What I don't understand is, why does it take the same amount of time for the bus to drive to the station as it does for me to walk? Also, why do empty buses rattle past my window all day (when in service) but they never drive past the bus stop when I'm waiting for one? No joke, I just looked out my window again and there was yet another, with not a sole on board!! A city like this needs a good public transport system, what with the hilliness making it harder to walk and cycle and the traffic diabolical due to tiny windy roads. We need a solution and fast! read more

First - Public Transportation Near Me

Today, 9th of september, i've waited for the bus for over a whole hour. Never thought it was possible to skip exacly 10 busses in a row (6x for number 76 and 4x for number 2). I've been at the bus stop from 13:48 and finaly caught a number 2 bus at 15:04. When I told the driver I've been waiting for the bus for a whole hour he just shrugged and said "it is very busy in town". I get that its not his fault, and I'm used to 2 or even 3 busses not arriving, its beyond me as to what has to happen to skip 10 busses in a row. I was also suppossed to start my shift at 3pm. In seriously reconsidering my decision to get around by bus. (Might as well had walked to city center today). Sincerely, Vito. read more

Constantly late, over priced, smelly, dirty, loud, polluting death traps. Why can every city in the world have a working public transport system and in Bristol they don't even turn up sometimes!!!! You can not do that. You are there, subsidies by the government, endorsed and forced upon us with the lack of parking and stupid one way systems and we give in. We say yes, we'll get the bus because it's the only way to get around Bristol. AND THEN YOU DONT TURN UP! It's cold. People have meetings. Appointments. - just sort it out. read more

Await citizens! Our very own Bus Service is here (is it ? Seriously?) Well, you can write a book of the size of a Bible, but, I am afraid, that still, you won't be able to cover, what are the things which are wrong with this Bus Service Provider! Everything, literally everything is wrong with this Service Provider! The fares rip you off and to add to your misery, they are never on time. Wait, so? They can still come. Alas! No! Sometimes, they just don't, yes, they just don't turn up!!!! I missed movie shows, appointments, meetings, farewells and, the list is endless just for this disgusting bus service. And, the Company is unmoved. They don't care! The Bus Number 24 is the best one! It comes in a pair!!! Because they are always late! And sometimes to add to the misery, they don't turn up! You call up the helpline and they say, they are coming!!! Like today, the 15:55 didn't come, the 16:05 one was late. And they came in pairs. We tried to stop the first one, it speeded off! The second one in an act if mercy picked us up! Ah, the drivers are rude. Not all of them, but most of them! God knows why still the Council is giving them the transport Contract. In Other cities there are other Service Providers who charge you less, are polite and yes, turn up on time. Hahaha,dot on time!!! There is no option of giving 0 *, or minus *. That's why had to give 1 * ! read more

First - For the smiles, how number 24 comes in a pair. Incident if today and, everyday!!!! - Public Transportation Near Me

Oh dear me, Bristol's buses are pretty diabolical. I lived in London for a while, and there you can hop on a bus any time of day (that's right, they have night buses), pay 90 p and quickly get to where you want to go. Bristol's buses fail on all three counts. You can't hop on a bus, because they're never around. Many are the stories I've heard of people being stranded in the middle of nowhere when a bus fails to materialise (The conversation in my head is always the same when this happens - after fifteen minutes I think to myself 'I've been waiting ages, I could just walk. But then it might come any second now..', this is repeated every five minutes until the bus comes) The prices are ridiculous, with £2.50 for a single being a regular occurrence - that means £5 return. Then, to top it all off Bristol's traffic means it can be just as fast to walk, especially if it's a short ride through the centre. First have been given a monopoly on the bus service here and what's been given in return is a let down for the city of Bristol. read more

The great thing about Bristol's bus service is because the city's so small you don't usually have to use it. I have long given up on attempting to go anywhere with the buses, which are slow, poorly routed and really, really expensive (my kingdom for an Oyster card...). The punctuality record is appalling, they never stop where you want them to (I don't know who designed the routes) and just about the only plus point I can think of is that the buses themselves are relatively modern and comfortable. Instead I use the far more efficient little train which has a stop near me and goes just about everywhere I usually ever want to go. With a 16-25 railcard it clocks in at a lot cheaper as well at 75p per journey (which most of the time you don't even have to pay as they never ever seem to check). read more

I love it! The one thing most people are universally agreed on is how poor the bus service is! I am not even necessarily talking about the bus routes, timetables and journey times, I'll get to that later, I am talking about the drivers themselves; the customer service. Why is bus driver (and Wolf from Gladiators) the only profession that allows you to be really rude, obnoxious and horrible to people all the time!? Ok my dad was a bus driver so I know how hate filled it makes them; the frustrations and the loathing of the general public, but not everyone deserves to have that channelled towards them! My girlfriend, who uses the bus everyday and continuously pays different sums of money for the same journey, was thrown off a bus because the driver misunderstood what stop she meant and thought she was trying to steal a free ride! It was one stop! Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous! She hasn't stolen anything in her life and she certainly didn't want to do First buses out of 4 pennies worth of petrol. Not only did he throw her off the bus, he did it at night when she was on her own and miles away from home. Sickening behaviour and don't forget we pay (way too much) to use this service. In terms of the bus routes, they all take ages, the buses don't come often enough and they cost too much. But if you don't know Bristol the number 8 or 9 are what you want to be aiming for, they will take you around most of the city and back to the station. read more

