Bristol Balloon Fiesta ..... Firstbus shuttle service

[whole diary]

[chuffed]

Just saw an item on Points West about the shuttle bus service running from City Centre Temple Meads to Ashton Court.
They have 6 buses running at a 10 minute frequency until well in the evening. Even if they were running 24 hrs a day that's 24 hrs x 6 buses x 70 passengers x 6 buses an hour which works out at 60.480 maximum loading. They will probably all be paying a ^4 return fare so in reality its 30,240 passengers.

How many are they expecting ? HALF A MILLION. I knew maths wasn't Firstbus' strongest point..but really! Where will the other 470,000 passengers in roughly 120,000 cars go ?

As a non driving resident of Portishead, I get really really browned off as our Portishead bus services go to absolute pot along the A369 during this festival, most of which takes place in North Somerset. Why don't they hold it on the Downs ??

[John R]

I knew maths wasn't Firstbus' strongest point..but really!

And maybe not yours.... think you've multiplied by 6 twice, as the service is 6bph, not 6x6 bph (each bus will probably make one return trip per hour, but anyway First have said the service is 6 per hour)

Also, I'm not sure what the fare has to do with the number of passengers, so the division by 2 is spurious.

I presume the half a million is spread over the 4 days that the Fiesta is operating, and on three of the days the numbers will be spread across a large part of the day, from the early morning ascent to the evening ascent and nightglows. That still leaves a lot of cars parked up above the Estate, as those who have been will testify, especially when it comes to leaving!

[chuffed]

Thank you for correcting me on that! I knew someone would!

 But the point is still valid...the shuttle bus is just a token effort by First. There will be complaints from the bus users and the car drivers who might take several hours to go a few yards, if past experience is anything to go by.  As Dave Garmston pointed out on Points West...if it stays this hot, they won't be able to achieve lift-off !

Now if there was a shuttle train service to Ashton Gate platform, from Portbury or Portway P&R^▸ (Park and Ride).....

[bobm]

Send bignosemac and the balloons are certain to stay grounded!

A slight disappointment that we had no mass ascent of balloons this evening. Too windy. bignosemac's jinx continues. Five out of the last seven Balloon Fiestas I've attended and I've still yet to see a mass ascent from Ashton Court. Two years I didn't go and up they went. 

[TonyK]

A taster from my back garden last weekend:



Transport is one reason why I won't be going. The other is that it may very well come to me. I shall sit in the garden for the 6am show (with tea), and later for the evening bash (without tea).

I'm not an expert on ballooning, although I know a man who is, but I know it's slightly more complicated than just temperature. We have a high barometric pressure, which also makes a difference. You should be alright for the early kick-off

[JayMac]

If the weather is fine then I much prefer the walk to Ashton Court rather than the shuttle buses. They get grossly overcrowded, although it appears there's a far more frequent service this year than in previous years when the services was operated by South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach. It's also good that First are allowing First Day South West ticket holders to use the service, but disappointing that First Day Bristol Zones 1&2 tickets are not being accepted.

It would appear that combined rail and bus tickets will also be available again, but as with previous years, information on those is sketchy. I've emailed the organisers to check and will be asking FGW^▸ (First Great Western) also for clarification. It really should be a ticket that is more widely advertised, particularly as this year the buses are being operated by the same company as the local train operator.

I still think the Fiesta organisers have their priorities slightly wrong with regard to getting to the site. They put 'by car' at the head of the list of ways to get there and heavily promote the paid for car parking. No doubt this is a major income for the organisers and helps cover costs for what is a free entry event, but a modest entry fee and better public transport (I like the idea of a rail shuttle to a temporary platform at Ashton Gate) would, to my mind, be a much better idea.

I'm not yet decided on which day I will go, although it'll probably be one of the two nightglows. In previous years I've gone on the alternate days just so I can walk home via the Spenshun Bridge (closed after nightglows). On those previous years I've never seen an evening mass ascent. So at least if I go for a nightglow, I'll get some entertainment. Fingers crossed for a mass ascent though....

