Buses in Bristol will no longer stop in Broadmead shopping area - 30 Aug 2026

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Buses will no longer stop in city shopping area

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Buses will not be allowed to travel through Broadmead from 30 August

Several bus routes that currently serve a busy city centre shopping area are going to be redirected.

Bristol City Council has announced that 25 bus services will be rerouted away from Broadmead as part of its "Bristol on the Move City Centre project".

Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, said the changes come alongside a range of "transformational investment", which includes new homes, shops and public spaces in Broadmead and Castle Park.

From 30 August, all bus stops on Union Street, The Horsefair and Penn Street will close. The council said bus commuters will need to find alternative routes or bus stops to use.

Some of the bus routes affected include: 1, 2, 3, 4, 41, 42, 43, 375 and Y6. These services are operated by First Bus and Stagecoach.

As part of the changes there will be new and upgraded bus stops on Fairfax Street, Broad Weir, Lower Castle Street and Bond Street.

David Redgewell is a member of the South West Transport Network that campaigns for transport users in the region. He said the project is going to be the most significant change to happen to Bristol City Centre in 40 years. "The last time something this big happened was when Broadmead was pedestrianised and we got the Galleries," he said. "The most important thing is Helen Godwin and her team need to take responsibility for making sure passenger information is clear on bus stops."

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David Redgewell said this project is the biggest change in 40 years

The West of England Combined Authority (Weca) said to ensure people know what is happening before the changes take effect, it will work with the council, bus operators and Broadmead businesses.

Councillor Ed Plowden, Bristol City Council's Chair of the Transport and Connectivity Committee, said he recognised the change will affect "thousands of people". Plowden said: "Our travel advisors will be available on the ground before and after the changeover date to help people find their new bus stops and plan their journeys. Once the bus routes have changed, there will be bespoke information displayed on each bus stop that is closing to direct people to their new bus stop," he added.

[Noggin]

Map with changes in routes and stops at https://travelwest.info/bus/broadmead-bus-changes/

This is pretty radical stuff - I really get the point that busses need to move more quickly around the city centre, but having the inbound and outbound routes diverge so far seems really user-unfriendly - particularly for tourists and occasional bus users. This is particularly the case with the number 1 and 2.

[Ralph Ayres]

Why do the press so often term bus or rail users "commuters" when they're clearly not?  Almost as irritating as being called customers!

[Red Squirrel]

Why do the press so often term bus or rail users "commuters" when they're clearly not?  Almost as irritating as being called customers!

Agreed. ‘Passenger’ is a much better word, covering every type of user. Perhaps it’s its ubiquity that makes journalists look for a different word, but it is a bit like calling every cat a mouser.

[grahame]

Why do the press so often term bus or rail users "commuters" when they're clearly not?  Almost as irritating as being called customers!

Agreed. ‘Passenger’ is a much better word, covering every type of user. Perhaps it’s its ubiquity that makes journalists look for a different word, but it is a bit like calling every cat a mouser.

Personal view

- "commuter" is misused / it should be (as it has been in the past) to signify a regular and frequent journey between home and place of work, learning, medical attention, personal business or perhaps between two such places.

- "passenger" is reasonable and logical for anyone using a train or bus

- "customer" is a subset of passenger - it excludes those who are not directly or indirectly paying for their travel.  I would include people travelling legitimately on their ENCTS^▸ (English National Concessionary Travel Scheme. Bus passes for senior/disabled persons) card - indirectly paid and a registered journey that brings an income, but clearly (to me) it does not include fare evaders.

I prefer the term customer - as to me it reminds everyone that these people paying for their travel are the whole reason that the train or bus is running.    "Passenger" gives and aura of inconvenience - "I like running this train because it's quiet" is something I have heard said, but "we have very few customers on this train" gives a feeling of alert.

[chuffed]

At the risk of sounding facetious or cynical, may I suggest that the buses are being cleared out of the way, to allow for Helen and Andy's mass transit system ie trams to be  installed ?

[Noggin]

At the risk of sounding facetious or cynical, may I suggest that the buses are being cleared out of the way, to allow for Helen and Andy's mass transit system ie trams to be  installed ?

I'd wager that the complete? removal or buses from Union Street and Horsefair is mainly to ease the redevelopment of Broadmead and The Galleries - particularly the old Debenhams building.

As for trams, extrapolating from the WECA^» (West of England Mayoral Combined Authority - about) strategy document, they are thinking of a three line tram system - Airport to TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context), TM to Cribbs/Brabazon/Parkway and TM to Keynsham/Bath via A4. Mind you, I can't really see how they can do any of that other than with a lot of mixed road running, but that's another matter. 

On that basis, TM to Stokes Croft is Victoria Street, Wine Street, Union Street, Haymarket and I would also lay money on the Bear Pit being filled in with HM Gov cash as Sheffield did when they built their system. So an almost completely pedestrianised Broadmead. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

For assistance in understanding, for any of our readers without local knowledge of Bristol, I can explain here that any references to 'the Bearpit' actually relate to the St James Barton Roundabout: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bearpit,_Bristol

CfN^▸ (Chris from Nailsea, an administrator on this forum). 

[WelshBluebird]

Map with changes in routes and stops at https://travelwest.info/bus/broadmead-bus-changes/

This is pretty radical stuff - I really get the point that busses need to move more quickly around the city centre, but having the inbound and outbound routes diverge so far seems really user-unfriendly - particularly for tourists and occasional bus users. This is particularly the case with the number 1 and 2.

A lot of these routes have been doing that for years though, with the inbound services going via Bond Street and the outbound services snaking through Broadmead. E.g. the 45.

If people who use the other routes are able to handle it then so can people who use the 1 and 2. Especially as the longer term plans are to bring back at the the number 2 to Union Street when the works are done.

[WelshBluebird]

At the risk of sounding facetious or cynical, may I suggest that the buses are being cleared out of the way, to allow for Helen and Andy's mass transit system ie trams to be  installed ?

I'd wager that the complete? removal or buses from Union Street and Horsefair is mainly to ease the redevelopment of Broadmead and The Galleries - particularly the old Debenhams building.

As for trams, extrapolating from the WECA^» (West of England Mayoral Combined Authority - about) strategy document, they are thinking of a three line tram system - Airport to TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context), TM to Cribbs/Brabazon/Parkway and TM to Keynsham/Bath via A4. Mind you, I can't really see how they can do any of that other than with a lot of mixed road running, but that's another matter. 

On that basis, TM to Stokes Croft is Victoria Street, Wine Street, Union Street, Haymarket and I would also lay money on the Bear Pit being filled in with HM Gov cash as Sheffield did when they built their system. So an almost completely pedestrianised Broadmead. 

There are two elements to the changes.

The Horsefair is being pedestrianised. That means anything that currently uses it (most of the buses headed east basically) needs to move to using Fairfax Street instead.

Separately Union Street is being made into a bus only two way street with much better access to and from the Haymarket. These works again require services thst currently use it to be moved until the works are done.

As it happens yes the longer term plan for Union Street is for it to form part of a "rapid transit" cross city route. But from what I've read that just sounds like more Metrobus style services rather than trams sadly.

And in terms of The Galleries work I must expect that the work when it eventually happens will impact Fairfax Street so I suspect some of the routes will need to temporarily move to that reopened two way Union Street.