Bristol City Council is on course to bring in at least a million pounds from drivers who have been caught on camera driving their cars into bus lanes or through bus gates around the city – but while some cameras have only been activated once in the first eight months of the year, others have seen thousands of motorists ending up with a fine.
The council has released a list of all the bus gates and bus lanes with enforcement cameras throughout the city – from Fishponds to Lockleaze and Brislington to Montpelier – together with how many penalty charge notices each has issued, and the amount of money that has brought in so far.
The list covers from the start of January 2024 to the end of August, and reveals that, in this eight month period, a total of £632,760 was generated for council coffers.
With bus gates and bus lanes forming a key part of the transformation of yet more of the city centre’s roads, from Broadmead to Bedminster Bridge, in the next few years, the total amount raised is expected to rise steeply – particularly because new bus gates, like the one in Cumberland Road, catch thousands of motorists for the first few months, before drivers realise and avoid making the same mistake again.
The list of bus lanes and bus gates are as follows, listed in order of the number of motorists each one has caught in the January-August period in 2024. The amount of income generated varies, because that depends on whether the fine is paid quickly, ends up multiplying, or is dropped if the council allows or loses an appeal.
1 Cumberland Road Bus Gate
PCNs issued – 11,650
Income generated – £447,704
The newest and most controversial bus gate was set up a year ago, and the council began issuing fines in January. Thousands were caught in the first few months, but the numbers of drivers getting caught has declined in recent months. It is still on course to be the most lucrative bus gate in Bristol, and one of the most lucrative in the country, by the end of the year.
2 Victoria Street, Bristol Bridge Bus Gate
PCNs issued – 1,272
Income generated – £46,615
The figures break down individually the several different bus gates that are on the approach roads into the Bristol Bridge, which was made bus, taxis and bikes only in the post-Covid period under the previous Labour Mayoral administration. Drivers are getting used to avoiding trying to cross Bristol Bridge now, but it still catches scores each week. This is the bus gate on the approach from Temple Meads heading west across Bristol Bridge from Victoria Street in Redcliffe.
3 Baldwin Street/ High Street bus gate
PCNs issued – 869
Income generated – £27,660
The bus gate that catches drivers heading east along Baldwin Street towards Bristol Bridge, after the final escape route back towards Queen Square. Thousands were caught out by this every month after it was installed, but now that’s down to around 100 a month.
4 Baldwin Street /Marsh Street bus gate
PCNs issued – 616
Income generated £17,384
This is the bus gate heading west at the other end of Baldwin Street, that prevents private drivers from crossing The Centre towards the Hippodrome.
5 Baldwin Street/Broad Quay
PCNs issued – 504
Income generated £13,255
The bus gate which stops drivers from turning right across The Centre onto Baldwin Street from St Augustine’s Parade and Anchor Road. This has been in place for around six years now.
6 Stoke Lane M32
PCNs issued – 363
Income generated £12,132
In its day one of the most controversial bus gates, the slip road off the M32 caught out so many drivers in the first year or so after it was created for the Metrobus. Better signage had to be put in place, and it seems to have worked – the number of drivers caught out by this, exiting the M32 here by mistake has fallen to an average of 45 a month, or ten a week.
7 High Street
PCNs issued – 341
Income generated £11,460
The least prolific of the bus gates around Bristol Bridge, fewer drivers make it around Castle Park and descend the High Street to get trapped at the approach to the bridge and the Baldwin Street turning, than from other approaches to the bridge.
8 Romney Avenue inbound
PCNs issued – 316
Income generated £8,590
9 Union Street /Haymarket junction
PCNs issued 269
Income generated £7,095
10 A37 Wells Road (Three Lamps)
PCNs issued 203
Income generated £6,495
11 Bath Road Bus Lane 1
PCNs issued 196
Income generated £6,610
12 Colston Avenue
PCNs issued 159
Income generated £5,915
13 Bath Road West Town Lane
PCNs issued 157
Income generated £4,735
14 Bath Road A4 Flowers House
PCNs issued 137
Income generated £4,735
15 Colston Street
PCNs issued 118
Income generated £2,855
16 A4 Bath Road (approaching Three Lamps junction)
PCNs issued 116
Income generated £2,770
Fewer than 100 PCNs: Broad Quay, Romney Avenue (outbound), Union Street in Broadmead.
Fewer than 10 PCNs: A38 Cheltenham Road – all three bus lane cameras – A420 Church Road, A420 Lawrence Hill, Stokes Croft and both bus lane cameras on Fishponds Road.