IKEA Bristol by bus

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

tl:dr - it's doable, but...

Yes, really. It's a bit of a challenge though, sitting as it does alongside the M32 and cosying up to an urban retail centre and associated car parks.

Travelwest's app didn't quite cut it as it suggested rail all the way, with quite a hike from the stations at each end. Google maps didn't find Bristol's 25 bus route either and suggested a lengthy hike beneath the M32. Dragging info on Bristol's 25 bus to the top - then found that the route only had one bus allocated to it - which was running a quarter of an hour behind time for what should have been a half hourly bus but was now hourly.

A forty minute wait at the stop closest to Bristol bus station had sightlines to two different passenger information displays, which were each giving information that conflicted one with the other, both promising the number 25 in ten minutes, then five, then two, then 'Due' - and then, off the screen it vanished. After which, rinse and repeat. During the wait, any heavy vehicle that hit the extensive length of  damaged road surface there produced an alarming resonance and bounce beneath my feet at the bus stop c. 8 metres away and made me wonder if there was a risk of something going through the road and dropping into the culverted river Frome there.

Bristol's 25 is a shortish route that serves a string of not well off areas and people and mid-way, passes the back of the retail centre, with a pair of bus stops on a crossable road that are a five minute walk to IKEA involving stairs (which isn't particularly well signed, Openstreetmap's standard map can help here with the walking route, and then their transport layer can help with the location of the bus stop).

Knowing the other bus stop from sight, I left the bus at the stop on the wee bit of dual carriageway close to the motorway, which turned out to be not the best place as the stop is across the road from the destination - myself and half a dozen other people then crossed the queueing traffic there rather than hike down to the lights-controlled crossing 50 metres away and back up again and we'd all have been better off alighting at the rather anonymous previous stop.

**Old Railway interlude - behind that stop, the scant remains of the embankment approach to the vanished 13 arches viaduct on that line from Fishponds that ran across in the direction of Clifton Down.**

Then, into IKEA, on a quest that turned out to be successful, and back through the retail centre to that more convenient bus stop and another 40 minute wait, though things were looking up, as a second bus and driver had been sourced for the route.

It was raining, the stop had a shelter but was strangely wet - it turned out that there was a large puddle very close to the slope-edged raised kerb, well known to vehicle miscreants - the driver of the grey discovery that shortly appeared and floored it, swinging in to include the puddle and sending about 5 litres of water into the bus shelter. (Thankfully neither I nor the other intending passengers were in it at the time but I'm irked that I didn't get their numberplate, and the incident caused that other passengers to decide that perhaps it was a good idea to walk to the train at Stapleton Road instead of waiting for the distant 25 bus). Four passengers arrived, were cautioned about the puddle peril, a general conversation ensued... and after 40 minutes the 25 hauled into sight having been accurately displayed on the tracking as it went to its terminus and back and the very full bus headed back into Bristol, where it passes the (rather congested***) bus station.

From there, onto an X39 back to Bath. Bristol's road works are a permanent fixture aren't they. The X39, though, made reasonable progress and actually made a good connection with Bath's first 6a of the evening.

So, yes, IKEA, doable but not for first-time users of buses perhaps - and the retail park's design's treatment of those nearest bus stops isn't the best.

Mark

*** Noooh idea how people manage bus congestion at undersized underspecced bus stations.

[Witham Bobby]

How do you get on, carrying your Rakeestad 3-door wardrobe flatpack on your back, as you board the bus?

[Red Squirrel]

From where we live, near Montpelier Station, it's a fairly pleasant and almost semi-rural walk through Narroways Nature Reserve and Narroways Road to Ikea. You can drop in at Wah Yee Hong if you need to top up on noodles etc, or follow a rather lonely path alongside the embankment that led to the Thirteen Arches of yore.

You will, as Witham Bobby points out, struggle to carry home bedroom suite. But you could choose one to be sent round, or just treat yourself to one of their astonishingly cheap Full Swedish breakfasts...

[Mark A]

How do you get on, carrying your Rakeestad 3-door wardrobe flatpack on your back, as you board the bus?

The driver of the bus was very understanding.

Mark

[johnneyw]

I've found that the walk from Stapleton Road railway station to IKEA takes about ten minutes if you take the road beneath the motorway that leads to the outside car parking area.

[JayMac]

I maybe a bit of a masochist but I used to enjoy the walk from Stapleton Road station to IKEA when I lived in Bristol.

I did manage once to carry a flat packed fabric wardrobe home with me to Lawrence Weston via train and bus. Most trips though were for smaller items like kitchenware, linen and other homewares. I quickly learnt the shortcuts when all I wanted was some cutlery or a sauté pan.

I concur about the cooked breakfasts. There's nowhere else where you can get nine cooked breakfast items for under four quid. I always add black pudding for an extra, bargain, 75p.

Nowadays, visits to IKEA are by car to the Exeter branch. Visited a few weeks ago for some pillows, bed linen and kitchen knick-knacks. And meatballs of course.