[TonyK]

I might go after all. A club I am a member of via work have a corporate doodah there, with a bar.

[stuving]

Now, that takes me back ..

In July 1979 I was sent to the first Bristol RPV conference, held at the university, in place of the boss who was busy. (Its name has since evolved from Remotely Piloted Vehicles to Unmanned Airborne Vehicles to Unmanned Air Systems - and battles are still being fought over that "man" bit.)
 
I forget now where my hotel was, but one morning I opened the curtains and saw the field outside was full of balloons. I wasn't expecting balloons - no-one had told me about them. My reaction was, of course, "ooh how pretty". On checking up, I find that it was also the first Balloon Fiesta (or was it called Festival?) that year.

Two points to make this a bit more relevant here:

You might think UAVs were new technology and rapidly developing, then and since. Actually no - the big programmes were and are military, with a wide fringe of smaller operations blending into the amateaur and plainly nutty. The technology is a mixture of very old (simple model planes of all sizes with radio control) and the eccentric (ducted fans, multi-rotor helicapters, catching planes in nets...).

In 1979 the big news was the about the main program here (Westland Supervisor, cancelled soon after) and the decision in the USA to go ahead with Aquila (cancelled in 1987). This was followed by a lean period with false starts and fill-ins (you may have heard of Phoenix) before seriously-funded programs to import (Reaper) and develop (Wathkeeper) MoD capability. Now I think a lot of that applies to investment programmes in the railways.

The other point? I travelled to and from this conference by sleeper from Edinburgh to Bristol. Now there's a reopening with no infrastructure capacity implications.

[JayMac]

No through Rail and Bus ticketing this year despite local trains and the Fiesta shuttle buses being operated by the same company. Previous years there were such fares in the rail fares database when the buses were operated by South Gloucestershire Bus & Coach.

No acceptance of PlusBus despite the Fiesta site being within the Bristol PlusBus area. And Bristol residents having to pay ^7 for a FirstDay South West to use the shuttle buses if they are coming from the suburbs. Unless they board a scheduled service to the Ashton area rather than the special shuttles. Then they'll only pay ^4. Folk (including ENCTS^▸ (English National Concessionary Travel Scheme)) cottoning on to this may well overwhelm the scheduled services to Weston, Portishead, Nailsea and Clevedon.

Adult Single Fiesta Shuttle increased by 25% versus last year. Return unchanged. Child Single increased by 100%. Child Return increased by 50%. Bus pass holders (ENCTS) free last year - child prices this year.

Integrated transport? Pah!

Attractively priced alternative to the car? Pah?

Rank profiteering by FirstGroup? Most definitely. And most probably to cover an over inflated tender to win the contract. The sort of thing FirstGroup do well, to serve themselves rather than their customers. 

[chuffed]

WELL SAID BNM ! And I thought I was the cynical one having made the original posting with the not quite accurate maths !

[JayMac]

Family of four from Shirehampton using the car (avg 20mpg urban*. 136.9p per litre) and booking parking in advance. Car Park ^6. Fuel ^3.50 for 10-12 mile round trip. Total ^9.50. Negligible other costs (depreciation, insurance, tax) for such a short journey.

On the bus? ^15. 

Even paying for parking on the day (^10) and the car beats the bus on price for a family of four within 5 or 6 miles - the majority of the Greater Bristol area.

This really is something the Fiesta organisers need to address. Year on year the Fiesta gets more popular, but car parking is always something they heavily promote. There needs to be heavily advertised shuttle buses from the Park and Rides, not just the City Centre and Temple Meads. There needs to be integrated ticketing for those arriving by train at Temple Meads. A rail shuttle to a temporary platform should be considered. Car parking prices should be more than the equivalent bus fare for a family of four travelling from the Greater Bristol area. And dare I say it, a modest entrance fee should be considered if these options require additional funding.

*Deliberately over generous figure except for the most gas guzzling of vehicles.