First Bristol/West of England

[knutstransport]

First Bristol/West of England
Having recently been to Somerset I thought I'd share that:

If you have a First Bus ticket and see a green vehicle turn up saying "The Buses of Somerset" then even though there's no First branding on the vehicle, First tickets are accepted as "The Buses of Somerset" is their subsidiary. I only found this out because I noticed the sticker with COVID related information matched the one on First Buses on had a tiny First logo in the corner.

First tickets are also accepted on the Metrobus routes in Bristol but that is clearly advertised at bus stops. Cash fares are not available on Metrobus services.

Annoyingly First have just changed the timetables but the times on the 'next departure' displays in Bristol still show the old times and old timetables were still available to download on the First Bus website with no indication of service changes on routes like the 376.

Streetlites are used on the 8 route (Clifton circular.) They actually work well on that route with having the power to climb the steep hills and not getting up to any real speed, where they can become rattly. They are also much better presented internally than the D&G Bus examples.

The Mendip Explorer Wright Eclipse Geminis are 09-14 reg examples and all have stickers on them referring to being retrofitted with cleaner Euro VI engines. They vary internally with some having moquette seat covers and others having leather seat covers. One I was on had a next stop system but that wasn't operational, another had USB charging points. As the 376 and 126 both link towns and villages with no stations to mainline stations (e.g. linking Glastonbury and Wells to Bristol Temple Meads) there are quite a lot of large bags and suitcases carried on these routes but First haven't thought to add a luggage rack to these.