Bristol north to south 'rapid transit' bus plans on show

Plans are separately on show for the south Bristol section of the route

Plans to help speed up bus services between the south and north of Bristol have been released.

The northern fringe to Hengrove route will call at Cribbs Causeway, Patchway, Bradley Stoke, UWE, Parkway station, Harry Stoke and Emersons Green.

It will use normal or bendy buses running on a mix of bus-only routes, bus lanes with traffic light priority and a new bus-only junction on the M32.

It is part of the wider West of England transport programme.

The Bristol north fringe route will cost £102m in total with half coming from the Department for Transport (DfT) and a further £51m coming from local councils and third-party businesses.

A series of 11 public exhibitions where the project team will answer questions about the route starts on 23 May.

People wanting to comment online or find out further details of the route and exhibitions can do so via the <link> <caption>Travel West website</caption> <altText>Link to Travel West website</altText> <url href="http://www.travelwest.info/nfh" platform="highweb"/> </link> .

A project spokeswoman said it wanted to hear from the public to ensure all potential issues have been considered before planning applications are submitted in the autumn.

It is not yet known who will operate the route which is expected to be operational in 2015.

The consortium of Bristol City Council, Bath and North East Somerset Council, South Gloucestershire Council, and North Somerset Council hope improvements to public transport will reduce congestion and support economic growth in the area.

It also hopes to offer "smart ticketing" on "modern accessible vehicles" which will stop less often to improve journey times.

A second consultation for the first phase of bus rapid transit route between the Long Ashton park-and-ride started earlier this month.