Bristol Airport has revealed plans to trial a new, innovative public transportation service for passengers and staff.
The new services will be timetabled on dedicated routes and will reflect both the flight schedule and employee rosters, providing a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service. Both routes will operate a ‘demand response’ shuttle service to optimize journey times and maximize the convenience of the services for customers.
One service will provide a new connection from Nailsea and Backwell train station to the airport, while another service will start in Clevedon, stopping at Yatton train station and Cleeve en route to the airport. Both services will be simple to use and tickets for travel will be ordered in advance on a pre-booked basis. Trials for both services may start as early as 2020 for a six-month period, enabling Bristol Airport to gauge the level of interest in the services.
James Shearman, head of sustainability at Bristol Airport, said, “We continue to listen to feedback from our local communities on the need to improve public transport services to the airport and since 2011 we’ve invested £8m [US$9.7m] in transport improvements. The new services will provide an innovative, flexible and competitively priced service, with discounts available for staff working at the airport.”
“We are committed to exploring new public transport alternatives where these are economically viable,” he concluded.
The Nailsea and Clevedon on-demand public transport service forms part of a multi-million-pound package designed to mitigate the traffic impacts associated with growth to 12 million passengers per annum by improving the transport system for communities around the airport. The package will include highway improvements, support for new bus and coach services and infrastructure, a new bus lane on the A38, and significant investment in electric vehicle charging.
