Portway Park and Ride: Bus and Rail Options Explained

Portway Park and Ride gives you a choice of bus and train journeys, including two ways to reach Bristol Temple Meads. Stagecoach West’s Service 9 serves the city centre and Cabot Circus, while Great Western Railway’s Severn Beach Line serves a different sequence of Bristol stations. Start with your destination, then check the particular outward and return services.[1][2]

Which Service Fits Your Destination?

For city-centre stops and Cabot Circus, Service 9 is the direct bus option identified by WEST, the regional transport information service. For Clifton Down, Redland or Montpelier stations, look at the railway. Both modes serve Shirehampton, Sea Mills and Temple Meads, so compare the actual stop or station with the address you’re visiting.[1][2]

[1][2]

Use the service-specific route map when choosing a bus stop. WEST explicitly describes its Portway overview map as indicative, so a line passing near your destination doesn’t establish where you can get off.[1]

Where the Severn Beach Line Takes You

Great Western Railway, usually shortened to GWR, operates the trains in timetable B9. From Portway, the line towards Bristol serves Shirehampton, Sea Mills, Clifton Down, Redland, Montpelier, Stapleton Road and Lawrence Hill before Temple Meads. In the other direction, the timetable covers Avonmouth, St Andrews Road and Severn Beach. Check the calling pattern of your individual train.[2]

The B9 timetable runs from 17 May to 12 December 2026 and includes through trains to Weston-super-Mare. That gives Portway a useful destination beyond Bristol, but you shouldn’t assume every departure continues there. Enter Portway Park & Ride and your final station into GWR’s journey planner, then inspect whether the result shows a through train or an interchange.[2]

If your selected train finishes at Temple Meads and you’re travelling further, you’ll need an onward service. Plan that connection as part of the complete journey. GWR warns that engineering work can affect services, especially at weekends, and that public-holiday services may differ from the published timetable.[2]

Service 37 Has a Different Job

First Bus operates Service 37, which connects south Bristol with the Avonmouth and Severnside industrial estates via Portway Park and Ride. It’s worth checking for a journey along that corridor. Keep its timetable separate from Service 9: Stagecoach West operates the city-centre park-and-ride bus, while First Bus provides the route and timetable information for the 37.[1]

Finding Portway and Planning Your Parking

For the park-and-ride site, WEST’s official guide gives the location as the A4 in Shirehampton, postcode BS11 9QE. National Rail, the rail information service, lists Portway Park & Ride station as PRI, off Portway in Shirehampton, with postcode BS11 9QF. Use the relevant listing when searching for the car park or the station.[3][4]

The official guide states that parking is free for public transport users and gives Bristol park-and-ride sites a 2.1-metre height restriction. Portway’s listed opening hours are 04:30 to midnight Monday to Saturday, and 08:30 to 21:30 on Sundays and public holidays. The sites are locked overnight, so allow time after your return service arrives to collect your vehicle and leave.[3]

Check the Return Before You Set Off

Follow WEST’s Service 9 route and timetable link to Stagecoach West, or its Service 37 link to First Bus. For rail, use GWR’s journey planner and service updates. Search for the actual day you’re travelling in both directions, particularly if your plans involve an evening return or a connection at Temple Meads.[1][2]

A train departure still needs one final check: does it call at Portway Park & Ride? GWR’s timetable contains journeys with different starting and finishing points. Confirm the Portway call, then compare the arrival with the car park’s closing time before committing to your return journey.[1][2][3]