First has entered into a joint pledge with Bristol City Council to improve bus punctuality in the city, the Bristol Post has reported.
The operator will aim to raise the number of buses which arrive on time from 85%, as it currently stands, to 95% by 2020.
The Punctuality Improvement Partnership (PIP) has been established as a shared commitment to achieving a high standard of bus services, with the operator and council working together to improve reliability and punctuality.
Peter Mann, Service Director for Transport at Bristol City Council, said: “This partnership is absolutely essential in ensuring that we have a strong bus network in Bristol that meets the demands of the public.
“There is a lot of work about to begin to change and improve our city centre, particularly with the MetroBus project, and under this agreement we will be working hard to ensure that buses are able to operate as normally as possible.
“We will be working with First to assess the reliability of its bus services and we will work together to address any issues, such as congestion, road works, or special events, that may cause delays to services.
“Working together and sharing information is really important and we hope that other operators will also adopt with this way of working with us.”
James Freeman, Managing Director of First West of England, said: “The creation of this partnership is a really positive step forward in tackling some of the issues that cause our buses to run late.
“It will enable us to identify what the problems are and crucially it will allow us to work together to fix those problems.
“We are really proud of our close working relationship with Bristol City Council and this will further both of our commitments to ensuring that buses are a reliable alternative to car travel.”
First plans to introduce 59 new buses over the next six months and has made a commitment to address any shortfalls in staffing resources by using agency staff and recruiting additional drivers.
