It is the third-most heavily used station in the West of England combined authority area, after Bristol Temple Meads and Bath Spa.

Electrification using 25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead system reached Bristol Parkway in late 2018, and electric trains in the Swindon and London direction commenced passenger service on 30 December 2018.

Platform 2 is on the north side of the island and serves westbound trains towards Wales and Bristol Temple Meads.

[13] It contains a booking office, waiting rooms, payphones, cash machines, shops, toilets and a café overlooking the tracks.

There are waiting rooms on each platform, as well as vending machines and LED displays giving next train information.

[11][14][15][16] Bristol Parkway was among the first of a new generation of park and ride railway stations, and many passengers use it for that purpose.

[8][10] In December 2022, the ORR gave approval to the open access company Grand Union to commence a service from Paddington to Carmarthen in partnership with Spanish rail operator Renfe, for which a fleet of new bi-mode trains will be used.

[30] Bristol Parkway is served by bus routes linking it with the rest of Bristol and South Gloucestershire, including Avonmouth, Severn Beach, Cribbs Causeway, Bath, Temple Meads, Southmead Hospital, Chipping Sodbury and Yate.

[31][32] Metrobus route m4[33] started on 22 January 2023, connecting Cribbs Causeway via Parkway to Bristol.

[13] The station was built on the site of the Stoke Gifford marshalling yard, which closed on 4 October 1971, having become surplus to requirements with the cessation of wagonload freight trains.

The original structures, built by Stone & Co. of Bristol, were basic – two island platforms connected by an open metal footbridge, with a wood and brick building containing the booking facilities and waiting rooms.

Further minor improvements were implemented over the next thirty years, including a new booking office and extensions to the car park.

[13] Following the privatisation of British Rail in 1997, services at Bristol Parkway were franchised to several train operating companies.

[50] The 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) building opened on 15 May 2000, replacing a similar facility at Bristol Temple Meads, with the Royal Mail stating it would save 250,000 miles (400,000 km) of lorry journeys per year on local roads.

[51][55] In 2008, Network Rail opened a maintenance training centre on the site in a £2.5 million project which saw the construction of a mezzanine floor, a welding workshop and a 4,000 square feet (370 m2) extension.

Local roads were enhanced to help speed passengers' journeys to and from the station, and a new multi-storey car park was built to replace the spaces lost to the Royal Mail facility.

The work cost £3 million and was funded by Network Rail, with First Great Western contributing £100,000 towards the new waiting room and help desk.

[59] A new multi-storey car park on the station site with 710 spaces was opened on 5 September 2014 by Baroness Kramer, Minister of State for Transport.

[61][62] The new platform 1 took over an existing goods loop, allowing trains towards Bristol and towards Wales to be accommodated at the same time, thus easing a bottleneck.

[12][38][63][64] The station closed for three weeks in Autumn 2018 for further electrification works, including the installation and testing of overhead wires.

[80][81] In 2011, the group Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways supported the electrification continuing to Weston,[82][83] as did the Member of Parliament for Weston-super-Mare, John Penrose.

[88] The current MetroWest Phase 2 proposals are for a spur to Henbury, served by trains from Bristol Temple Meads, without a direct connection to Parkway.