Local Buses: Problems today improvements tomorrow......
Service cancellations today but £50m investment secured
The headline sums it up. Recently we have seen service cancellations as First Bus struggle with ongoing driver shortages but long term we should see improvements as North Somerset Council has been successful in winning over £50m in funding from Government to improve infrastructure and support local bus services.
Most worrying of all is the cancellation of all late night services to and from Bristol after 10pm, there have also been changes to early morning services. Click here for First Bus's announcement of service changes across North Somerset. I am campaigning to get our local bus service reinstated.
Which local services have been affected?
The map below shows the local services that operate, below the map I detail the changes for each village:
List of Services
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Long AshtonList Item 1
Long Ashton is served by the X2, X7, and X9.
The main change has been the loss of late night services to and from Bristol (the earliest bus in is now later at just before 6:30am). Previously the last bus was about midnight but this has now been cancelled, the last bus home is 9:45pm.
I am keen to get these reinstated (see below) but one practical change I am asking for is to get the X1 diverted through Long Ashton each night. The X1 is the service between Brisol and Weston-super-Mare that travels down the bypass. I have asked that services after 9pm are diverted through the village.
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FailandList Item 2
Failand is served by the X6, one of the main bus routes between Bristol and Clevedon.
Although there has been no change to the day time provision First Bus do say the following about the service:
"To further alleviate driver shortage, a number of early and late journeys that carry few passengers will no longer operate".
The first bus in is now at 6;45 am and the last bus home 7:20pm.
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WraxallList Item 3
Wraxall is served by the X9 and possibly the X7 if you live closer to Nailea in The Elms.
As with Long Ashton and Faland the main change is the loss of early morning and late night services. The last bus home at night is now at 9:15pm (X7) or at 9:45pm (X9).
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Leigh WoodsList Item 4
Leigh Woods is served by the X4, one of the two main services between Portishead and Bristol.
I am not aware of any changes to this service.
Can we get the services restored and improved?
I am keen to see these services reinstated as soon as possible. Sadly, the Council has no control over local buses. First Bus is a private company, and they only have to ‘consult’ with the council about changes to services.
Nonetheless, North Somerset Council have been in contact with First Bus and they have confirmed that they want to reinstate services as soon as possible. My worry is that the national shortage of HGV drivers means that this is unlikely to be any time soon. I am pleased that the council has indicated to First Bus that they would consider providing financial support for some of our local routes if the reason for cancellation was the route was no longer profitable (passenger numbers are down on pre-covid levels and this a problem for bus operators).
One practical change I am campaigning for is the diversion of the X1 through Long Ashton after 9pm each night. The X1 links Bristol to Weston-super-Mare and currently travels down the bypass. However, after 9pm I have asked that it be diverted through Long Ashton.
£50m+ of investment coming.....
On a more positive note North Somerset has been incredibly successful in winning over £50m in funding from central government for bus service improvements.
This is part of a £3 billion national fund announced last March by the Prime Minster. Although the fund was subsequently cut back to £1.4 billion by the Chancellor Rishi Sunack, North Somerset has been successful in winning over 5% of total funding for England. Given that we represent just under 0.4% of the English population this an amazing achievement. A number of areas were awarded funding, if you want to read more this is a really good BBC article.
The funding comprises £48m for infrastructure improvements to promote 'bus priority' (yes, things like bus lanes) as well as a share of a £58m fund to support services across the region. We expect our share of this £58m to be about £10m.
Full plans have to be submitted to the Department of Transport by the end of June.
If you want to keep up to date on local issues in and around Long Ashton, Failand, Wraxall, and Leigh Woods then please sign up to my newsletter. If comes out roughly every other month and is a summary of all the articles I post on this website and social media.