Bus operator First West of England is announcing several changes to some city services in Bath, as well as inter-urban services from Bath to Wells, Chippenham and Frome.
The changes will take effect on Sunday 23 August 2015.
In Bath the frequency of the Service 13 will increase to every 15 minutes. This will make it easy to know when the next bus will arrive as well as providing customers with an extra bus an hour.
Services between Bath, Frome & Wells will also see some changes.
The introduction of service 174 will create a new direct link for customers in Shepton Mallet to Bath for better access to shops, schools and onward travel by bus or train.
Changes to First^s 231 service will provide a much quicker link to Bath for customers in Chippenham, Corsham and Box.
Other changes include better access for schools on First^s 265 service as well as changes to some services to address punctuality and reliability issues.
Talking about the changes, Andrew Sherrington, General Manager for Bath, Wells & Weston-super-Mare says: ^These changes are part of a big shake up of services in and around Bath, West Wiltshire and parts of Somerset. We believe that, for the most part, customers will have better, faster bus links. We have listened to feedback from local residents and our customers and have tried to provide a service that better meets their needs.^
He continued: ^For some areas we have had to make cuts. These decisions have not come easily for us. For the most part the services that are being withdrawn are being replaced with faster, more frequent services, however this will be little comfort to those that will no longer have a First bus service. We have worked with the various local authorities covering our region, they have tried where possible to seek alternative operators for those services.^
The new timetables for the affected services will be uploaded to the First West of England website,
www.firstgroup.com/westofengland, from early August (under ^Plan a Journey^). They will be available in hard copy format from mid-August.
Specific changes, effective 23 August 2015
13 ^ Foxhill ^ Bathford
This service will now operate every 15 minutes (Monday ^ Saturday) customers will benefit from an extra bus every hour, this change is in response to a surge in customer demand.
38 ^ Bath ^ Bristol (via Keynsham)
The Monday ^ Saturday service will not change.
On Sundays and Public Holidays service 38 will operate every two hours, this means there will be two less buses in each direction. Service 39 will continue to provide a service every 30 minutes on Sundays and Public Holidays. These changes will provide a more clock face departure.
161 ^ Wells ^ Shepton Mallet
First have undertaken a comprehensive review of the Service 161. There will be significant changes to the route and timetable from 23 August:
- The five buses a day that run between Frome & Shepton Mallet will be withdrawn. Somerset County Council are investigating the impact this will have before making a decision on how best to proceed.
- The route from Shepton Mallet to Frome represented less than 10% of the passenger numbers on the 161 yet cost up to 50% of the resources required to run the service.
- The 161 will operate every 60 minutes throughout the day Monday ^ Saturday
- A new Sunday & Public Holiday service is being introduced which will operate every 60 minutes approximately between 10:00 & 18:00. A later last journey will operate, this will depart Wells at 19:35 these changes are being made in response to numerous requests from local residents and the town council.
There will be significant route changes to the 161.
- The 161 will no longer serve Dinder and instead operate direct along the A371, improving journey times. This section long suffered low customer use as well as difficult and challenging road layouts.
- On the outskirts of Shepton Mallet the 161 will no longer serve Pike Hill. This change will allow access to Shepton Mallet Community Hospital.
- From the cenotaph the 161 will operate an anti-clockwise loop via Canards Grave Road, Whitstone Road, Charlton Street & Paul Street. This new link will provide access to the Mendip District Council offices, Park Medical Practice, Shepton Mallet Leisure Centre as well as many residential areas.
- From the cenotaph the 161 will then operate via Weston Shepton Road, Old Wells Road and St Peters Road before joining the A371 towards Wells.
173 ^ Bath ^ Wells (via Radstock)
This service will work alongside new service 174 which will double the number of buses between Wells, Radstock & Bath.
On Sundays and Public Holidays service 173 will operate every 60 minutes (an increase on it^s current timetable). Service 173 will work alongside Service 178 to provide a bus every 30 minutes between Bath & Midsomer Norton throughout the day. This will make it much easier to remember the departure time of the bus, an improvement on the current 45 minute frequency.
*NEW SERVICE* 174 ^ Bath ^ Wells (Via Radstock & Shepton Mallet)
This new service will create a new direct link between Bath & Shepton Mallet. It will work alongside other services to double the frequency of buses between Wells and Radstock, Bath & Shepton Mallet.
First have worked with local residents and councils in Shepton Mallet to create this link which has become increasingly important as Shepton Mallet has grown in recent years. . The service 174 will run every 60 minutes Monday ^ Saturday daytime. It will work alongside our service 173 to double the number of buses between Wells, Radstock & Bath. It will also work alongside our service 161 to double the frequency of buses between Wells and Shepton Mallet providing two buses an hour.
178 ^ Bath ^ Bristol (via Radstock, Paulton & Keynsham)
On Sundays and Public Holidays journeys will depart Bath once an hour. All journeys will serve the route as far as Paulton. From Paulton alternate journeys will extend to complete the route to Bristol.
