The person will be the one who finally brings a tram or underground system to Bristol
Bristol could soon get a tram system similar to the one in Manchester (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)
A new job is being created at the West of England Combined Authority – to be the person who finally delivers a mass transit transport system for Bristol and the surrounding area. New metro mayor Helen Godwin has signed off on the recruitment of a ‘Head of Mass Transit’, to lead the creation of a mass transit system for the area covering Bristol, Bath, North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
Applications for the £85,000 a year role are currently being invited, as Ms Godwin steps up her commitment to work up a proposal for a mass transit scheme that has eluded Bristol and the surrounding areas for decades.
A month ago, the West of England were allocated £751 million to spend on transport projects – which will include upgrading the bus network, opening more railway stations and making Bristol’s suburban railway more frequent, and creating better conditions for cycling and scootering in the region.
But the major project – which would require a few billion pounds rather than the £0.75 billion the Government announced would be coming to Bristol – is to create a mass transit system.
Bristol is the only major city with a metro mayor not to have some kind of tram, light rail or underground system, and Bristol Airport is the only major airport in the country not to be linked to its city centre by a rail or tram link.
Ms Godwin told Bristol Live last month that a mass transit system was her ultimate goal, and linking the airport with the city would be one of its first priorities. Whether that is through a new tram system, a railway or underground, or a more innovative scheme like the ‘Aerial’ light rail pods suggested last week, remains to be seen.
READ MORE: Bristol’s trams were once the envy of the world – now they could return to our streetsREAD MORE: New transport route to Bristol Airport ‘absolutely achievable’ but thousands of homes will need to be built
But whoever gets the job of West of England’s ‘Head of Mass Transit’ will be the person who leads the project that creates it.
Applicants are being told: “You will be a key player as we deliver on the big transport improvements people in the region need and deserve, changing how people travel, making journeys affordable, reliable, enjoyable, and safe, helping to enable economic growth,” the job spec said.
“The Mayoral Combined Authority is seeking to appoint a Head of Mass Transit to lead the development of the region’s mass transit programme within the Transport Directorate,” it added.
West of England Metro Mayor Helen Godwin on a Tier/Dott e-scooter at Lyde Green, June 2025(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)
“The successful candidate will be an engaging and influential leader, with experience of leading the delivery of complex and nationally significant infrastructure schemes. This role will lead on delivering a key priority for the Metro Mayor.
The first task will be to work out what a mass transit system for Bristol and the West of England would look like. “The responsibilities for the role include leading the strategic programme of mass transit and its constituent projects ensuring the programme is designed, delivered, managed and controlled in an effective manner in order to achieve the intended benefits and goals,” the job spec said.
READ MORE: Bristol Supertram: What happened to the shelved £200m trams plan two decades agoREAD MORE: Bristol could get an underground train system – with plans for a line to the airport
The second task will be to put together a business case to the Government for more funding, of: “Direct the delivery, quality verification and assurance of high-quality business cases to bid for project funding through the Authority’s governance system, Central Government and other funders.”
Bristol last had a mass transit system in 1941, when the tram network was destroyed by the Luftwaffe in the Bristol blitz.
Subsequent plans for ‘supertrams’ failed in the 1990s and 2000s over wrangling between the various local authorities, and Marvin Rees ’ incredible plan for an underground network never got started, despite the former Mayor of Bristol saying in 2018 it could be up and running within ten years, after more falling out between the various council leaders and the former metro mayor Dan Norris.
The last time the Government invested in something that claimed to be a mass transit solution was in the early 2010s, when around £220 million was spent on the Metrobus scheme, which saw new bus lanes and routes across the city.
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