Severe traffic problems and the return of students to the city is causing major delays for the bus service from Thornbury into Bristol city centre during the morning rush hour.
The T1 service travels from Thornbury to Bristol city centre via Bradley Stoke and the M32.
It is mostly a half-hourly service Monday to Saturday and every hour on Sundays.
But over recent passengers who catch the bus south of the Almondsbury Interchange have reported long delays with some services being cancelled without notice.
The problems seem to be related to traffic issues around the M5 Almondsbury Interchange, the Aztec West Roundabout and Bradley Stoke Way - which has a knock on effect on the bus times.
There can also be a build up of traffic around the M32 junction at Hambrook and if then on the motorway itself.
The delay to the service leads to a greater number of passengers left waiting at bus stops, which then results in the buses getting full early into the journey and then having to drive past other stops.
Passenger Claire Cooper has taken to Twitter to complain about the service. She wrote: “Does the T1 no longer take standing passengers? The overdue 0729 from Great Meadow towards the city centre sailed past the stop despite having standing room.”
And Twitter user Loz wrote: “Where’s the 7:12 T1 at David’s Lane, bus heading to Bristol? Honestly the most unreliable bus ever.”
And Christopher Wood wrote: “Can @FirstBSA tell me why the T1 9.14am bus from Thornbury is 18 minutes later than planned? I am going to be late for my course in Bristol again #FirstBus.”
And on Wednesday this week passengers at the Great Stoke stop reported that the 8.05 service did not arrive until 8.30pm.
First Bus has apologised for delays and said that it is a “particularly challenging time” for Bristol’s road network.
Chris Hanson, head of operations for First West of England said: “First of all, we would like to apologise to any customers that have been inconvenienced by delays and the popularity of the service in recent weeks and thank them for their patience while we try to get our buses through and get them where they want to go.
“This is a particularly challenging time of year for Bristol’s road network, and the congestion this year is the worst we have seen as students and commuters return to the roads after the summer holidays.
“We are adding extra buses and supervisors to our key routes in and around Bristol to add extra capacity for passengers at peak times and are continually reviewing this so we can tweak the service in the future to maximise the buses we have available at the right times.
“Bus use continues to increase in Bristol; we are working with our local authority partners to invest in innovative solutions that provide maximum capacity at the busiest times.
“Working together to increase bus use has the potential to significantly reduce congestion on our roads and improve the quality of life for the communities we serve.”
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