​100 British Bus Routes: Route 8
Bristol Temple Meads to Bristol Zoo (circular)

29 March 2022
ABOVE: First West of England’s Streetlite 47437 (SK63 KNJ) at The Avenue, Clifton, on route 8.
​All pictures in this article were taken on Wednesday 9th March 2022.
Operator: First West of England
Runs: Daily, including evenings
Weekday frequency: Every 10 minutes
Estimated Peak Vehicle Requirement: 7 buses
Off-peak journey time: 29 minutes to Bristol Zoo, another 26 minutes back to Bristol
Estimated route length: 7-8 miles (full loop)

It’s just before 8am and I am in Bristol City Centre to try out the number 8 bus to Clifton and Bristol Zoo.

It’s a very busy service using rather small buses (Streetlite DFs), but on a previous visit I had taken the view that some of the streets it serves are a bit tight for a full-size double-decker (not so sure now). On the plus side, the Streetlite is comfortable and smooth, and has very good legroom compared to some of its peers.

With Bristol Zoo, for now at least one of route 8’s main traffic objectives, there are images of animals in the cove panels of the bus interior. There’s nothing to highlight that other tourist attraction along the route – the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
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ABOVE: Internal cove panels reflect the traffic objective of Bristol Zoo

The service starts right outside Bristol Temple Meads station, in the shadow of the imposing, Grade I listed building. Not sure what Isambard Kingdom Brunel would think about his original station building here having been turned into a car park…

We proceed up the main eastern road of the city (Temple Way), and left into Cabot Circus to the heart of the city centre. Every bus in Bristol has its own way in and out of the centre and I’m only just starting to learn how things work here!

There’s a moderate load on my bus already, and many are boarding using the “tap and cap” contactless card touch-in system that has been introduced by First in Bristol. It speeds up boarding significantly; especially useful as quite a crowd has gathered at the next stop in “The Centre”. As we leave, most seats are now occupied, by a mixture of commuters, students and schoolchildren.

We head past College Green and Bristol Cathedral before tackling the very steep upward climb of Park Street; nothing this bus cannot handle with ease, but there are some brave cyclists giving it a go as well, without the horse power that we have!

There’s some really striking architecture in this part of town; especially the Wills Memorial Building Tower, part of the University of Bristol and the ‘fourth-highest’ structure in the city (if you’re wondering, a new block of flats tops the list).

Unfortunately, a very high building is not easily photographed from a single-decker bus; particularly when it’s on the right-hand side and I am sitting on the left. but there are lots of lovely pictures online.

This is a ‘frying pan’ circular service. Having travelled up the ‘handle’ from Bristol City Centre, we reach Clifton Village where the bus starts a short, anti-clockwise, circular section towards Bristol Zoo.
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ABOVE: The start of route 8’s ‘pan head’. Buses take the right-hand fork past Christchurch, with its 213 foot-high steeple. They follow a one-way anticlockwise loop from this point, returning via the roads on the left of the picture about 11 minutes later. Clifton Suspension Bridge is but a short walk from here.

Passengers are leaving in significant numbers in these residential streets now (most get off at Clifton High School) and I end up on my own for a short time. As we edge round the far end of the ‘pan’, though, we start to pick up customers for the City Centre.
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I am intending to break my journey at Bristol Zoo, but accidentally get off one stop early. As I watch the bus go, I note the subtle zoo branding that has been applied to the outside of the vehicle as well.

Although this is also the major service to serve the Clifton Suspension Bridge area, there’s no obvious associated branding for this, whilst the route itself is disappointingly branded as the “Temple Meads Connection”.

The frequency of the 8 is slightly wider at this point than the standard 10 minutes, but I still shouldn’t have to wait 16 minutes for the next service. The stop at Bristol Zoo is a timing point and I would probably find a more even service from there, as that’s where buses will stand to restore their schedule.

No matter, there’s a school here and it’s 8.15am, so there are lots of people heading there, both on foot and by car. Some of those on foot are in a big hurry; others act like they have all day.

It’s quite a fast and busy road and there are lots of cars from the school trying to join the flow; some do so safely whilst others take chances.

There are only two of us on the 0832 departure, but I’m making a very short trip indeed here; just back to Clifton Village. It takes a few minutes and might even qualify for the short hop fare that First operates here, but I “Tap and Cap” anyway, as I will be using several other First buses today and will therefore benefit from the Daily Cap.

I alight at the point where the ‘frying pan’ circuit comes to an end. The bus will now head back down the ‘handle’ into the City Centre, and on to Temple Meads. Meanwhile, I am walking the short distance to the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
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ABOVE: Clifton Suspension Bridge, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Worth a look.
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ABOVE:Looking down from the Suspension Bridge to the eastern bank of the River Avon. One of the two bus routes that runs underneath the bridge, the Portway Park & Ride service, is visible. The other route is the X5 from Portishead.

Sadly, it looks as though Bristol Zoo is closing down later in 2022. The animals here were always more chatty than in other similar locations, thanks to Johnny Morris spending so much time here for the Children’s TV series Animal Magic.

It will be a shame when it’s gone, but I think the 8 will survive. It seems to cater for a lot of locals on this side of Bristol, and the Suspension Bridge isn’t going anywhere!