midlands, Tyne and Wear, Liverpool, Sheffield, Croydon in England alone and that is off the top of my head. There are also the Glasgow and Edinburgh examples as well as the nascent Devon Metro and South Wales Metro, all rail based solutions.

Also mentions "roll out of residents' parking schemes" when they've been halted by Mayor Marvin. And has an illegible pie chart on Slide 11 (colours far too similar and impossible to related chart colours to key colours).

One of the things which makes Oyster simple to use and presumably administer is the flat fare. No need to tap out.

You mean on buses. There are zoned fares on the trains. 

Yes, I mean on buses, not trains. Though maybe when the Bristol Underground is running...  ;D

At that point our descendants will have implanted RFID chips that record their minute to minute location and use of the unicorn powered busses as well as the underground.

The following is a letter cut and pasteed from a free news sheet that circulates in my area.

If anything that tells the WECA Mayor to GET HIS ACT TOGETHER after the time he has been in office but I don't hold out any hope of getting any sense out of him for the remaining duration of his term of office, neither does it bode any better for the elected Mayor of Bristol or the two leaders of BANES and SGlos Councils who seemingly did not, or were too frightened to do so, correct Tim Bowles or was it that they too were so clueless to advise Tim Bowles of the existence of these ticket options.

The author of the letter, A. Peters is the head of Abus so he should know a thing or two and could teach WECA a thing or two as well.

Stephen is the editor of the free news sheet.

I would also draw attention to my post on this subject at ;-

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=21966.msg270112#msg270112


Article highlights Mayor’s lack of knowledge.

Dear Stephen

In Issue 586 (24th July) you have an article about the Metro Mayor Tim Bowles’ ambitions for transport in the area. He would like to see one ticket allowing travel from Keynsham to Bristol by train and change to the Metrobus to Cribbs Causeway.

This highlights his lack of knowledge of transport in his area.

The ticket has been available for 20 years. It is called the Freedom ticket, available on trains, from stations and I believe on First buses.

Additionally there is no Metrobus service from Temple Meads to Cribbs Causeway so they would have to change buses as well. It raises the question why not go direct on service 19A?

As well as the Freedom ticket there is also Plusbus, which, for an add-on to a rail ticket, gives travel throughout Bristol by bus from almost any station on the railway network.

I am not surprised by Mr Bowles’ lack of knowledge of transport opportunities in this area as he was also unaware of WEBOA (West of England Bus Operators Association). This is a body to which most bus operators in the area belong, including First.

This body was responsible for creating the Rider all operator tickets and other coordinated services in the area.

WEBOA have not been invited to WECA transport meetings.

Alan Peters

Vice chairman WEBOA