Stagecoach pulling out of North Somerset mid June.

[whole diary]

[chuffed]

Stagecoach West have announced that the X5  Cribbs causeway to Weston via Portishead and Clevedon, and the X7 between Bristol, Chepstow and Newport will be withdrawn from mid June.
This does not augur well for the myriad South Gloucestershire services.

[Lee]

From the South Wales Argus

Anger over decision to axe 'vital' bus service from Newport to Bristol

ANGER has been voiced over a decision to axe a ‘vital’ bus service between Newport, Chepstow and Bristol.

Stagecoach West has said it will no longer be running the Severn Express or X14 from Sunday, June 14, due to the service making a loss of more than £5,000 a week.

It took on the service from First West of England in September, which said changes including the removal of the Severn Bridge tolls had made it challenging to run.

But commuter Steve Knott, who has used the service for more than 10 years, blamed “a marked decline in the reliability of the service” since Stagecoach took over for a loss of passengers.

Mr Knott, from Chepstow, said withdrawing the service was “a terrible decision.”

“Cancelling these services will certainly have a negative impact for many people, for the economy and for the environment as it will force those people who are able to, to use their cars,” he said.

“This service should be seen as a vital link for people in our community.”

Cllr Dimitri Batrouni, Monmouthshire council’s Labour group leader, has called on the Welsh Government and Monmouthshire Council to work on a solution.

“This is awful news for the communities and residents of Chepstow, Caldicot, Rogiet, Magor and Undy,” he said. “Bristol is an economic powerhouse, providing jobs and job opportunities across a wide range of different sectors.

“It is critical to the lifeblood of south Monmouthshire.

“Stopping the main bus service to Bristol will not only discourage commuters being environmentally conscious, but will also disproportionately affect people on lower incomes.

“Chepstow already has huge traffic pressures; this will only add to it.”

Rupert Cox, managing director of Stagecoach West, said that since September, the company has “worked hard to manage a service that costs far more to operate than it collects in customer revenue.”

“We took action in January to stop running trips carrying the fewest people, prioritising the busiest parts of the service,” Mr Cox said.

“Unfortunately, the remaining buses continued to run at a loss of more than £5,000 a week, before any impact caused by Covid-19 is taken into account.

“This loss is no longer sustainable and is preventing investment in the rest of our network.

“We’re sorry for the impact this decision will have on the small number of regular customers travelling with us.”

From Bristol Live:

Stagecoach announce two major bus services are to be axed from next month

The company has apologised to customers

Stagecoach has confirmed it will be axing a number of services later next month due to falling passenger numbers.

The X5 between Cribbs Causeway and Weston-super-Mare, as well as the Severn Express and X14 services between Newport, Chepstow and Bristol, will all be withdrawn in June.

The bus operator said some buses were running at a loss of up to £5,000 per week, even before the ongoing coronavirus crisis brought the country to a standstill.

Stagecoach previously took action to stop running trips carrying the fewest people back in January but has concluded continuing to run the services is 'sadly unsustainable'.

The company has apologised to passengers and said it will run its existing emergency timetable through to Saturday, June 13.

X5 service statement

A spokesperson for Stagecoach said the level of loss caused running the X5 service was 'sadly unsustainable'.

They said: "We're sorry to confirm we'll be withdrawing Service X5 between Cribbs Causeway and Weston-super-Mare, with our last day being Saturday, June 13.

"Passenger numbers continue to be too low to cover the cost of running the bus.

"Despite taking action to remove the quietest journeys back in January, we continued to lose more than £3,000 each week through to the beginning of March.

"This level of loss is sadly unsustainable.

"We're sorry for the impact this decision will have on the small number of regular customers using X5.  We'll continue to run our current emergency timetable through to June 13."

Severn Express and X14 service statement

On the Severn Express and X14 services, a spokesperson for Stagecoach said: "We're sorry to confirm that our Severn Express and X14 services between Newport, Chepstow and Bristol will be withdrawn from Sunday, June 14.

"Since September we've worked hard to manage a service that costs far more to operate than it collects in customer revenue.

"We took action in January to stop running trips carrying the fewest people, prioritising the busiest parts of the service.

"Unfortunately, through to February the remaining buses continued to run at a loss of more than £5,000 per week.

"This loss is no longer sustainable and is preventing investment in the rest of our network.

"We're sorry for the impact this decision will have on the small number of regular customers travelling with us.

"We will continue to run our existing emergency timetable through to a last day of service on Saturday, June 13."

[grahame]

Hidden in those articles ... Stagecoach only took over those routes las September, from First who had decided to offload them as their "lemons"

[southwest]

I suspect some of these services will become tendered by council. I cannot see why the WSM - Cribbs services was axed by First as it still fits into their network.

[chuffed]

First are running a Weston to Portishead via Clevedon temporarily until a more permanent solution can be found. So,for anyone who lives in Portishead and works at the Mall, now have a 2 hr trip via Bristol instead of a 20 minute hop up the motorway.

[LiskeardRich]

I suspect some of these services will become tendered by council. I cannot see why the WSM - Cribbs services was axed by First as it still fits into their network.

Because it was making huge losses as was the Chepstow run.
Stagecoach thought they could make it viable, they failed.
The council have now decided to susbidise the wsm service in part, with first being the successful winner of the emergency tender. It is only a short term tender whilst the council evaluate next steps

[bobm]

N A T to take over the X7

https://www.natgroup.co.uk/news/x7-trawshafren/

We are delighted to announce that NAT Group, in partnership with TrawsCymru and Monmouthshire Council, have unveiled plans to continue the ‘Severn Express’ bus route, which is an existing bus route that operates between Chepstow and Bristol via Cribbs Causeway and Clifton.

The route, which was originally operated by First Group and then Stagecoach, was unfortunately terminated. However, after many voiced their concerns to the local authorities, NAT Group, TrawsCymru and Monmouthshire Council, have been able to find a way to take over the operation and keep the service in place for the many workers and students who use the service to commute.

(continues in link)