Bristol buses get £7m upgrade package

The 75 is one of the routes that will implement a 'turn up and go' frequency

A £7m package of bus improvements has been announced for the West of England.

Over 3,000 extra journey hours per week are planned across Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset from April, Metro Mayor Dan Norris has announced.

Five key routes across Bristol will introduce 'turn up and go' policies, including eight buses running each hour along Gloucester Road.

Mr Norris said it means "passengers will no longer need to worry".

He added: "I want to go even further, as we train up even more drivers."

The plan states that eight buses will run each hour along Gloucester Road and Filton Avenue, nine buses an hour through Church Road, 10 an hour to Fishponds and 13 from the University of the West of England to Bristol city centre.

The routes seeing the turn up and go policies include Gloucester Road (75/76), Filton Avenue (70/73/74), Fishponds Road (48/48a/49), Church Road (42/43/44/45) and the UWE-Bristol (m1,m3,m4).

Dan Norris said he hoped more improvements could happen as he tries to increase driver numbers

More buses will also be added to routes that travel through the heart of areas where Mayor Norris's WESTlink minibuses are set to arrive this Spring and Summer.

This will mean passengers can more efficiently link to a bus on a main route from Midsomer Norton to Bath, and between Brislington and Keynsham to Bristol.

Buses will increase in frequency to run at least every 15 minutes as will the 1 (Bath to Southdown), 5 (Bath to Whiteway) and 42/43 (Bristol to Kingswood).

On top of this, the T1 service in Thornbury will gain an extra bus every hour.

Areas moving to at least 15-minute frequency will include:

• Bath to Southdown (1),

• Bath to Whiteway (5),

• Bristol to Kingswood (42/43),

• Keynsham, Brislington to Bristol (x39, 349 and 522),

• Midsomer Norton to Bath (379 - which will be be renumbered the 172), 173, 174 and 522),

• Bath to Bristol (39, x39),

• Long Ashton P&R to Bristol (m2)

• Temple Cloud to Bristol (376 / 379 - which will be renumbered the 172)

The plan is an investment by the Metro Mayor and First Bus after funding was secured via the West of England Combined Authority's Bus Service Improvement Plan.

Mr Norris said: "I'll be monitoring this closely to see if London-style frequency is something that really encourages people to get out of their cars and onto buses as it does in the capital.

"If so, then this is just the kind of top-class bus service I would like to roll out right across our West of England region."

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [e-mail]