First Buses exist only to investigate the question: How bad can a service business be while continuing to operate? In a time honoured tradition started by Wessex Buses, it researches this by arbitrarily not running bus services, refusing to equip buses with a change float, employing drivers who act more as an obstacle to riding on their bus than anything else, and many other methods. The lower bound of quality-of-service was previously thought to have been assessed by Wessex, having lost the contract to service UWE but First flies in the face of this assessment by somehow providing an even worse service while simultaneously having brand new buses and technology which should, in theory, make the whole operation simpler and more efficient for both them and the people they service. 1/10, you're better off investing your season ticket money in a horse and cart if you want practical transportation in 2018. read more

I have had very mixed experiences of First Buses. Initially I'd say they offer a decent service, especially the regular service between Bristol Temple Meads, the town centre and Redland/Clifton. These buses, the number 8 and 9, run every 10-20 minutes and are used by a lot of students. However, some of the drivers are appalling with one deliberately not stopping for me despite it being the last bus of the night. I complained and First apologised and said they would be taking disciplinary action against the driver so I'm guessing this is the exception rather than the norm. Get on one of these buses late at night and you may well find yourself sat next to some drunk slumped over their can of special brew but then you'd probably get that on any bus, especially the night buses in London. First Buses Bristol are certainly a lot better than First Great Western trains in terms of value for money and punctuality. read more

First - First Buses - Public Transportation Near Me

One of the most terrible bus service I have ever seen in my life. They are never on time, slow and expensive. I also wanted to give a try to their customer service, It took exactly 12 minutes for me to pass the robot voice and reach customer service. I would say to be avoided, but for most cases there are not alternative options to some routes if you don't cycle, drive or walk read more

I was waiting at Bristol Fashion stop Thurs 13 Nov awaiting the No 5 to Downend. It was due at 8.52 pm. a long queue formed and a No 5 arrive at 9.40 p.m we had counted 11 buses go by "sorry not in service" and 4 No 76 buses for Cribbs Causeway. The driver of the No 5 had no idea what the problem was and understandably was not best pleased to hear our moans! I tried to phone First Bus this morning but after about 30 rings went on to answer machine saying to leave a message but no offer to ring back with an explanation. This really is very poor - pull your socks up First Bus. Beryl of Downend read more

went to portway park and ride on a sunday, missed the last bus at 10.40 am ! i phoned the first south helpline and the staff told me there were no other buses in the area for the rest of the day. i later found out the number 3 bus was running, 5 mins walk away. read more

It would take forever for me to write about all the things that are wrong with First. I have missed many important meetings and been into work late too many times, sometimes an hour and a half late, because of first. I have missed other buses and trains because First cannot keep to a schedule, or provide alternatives when their buses are late or break down. However one of my most recent dealings with First is one of the worst. I asked for a FirstWeek South West, which should cost me £24. I paid the bus driver £24 and he gave me a printed off card.The card had £24 printed on it. However the next day when I came to use My WEEK bus ticket the machine said it had expired and so the bus driver would not accept it. He said it was just a FirstDay South West, despite that they only cost £6.50 and I pointed out it said £24. He suggested I go into the ticket office at the bus station. The only problem being that it is not yet open when I am there in the morning and has already closed by the time I arrive back in the evening. And of course there are no staff that can help! The customer services over the telephone told me I would have to post my ticket off to Exeter, however I am weary that I will send it off and that will be the last I hear of it. So until I can sort it out I am £24 out of pocket and have had to pay twice for one week of buses. Not to mention that on the same day my bus was cancelled so I had to catch a later one, which they told me would definitely be faster than the normal route, it did not, I ended up getting into work an hour late. The only time I ever really get stressed in my life outside of work is when I am dealing with First. If I go prematurely grey it will be their fault. read more

it does not even deserve 1 star. It's expensive, inadequate, uncomfortable and not fit for purpose. The worst public transport service I have ever experienced and I had lived in a few cities across Europe in the past. The congestion problem in Bristol is so bad because having a car and being stuck in traffic is the preferred and cheaper option. read more

This recent change to the barely functioning app is appalling. The bar code invariably doesn't work, so I walk anyway until the (obnoxious & surly usually) bus driver screams at me to come back and stand there for a pointless 40 seconds until it beeps. Might explain why the bus is generally 15 minutes late. Quicker to walk anyway. read more

A catalogue of errors - never run on time, expensive, poor customer service, uncomfortable.

Basically, poor, poor service in my opinion. I might be a little Europeanly biased about this (as the transport system just works, smoothly), but I don't feel that after waiting 20 minutes for a bus that doesn't even come (which has been the case more often than not when I've used them in the past few years) the best part of £4 (when it eventually does) to go 10 minutes down the road in to town is worth it, in any way at all. That's probably quite a sweeping and harsh comment, but basically I see the First Bus as ridiculously over priced for a service which just doesn't work efficiently. It's no incentive, in any way, to really get people out of their cars and into public transport. And with constant price rises (which I've heard have been justified with the intent of buying more buses, eventually (which will then improve the service)) it seems simply a dodgy money making scheme - and raising money to make your service better in a few years time seems very bad business logic to me. Poor show. read more