Bus service improvement plan

Following a successful bid to the Department for Transport (DfT):

• over £105m funding has been allocated for bus improvements in the West of England with:
  • £48m earmarked for capital improvements in North Somerset
  • £57.5m as a pooled revenue fund with the West of England Combined Authority to enable delivery of the Bus Service Improvement Plan

The ambitious Bus Service Improvement Plan aims to offer an improved service. The goal is for more accessible and affordable bus travel with simple and consistent fares. This will provide a quicker and greener alternative to using the car. 

Additional BSIP improvements include: 

• upgrading 18 bus corridors in North Somerset, resulting in quicker journey times and more regular buses in towns and urban areas 
• WESTlink - a local demand responsive bus that connects communities without a scheduled local service 
• accelerating use of transport with lower carbon impact – a key priority for the council as part of its commitment to tackle the climate emergency 
• supporting economic growth by enabling easier and more affordable travel to education and employment

Improving bus times and efficiency

We need to make our bus services more reliable and reduce the amount of time it takes to operate them.    

The Bus Service Improvement Plan provides limited-time national grant support for two years. This funding is provided to help to make buses more efficient. The aim is for the buses to become financially self-sustaining without the subsidy by 2025-26. 

Providing reliable bus services to encourage use of public transport

• communities consistently tell us they want and need buses to be more reliable. Traffic signals and lanes that give buses priority at key congestion points help reduce bus delays in increase their reliability to arrive on time
• improvements will accelerate the decarbonisation of transport – a key priority for the council as part of its commitment to tackle the climate emergency 

Improvements to the Bristol Corridor (A370) 

Backwell to Weston-super-Mare

The following areas on the A370 have been highlighted as key areas that affect bus running times: 

• Bristol Road/Walford Avenue/Queensway Worle 
• A370/B3340 slip road. 
• Smallway junction 
• Woodhill 
• Brockley Combe – in construction 
• Backwell 
• Long Ashton Bypass – completed and delivering improved bus journey times 

We are currently engaging on the following proposals to make improvements in the Backwell area:

• currently, the X1 service carries 128,000 passenger journeys a month. We want to retain bus service frequencies and routes that our communities want and need, not to see these reduced or cut at the end of the funding period
• saving minutes at each congested area where buses are currently delayed. This will result in large time savings along a whole route, which reduces journey time for bus passengers. It also means the services can be maintained with fewer buses and drivers and at a reduced cost 
• traffic improvement measures are being proposed in order to save 25 minutes per bus on a round trip. This is equivalent to £750,000 in running costs

Woodhill

The next major bus improvement scheme planned for North Somerset will take place at the Wood Hill junction of the A370 in March. 

The junction will be configured to include:

• a new signalised junction offering bus priority and improved traffic flows in the area
• Wood Hill access onto the A370 will be open to all movements, previously left turn only
• a new bus lane on the A370 Bristol-bound
• provision of crossing points across the A370 both east and west of the junction and on both Wood Hill and Wrington Road, improving access to pedestrians and cyclists

The A370 is a key corridor for bus improvements, which when complete will reduce the longest round-trip journey by between 20 to 25 minutes.

Alongside infrastructure improvements, bus services have also been improved including:

• a new stop at Worle Train Station for the A3, with links to the West Coast main line
• the X5 has been re-routed to service Congresbury, Yatton and Kenn on-route to Clevedon and Portishead, reconnecting the residents to these key areas
• the X1 is now every 15  minutes Monday to Friday and every 20 minutes on Saturday evening. Sundays are still every 30 minutes
• a £2 bus fare cap for all passengers

Clevedon

Proposals for Clevedon seek to upgrade three roundabouts on Clevedon’s ring road – Tickenham Road, Ettlingen Way and Southern Way – to make bus travel faster, more reliable and more sustainable into the future, while improving infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.     

An online survey showcasing the proposals opened for six weeks in January, and closed on Thursday 29 February 2024. Displays of the concept designs were available to view at Clevedon Town Council and Clevedon Library during the feedback period.

The proposed improvements coincide with service changes which have been introduced to improve public travel options. 

These include:

• re-introducing an evening and Sunday service for the X7
• introducing the X10 to Cribbs Causeway

Bus services in North Somerset

As part of the council's Bus Service Improvement Plan, and to support existing bus services, a survey was run to identify areas within public transport in North Somerset that would benefit with additional improvement. 

The engagement on this has now closed.

Answers will help to:

• develop new services to help you get where you need to go
• make services more reliable and on time
• create transport areas that have improved connectivity and are more pleasant to use.

Engagement events 

Future schemes we’ll be publicly engaging on over the next 12 months can be found in our press release.  

Early engagement with local people is now taking place to create plans for these 10 areas. 

Bus transport hubs

We are also planning to upgrade our bus stops and create new transport hubs. The aim is to improve the waiting environment for bus users. We will be revealing plans for these in due course.

Thanks to an innovative BSIP initiative, every resident in the West of England and North Somerset is being offered free bus travel throughout their birthday month. 

Please see our Birthday Bus webpage for more details.