Sorry for the delay in posting our company response.

Our request last week to North Somerset Council was for the new screens not to be turned on until we all have the kit; a reasonable request and one that would have ensured passengers had correct, accurate and full information.

Unfortunately, either in the rush to "tick the box", or through total lack of awareness of their decisions, this decision by officers has left passengers worse off.

Historically, the RTI^▸ (Real Time Information (displays)) system has functioned at best "erratically" in the Avon area thanks to perseverance with an obsolete radio-based system. I understand the suppliers (VixACIS) have not been paid by the WoE authorities for some considerable time because of poor performance - but nothing appears to happen!

An award from the government's LSTF^▸ (Local Sustainable Transport Fund) pot was made to the WoE authorities last year to expand the system to small operators and give complete coverage. Last October Bristol City Council requested details of the number of on-bus units we would all require, and at Christmas we were promised fitment of units "imminently" over the festive period.

Then it became clear that the "Ticketer" ticket machines (that all small operators have) can link directly to the ACIS server without need for the expensive separate ACIS "box". The local authorities then commissioned a report from Halcrow consultants into the feasibility, and we are still waiting for their report - and for the real-time system installation.

The next we knew, installation of roadside infrastructure in Nailsea began a few weeks ago - and has been immediately turned on. Passengers are now being deliberately mis-informed and a delay in "switch-on" could have given a huge publicity boost to the scheme by demonstrating inclusive partnership working with all bus companies.

It is probably worth mentioning that not all First vehicles are fitted with the boxes, and that the roadside screens only show those vehicles - it does not show a full timetable list.

There are many issues ongoing in North Somerset at the moment and it is unfortunate that passengers are last on the list of the local authority's concerns.

Finally, should we mention the overheard conversation between North Somerset Council officers at a real-time meeting stating we would be excluded from the real-time project because we wouldn't pay our timetable bill? The bill in question was for 62 roadside timetables at ^8.77 per stop, when only 12 of those 62 were correct. Would you pay?

Dave

NSCoaches

We were asked to quote for operating this with a heritage bus... bearing in mind the cost of Fuel, Insurance, proper maintenance, wages and registration costs, a proper quote was given, and we never heard back.

Interesting the request for "donations" to travel on a "free bus" - the Traffic Commissioners will certainly not view the operator of the service in good light for running an illegal (unregistered) bus service as it is operating for Hire & Reward.

Two things to comment here:

Firstly, apologies to Coffee Shop members for being beaten to it! I'd planned to leave it until the end of March before announcing our service changes from 18th April.

Sadly it is true that the Nailsea & Backwell Rail Link service will cease from this date. Having worked hard since August 2008 at delivering the "integrated public transport" that everyone keeps screaming for, the route can't be cross-subsidised any longer (and we have never received a penny of subsidy or support for running it) so will finish... and probably never return, which is a great shame.

Secondly, the Yatton-Clevedon Link was a North Somerset Coaches project, jointly worked through with the North Somerset Council relocation team, based on our experience of actually making it work at Nailsea. Sadly politics that I won't go into saw the route being operated in the current fashion by Wessex Connect with their lovely Mercedes Sprinter. We had planned a flagship operation, that the council and operator could be proud of, with joint/through ticketing and proper marketing... "Clevedon Branch" type of service giving a decent feeder service to the railway at Yatton. Sadly none of those things have happened, and the route will undoubtedly finish when the allocated fixed amount of funding runs out and Wessex walk away.


Dave. (NSCoaches), Nailsea.

Bus Contracts and Integrated ticketing are all well and good in an ideal world... unfortunately, the more you let distant civil servants have a say the more messy it gets and the worse the actual service delivered is. Let the authorities organise the infrastructure and the operators run the buses. Is it any wonder the 5xx bus services are generally poorly used? Commercial bus services run by commercial organisations are best placed to respond to customer demand. If they don't they are vulnerable to attack.

I know everyone criticises First in the city and screams out for competition. Just open your eyes... Wessex Connect (plus their U-Links), ABus, Citistar, Faresaver - all running either large tendered networks or commercial operations in the heart of the city. It is happening, albeit slowly, and things are improving. I suspect the only subsidy going to First is for evenings and weekends...

There is room for rationalisation in North Somerset though, where First's Bristol-Clevedon service is tendered by North Somerset Council on journeys towards Bristol in the evening (they are commercial outbound), and the first three Bristol-bound journeys on a Sunday morning. That really is crazy and prevents anyone else from tendering a reasonable bid.

On the subject of fare integration - can I spend Tesco vouchers in Sainsburys?

Advance Information for Nailsea commuters- we are changing our rail-link services from 30th August...

The new routes will be half-hourly in both peaks.
2A becomes the afternoon (anti-clockwise) circular, Station to Station via Trendlewood Way, Lodge Lane, Stock Way, Silver Street, Hannah More Road and Whiteoak Way
2C becomes the morning (clock-wise) circular, Station to Station via Whiteoak Way, Hannah More Road, Silver Street, Link Road, Lodge Lane and Trendlewood Way.

There will be a new extra evening journey at 1842 to connect out of the 1630 HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) from Paddington (and local DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) 1825 ex.Temple Meads)

Afternoon times will be xx12 and xx42, and buses will still wait up to 5 minutes (10 on the last journey) for delayed trains.

Also due in the autumn is (at long last!) a new bus shelter for the Nailsea-side bus stop.

Timetables will be available on our website (www.northsomersetcoaches.co.uk) shortly or you can request one by email (sales@northsomersetcoaches.co.uk).

Not fogetting that in Wales the funding for Concessionary Fares is significantly higher than in England... Also Wales are continuing to offer free travel at age 60, against England where the qualfying age is rising to 65 to save money.

Thanks for the welcome, and it is interesting to know what people think of the service we provide. It is hard providing an "integrated" service that actually works! We still have occasional hiccups but I think the connections usually work, and the drivers hang on the promised extra 5 minutes (10 on last bus) if trains are late. If it doesn't happen, I need to know!

We have thought about changing the route to serve Trendlewood - as more people seem to come from that side of town - but haven't yet for two reasons: 1) Risk of losing the people we already have from Kingshill and 2) First have run half-hourly 364s from the Station to Trendlewood - so it seemed sensible for us to provide something different.

However, from 6th April 364 is replaced by an hourly 362 via Long Ashton village - and stays hourly through the afternoon peak (loss of four PM peak journeys). We have a new Express service from Nailsea to Bristol starting on the same date, and may consider in due course changing the 2A to run via Trendlewood to Link Road, and back to the station via Kingshill. Comments on that proposal are most welcome!

Hello, we've just joined the forum here... any comments or suggestions about the Nailsea Bus-Link will be welcome, and if we can make any improvements to attract more users then please let us know. David, North Somerset Coaches.