The city’s biggest bus operator is drafting in 20 extra vehicles with no set schedule to plug gaps during peak times in the run-up to Christmas.
First West of England managing director James Freeman announced plans for the “Q Busters”, following a successful pilot last December, at a public transport meeting.
They will be deployed later this month on Bristol’s two main transport corridors and four of the busiest and most delay-prone routes.
The vehicles, which have been borrowed from other parts of the country, will be rolled out on the number 1 and 2 services from Cribbs Causeway to Stockwood and Broomhill, and the 75 and 76 from Cribbs and Henbury down to Hartcliffe, Withywood and Bishopsworth during congestion on the roads.
Dedicated controllers on the street from 7am to 8pm will manage the extra buses and drivers with iPads linked to the company’s control centre to identify when traffic is heaviest and additional vehicles are needed to keep the timetable on track.
Mr Freeman said: “The introduction of Q Busters last year was a creative approach to a real problem on the ground caused by a combination of traffic congestion and an exceedingly high demand for our services at this time of year, with new and returning students and the weather resulting in more people generally using public transport.
“It was highly effective and we had some very good feedback from our customers which is why we are making a similar level of investment again this year to relieve hotspots in the system.”
He told the West of England Combined Authority regional transport forum that the Q Busters would be dedicated to Bristol and have no schedule.
“They are simply there to fill the gaps. They will be allocated on an hour-by-hour basis,” Mr Freeman said.
“We found last December it was hugely beneficial.
“When buses get stuck in parts of a network they create huge gaps and we need to fill those gaps, and the only way to do that is to have extra buses to do it.
“It’s expensive but worthwhile.”
First West of England currently operates 631 single and double-deckers.
Mr Freeman told the meeting on September 26 that while the Q Busters would ease the problems at a busy time of year for bus travel, a longer-term solution was required.
“Volume of traffic is our real enemy, and we are going to have to tackle that,” he said.
“We need to find a way of getting our public transport through congestion or it itself will simply become a victim of it.”
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