National Express has announced it will increase the number of its bus services that call in at Bristol Airport – with more than 100 extra journeys stopping at the airport every week from next month.
Services from Birmingham, Gloucester, Cheltenham and Weston-super-Mare will be ‘enhanced’ with more direct services to Bristol Airport from December 12.
The nationwide coach firm pointed to the airport’s expansion – which is currently seeing a £60m ‘transport hub’ being built – was key to the decision to expand the number of services calling there.
“We continue to invest in our extensive coach network, including this newly enhanced service which is a welcome addition following the ongoing success of our existing routes to Bristol Airport, including journeys to and from South Wales, London, Plymouth and Birmingham,” said Ed Rickard, National Express’ network director.
“With soaring costs and disruption on the railways, more and more savvy customers are choosing National Express for reliable, great value travel and a guaranteed seat. We’re really pleased to be providing even more direct, affordable journeys, especially as people start to make travel plans for the festive season,” he added.
National Express recently announced it was expanding the number of services it was running between Bristol and London, after rivals Megabus cut all its services to the capital. Ironically, the only service in the south west region not axed by Megabus is its South West Falcon service, which operates between Bristol and Plymouth, and goes from Bristol Bus Station to Bristol Airport.
National Express also announced it is putting on more coaches between Bristol and Birmingham, with more than 200 running each week.
At Bristol Airport, the transport hub should be opening in the middle of next year. Earlier this month, airport bosses sparked controversy when they announced that as soon as the expansion is completed, they wanted to expand again, taking the number of passengers travelling through each year over the 12 million they won planning permission for a couple of years ago.
As well as the controversy over climate change and the impact of an ever-increasing number of flights on the wider environment, another criticism of the airport has been the low proportion of passengers who arrive or leave by public transport. It has doubled in the past year, but still only accounts for one in every six passengers. That leaves car parking and drop-off charges as a major source of income for the airport – in fact, the airport makes £60m profit every year from people parking there – the biggest single income and profit stream for the airport itself.
More bus services and an increasing number of passengers choosing to get the bus rather than drive and park, is the aim of the new transport hub, according to Ed Condon, the transport development manager for Bristol Airport.
“We’re really pleased to announce that we’ll be adding a new National Express route, improving sustainable connections for our customers to Gloucestershire and the West Midlands via Gloucester and Cheltenham, this Christmas and New Year and beyond,” he said.
“The new service will be welcomed by customers who live north of the airport and will benefit from the timetable that has been crafted to match peak aircraft departures and arrivals. By next summer, when our new Public Transport Interchange is open, we’ll have more than doubled the number of coach bays, and as one of our longstanding transport partners, National Express will have a dedicated stop that customers can return to time and again,” he added.