Our bus infrastructure

Our communities tell us they want more reliable, frequent and affordable bus services. That's what we're working hard to deliver through the Government-funded Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). 

One of the ways the BSIP aims to improve bus services is with something called bus priority schemes. These include new bus lanes, traffic signals or other measures that give buses priority over other traffic. 

These schemes mainly focus on changes along the A38,  A369 and A370, as well as in Clevedon and Weston-super-Mare, where we are also investing the temporary BSIP funding in lower fares and more frequent buses. To improve your bus travel experience, we also plan to create new transport hubs and upgrade bus stops and shelters.

How the improvements will help

The schemes will help meet future passenger and network demand by improving traffic flow, easing congestion and increasing capacity and performance. It will enable people to travel affordably, reliably and sustainably by bus.

We have been engaging with local communities and representatives throughout the BSIP funding window, asking for feedback on different schemes.

The information, knowledge and views residents share with us is invaluable. Your views are crucial in helping us test whether proposals will be effective and if any changes are needed before final decisions are made.

Please check back on this page for the latest updates on different schemes.

The A38 corridor

The A38 is a key strategic route within North Somerset as well as between Bristol, Taunton and the South West. It is currently served by four key bus routes including the popular A1 service to Bristol and Bristol International Airport. Our ambition is to reduce all bus journey times along this key corridor so frequent bus services can become commercially viable. 

The following schemes and concepts are now at different stages of development at key locations affecting bus running times along the A38: 

Please visit our Engagement and consultation process page to view any proposals that are currently open for feedback.

The A370 and Weston-super-Mare corridor

The A370 is a key corridor for bus improvements. The corridor is used by several bus routes including the popular X1 service (between Weston and Bristol) which carries 128,000 passenger journeys every month.

We have been working with communities to discuss, develop and implement bus priority schemes along the A370. The following schemes are now either complete, underway or under development at key locations affecting bus running times: 

Please visit our Engagement and consultation process page to view any proposals that are currently open for feedback.

The A369 corridor

The planned package of bus priority measures along the North Somerset section of the A369 bus corridor is expected to reduce the longest round-trip bus journey times. The A369 is serviced by the popular X4 bus service connecting Portishead and Bristol. Improvements to its journey times and punctuality will contribute to improved passenger satisfaction, and increased bus patronage, securing the route’s commercially sustainability.

We have been working with communities to discuss, develop and implement bus priority schemes along the A370. The following schemes are now either complete, underway or under development at key locations affecting bus running times: 

Clevedon

Between January and March 2024 we sought people’s views on initial proposals to upgrade the roundabouts on Tickenham Road, Ettlingen Way and Southern Way on the outskirts of Clevedon. The aim of the upgrades proposed were to make bus travel faster, more reliable and more sustainable. They would also improve infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.

The three roundabouts have been identified as areas of congestion along the popular X5, X6, X7, X10 and B2 bus routes, which link Clevedon and surrounding areas to and from Bristol. These services currently carry nearly 50,000 bus passenger journeys every month with demand expected to grow. Proposed upgrades include enlarging the roundabouts, introducing new bus priority lanes and improving crossings and pavements for pedestrians and cyclists. The changes at the roundabouts would benefit bus passengers and help services.

Following our engagement, and additional monitoring of the area, we’ve now made the decision to no longer proceed with proposals to put in place bus lanes on Southern Way and Central Way. Instead, we will add additional road markings to the roundabout entries to help with traffic flow.

We will continue to monitor the Moor Lane/Northern Way element of the proposals, to help us fully understand the movement of traffic, and how best to move forward with plans to reduce congestion and improve ease of travel for all users at this location.  

At the same time, we are continuing to test and refine our proposed design changes at Tickenham Road roundabout. As part of this, we are looking further at related changes that would be needed at All Saints Lane. We received some feedback from lane residents through our earlier engagement on this scheme, but no proposals had been developed at that time. 

We are working on concepts for All Saints Lane and will be in touch to share these, and to provide further updates for the Clevedon plans, as soon as we can.  

Worle High Street

We’ve been working with the community local to the High Street in Worle, Weston-super-Mare to help shape new plans to transform the area into a vibrant, revitalised and safer place to live, work and visit.

Workshops involving businesses, residents and community groups were held between October 2023 and February 2024. We discussed potential improvements that could be made to develop and create a new set of designs for the area.

We are continuing to refine these early designs and will be sharing these for feedback in an online public survey later in 2024. 

Please visit our Engagement and consultation process page to view any proposals that are currently open for feedback.

Transport hubs, bus stops and shelters

We want to work with communities to co-develop inviting new bus transport hubs. These will help to improve the waiting environment and connectivity experience for bus and active travel users. 

We will be inviting people to comment on plans for these as soon as we can – but these could include features such as cycle parking and rapid electric vehicle charging points.

We’re also hoping to give many of our existing bus stops and shelters a facelift. This will include enhanced signage, modern shelters, living roofs in some locations and dynamic real-time information boards.

We will share further updates on this page once we have them.

About real time information (RTI)

Real-time information (RTI) about live bus departures are displayed at certain bus stops and online to help you see when your next bus is due. 

You can find out more about bus travel in North Somerset on the Travelwest website.

Reporting damage to existing bus shelters or stops

Have you noticed a problem with a bus shelter, bus stop or incorrect timetable? You can report it to the Public Transport Team by emailing public.transport@n-somerset.gov.uk or phoning 01934 426 715. Please let them know the bus stop name, bus service number, the direction the bus is travelling in, and the time and date as this will help us deal with the issue quicker.

Advertising on existing bus stops

Our Public Transport Team offers a range of packages with flexible pricing plans for advertising opportunities. These include our full colour digital real time information screens available in prime town centre locations from as little as £25 per fortnight. Email public.transport@n-somerset.gov.uk or phone 01934 426 715 to discuss.