Together with the service 173 the number of buses between Bath & Midsomer Norton on Sundays and Public Holidays increases to every 30 minutes.
Services between Bath & Paulton will operate every 60 minutes.
184 ^ Bath ^ Frome
The 184 will be withdrawn on 23 August and is replaced in part by other services.
- The introduction of new Service 174 combined with services 173, 178 & 379 means the current frequency will maintained between Bath & Radstock.
- Customers in Chilcompton will be able to use service 173 for direct journeys to Midsomer Norton, Radstock & Bath.
- Customers in Stratton-on-the-Fosse will be able to use new service 174 for direct journeys to Radstock & Bath.
There will be no First service to Holcombe, Coleford, Mells and Great Elm. First have worked closely with Somerset County Council throughout the decision making process, they are currently investigating the impact of the changes before deciding how further to proceed.
231 ^ Bath ^ Chippenham
There will be two slight route changes:
- The 231 will operate via the Batheaston by-pass, this will give customers a much quicker, more direct service. The change will result in six stops in Bailbrook and Batheaston no longer being served by service 231, however these stops will continue to be served by service 13 (which will now run every 15 minutes throughout the day)
- There will also be a small route change in Chippenham. All journeys will start and terminate at Chippenham Bus Station and will not serve London Road and the Pewsham Estate (customers can use service 55/55a operated by Stagecoach which serves the along London road every 20 minutes). Wiltshire Council have been informed of the change and are looking at alternatives for customers in the Pewsham Estate.
The timetable of the 231 will be changing to improve punctuality. There will be several extra Monday ^ Saturday evening journeys and an extra Sunday early morning departure from Chippenham.
265 ^ Bath ^ Salisbury (via Warminster)
First will simplify journeys through the village of Winsley. All journeys will now operate via Tyning Road.
The timetable for the 265 will be significantly altered. The biggest changes will be to the:
- The 06:55 Monday to Friday departure from Bath to Warminster, this journey will be extended to serve Codford St Mary to allow customers to travel to Kingsdown School.
- The 09:17 Monday ^ Friday departure from Westbury to Warminster will be extended to start from Trowbridge at 08:56.
- The 07:37 Monday ^ Friday departure from Codford St Mary to Bath will operate via Newton and Trinity Church which will benefit customers travelling to St. Augustine^s School.
- The 07:25 Monday ^ Friday departure from Salisbury to Warminster will be extended to Bath and will be re-routed to serve Wiltshire College (during term time). To accommodate this the departure time from Salisbury will change to 07:15
267 ^ Bath ^ Frome
To continue operating the 267, the difficult decision has been taken to remove some journeys from the village of Rode.
- The 06:11, 07:16 and 08:17 Monday ^ Friday departures from Frome will operate via Rode.
- The 17:10 & 18:10 departures from Bath will also operate via Rode.
- On Saturdays the 07:22 & 08:22 departures from Frome and the 17:10 & 18:10 departures from Bath will operate via Rode.
All remaining journeys will operate via the A36 between Woolverton & Beckington. This will create a quicker, more direct service for customers, this change also allows First to remove one bus from the operating pattern.
These changes will make the 267 financially sustainable and secure its continued operation.
271 & 272 - Bath ^ Bowerhill/Devizes/Urchfront
There will be changes to the timetable of these services to improve punctuality. The route will remain unchanged. The majority of Monday ^ Saturday journeys will depart 8 minutes later than their current departure time.
- The current 06:03, 06:55 Monday ^ Friday journeys and the 06:22 & 07:21 Saturday journeys from Bath to Bowerhill will now start from Melksham (Market Place) and will no longer operate between Bath & Melksham.
375/377 ^ Wells ^ Bridgwater/Yeovil
There will be a number of minor timetable changes to Services 375/377 to improve punctuality.
376 ^ Street ^ Bristol (via Wells)
There will be some timetable changes (Monday ^ Friday). These changes will allow buses more time to complete the route, more time will also be added to the recovery time at the end of the journey. These changes have been designed to improve punctuality. First will use an additional bus to provide extra departures from Bristol.
First will double the number of journeys on the 376 on Sundays and Public Holidays. The 376 will now operate every 30 minutes. There will also be an earlier journey departing Street at 07:38, over an hour earlier than the current early morning bus.
Customers travelling to Street & Glastonbury will benefit from new evening departures from Bristol. The 21:35 and the 22:35 departures from Bristol Bus Station will be extended to serve the full length of the route and terminate in Street. These changes follow requests from customers who will now be able to catch later trains to Temple Meads Station to connect with the 376.
379 ^ Bath ^ Bristol (via Radstock & Pensford)
The timetable of the 379 will change to facilitate the changes to other services as well as to provide improvements to the punctuality and reliability.
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