Cribbs route is abandoned

A WEEKLY bus service from Nailsea and Backwell to Cribbs Causeway is being scrapped following news that a main route into Bristol could remain closed until the end of the year.

North Somerset Coaches had been running a 600 and 601 service each Friday from the two villages which went into Clifton and then to The Mall, Cribbs Causeway.

After dropping off passengers at The Mall, the service, which has been running since May 2009, then went into Pill to collect shoppers and take them to Cribbs Causeway.

The fact that Bridge Valley Road has been closed since March has meant the service now goes straight along The Portway, up Sylvan Way and up to Cribbs. But as a result of the route having to be amended during the road closure, passenger numbers have fallen dramatically.

Coach firm boss David Fricker had kept the service running in the hope that passenger numbers would increase when Bridge Valley Road reopened and the bus could resume its drop offs in Clifton.

But following news that Bridge Valley Road is to remain shut until Christmas, Mr Fricker had had no choice but to stop running the service from August 23.

Mr Fricker said: “We have sustained the loss on this service for as long as we can.

“We put up with the road closure from March hoping it would re-open again in June, but now it looks like the road will be closed until Christmas.

“We don’t like abandoning routes, but we have little choice.”

Mr Fricker had considered re-routing the service through Hotwells and up to Clifton Triangle, but the timetable would not allow it. He also contacted North Somerset Council to see if it could help fund the service to allow it continue until Bridge Valley Road reopened and the situation improved.

Mr Fricker added: “I asked the council if they could help, but the answer was no. The zoo and Clifton is a popular destination with people, especially in the summer, but because we can’t get there, passengers are just not using the service.

“We did look at re-routing the service, but the unpredictable nature of Friday traffic in the city and on the M5 means it is virtually impossible to provide a robust timetable.

“In a recent inspection by the Vehicle and Operator Service Agency (VOSA) the inspectors highlighted that the service was not running well at times. Bus operators who fail to run services well can often receive large fines and as an independent firm, we could not cope with that. We couldn’t put our other routes in jeopardy just to keep one going.”

Mr Fricker is now planning to look at providing alternative services on Fridays perhaps to Wells or Street.

Bridge Valley Road was due to reopen in June, but bigger problems were discovered during the repair works and it is still not clear how much it will cost to fix or how long it will take.

Specialists were brought in to evaluate the extent of the problems and report revealing costs and a timetable is due to be published in September.

That report has been put back until September and although the council is still refusing to be drawn on the potential bill or how long the road will stay closed, it has confirmed it will be a ‘key’ decision.

The road was initially closed for work to be done on the retaining wall above it which links Clifton Down at the top of the Avon Gorge with the Portway at the bottom. But the problem was found to be more complex than first thought because of the location of an old fault line within the rock face and the presence of the disused railway tunnel beneath the road.