MetroBus is a bus rapid transit system currently under construction in Bristol, England. It is a joint project between Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire councils. Services are expected to begin in 2017.
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Overview
MetroBus is part of a package of transport infrastructure improvements in the West of England which have been designed to help unlock economic growth, tackle poor public transport links in South Bristol, long bus journey times and high car use in the North Fringe of the city and M32 motorway corridor.
MetroBus vehicles will have priority over other traffic at junctions and use a combination of segregated busways and bus lanes. They will be hybrid buses with two doors, one for boarding and one for exiting, in order to shorten stop times.
Five routes will be offered by MetroBus:
In Bristol city centre, MetroBus will remodel significant areas by the Cenotaph to create more space for pedestrians.
History
Development on the £200 million project started in 2006. Three routes were originally proposed:
An addition to the North Fringe package was proposed in 2015. The Cribbs Patchway MetroBus Extension (CPME) will provide a more direct route from Bristol Parkway railway station to Cribbs Causeway, via housing developments at Filton Airfield.
In 2014 incoming directly elected mayor George Ferguson changed the route to avoid buses travelling along the Bristol Harbour dockside in front of the M Shed museum and over Prince Street Bridge.
The scheme's promoters claim that it will reduce journey times by up to 75 per cent between Long Ashton Park and Ride and Hengrove Park.
Construction cost
The total estimated cost of the scheme is £200 million. The Ashton Vale to Temple Meads route is £49.6 million, of which the Department of Transport (DfT) is contributing £34.5 million. DfT will contribute £27.6 million, more than half of the total cost, to the South Bristol Link Road scheme which extends the A4174 ring road, with Bristol City Council contributing £8.4 million and North Somerset Council contributing £5.3 million. The cost of the North Fringe to Hengrove package is estimated to be £102 million, with DfT contributing £51 million, £30.5 million from South Gloucestershire Council and £20.5 million from Bristol City Council.
In 2016 estimated costs increased to £216 million.
Objections
MetroBus has faced opposition from environmental groups who claim a new bus-only junction over the M32 (North Fringe to Hengrove section) would mean the loss of 12 smallholdings, loss of long-held allotments, expansion into green belt land, and loss of Grade 1 soil and land at Feed Bristol, a community food growing project.
The scheme proposes mitigation for loss of allotments, soils etc but the Report to the Development Control Committee for the meeting of 27 August 2014 states, "Despite the proposed off-site mitigation, the NFHP scheme would result in the loss of 1.79 hectares of best and most versatile quality agricultural land (Grade 1, 2 and 3a)."
The 'Alliance to Rethink Metrobus' produced a 'Metrobust Green Capital 2015' calendar and a map showing planned destruction of green spaces across Bristol for the Metrobus scheme.
MetroBus previously faced some opposition to the route in the centre of Bristol which led to the decision of the mayor to reroute it away from the harbourside.
Approval process
All planning permissions for the MetroBus network have now been granted. The Ashton Vale to Temple Meads route was approved by the Department for Transport in November 2013. The South Bristol Link part of the MetroBus scheme was approved in January 2015.
Construction
As of April 2016, construction had begun on all three routes.
Ashton Vale to Temple Meads (AVTM)
Construction started in early 2015 on the Ashton Vale to Temple Meads route. Works for the Ashton Vale to Temple Meads MetroBus route include:
North Fringe to Hengrove (NFHP)
Work began on the Stoke Gifford Transport Link (SGTL) and Bradley Stoke Way in August 2015 as part of the North Fringe to Hengrove Package. The work includes the construction of new roads, widening the carriageway, a bus only junction on the M32 and the creation of new bus lanes on the A4174, Coldharbour Lane, Stoke Lane and SGTL.
The widening of the A4174 required the replacement of the Church Lane bridge for pedestrians and horses, near Emersons Green. The concrete bridge was demolished in December 2015 and replaced with a steel truss bridge in June 2016. Also in June 2016, the M32 was closed to allow the installation of a bus-only bridge.
South Bristol Link (SBL)
The South Bristol Link work began in summer 2015 and involves the construction of:
The work is expected to be completed by late 2016.
Operators
As of February 2017, an operator for MetroBus services had not been found. An operator should have been in place 12 months prior to commencement of services (planned for Spring 2017), but bus companies have proved reluctant to invest in new buses to meet the requirements for MetroBus, whilst having a cap on fares. They suggested that the services would not be viable on a commercial basis. MetroBus has said that public subsidy may be needed to attract an operator.