Bristol - Yate - Chipping Sodbury bus fares up, changes to services
Local First Bus fares to Bristol are rising by up to 20p, at the same time as changes are being made to timetables - some reroutings, some reductions in frequency, a few extra journeys.
One of the routes affected is the Showcase X42 route. This route is supported by extra funding for things like the new bus shelters and bus lanes to encourage bus use, but the changes are being brought in without discussion with South Glos.
Cllr Claire Young (Lib Dem, Westerleigh) said: "All these changes are being made without any agreement with the council. Cllr Pat Hockey has urged the executive member to remind the new managing director of First that this is a Showcase bus route. The government allocated a lot of money to these Showcase routes on the understanding that the bus company would be working in partnership to increase the number of passengers"
All our local bus timetables can be found on the South Glos Council website here
First Bus advise you to check the new timetables before travelling, and say:
Services 327/329 Bristol – Yate
To improve the punctuality of these services some running times and the following
departure times have been amended.
The Monday – Friday journeys from Bristol, Bus Station to Yate, Shopping Centre which
currently depart at 0840 and 1645 will now depart at 0830 and 1650 respectively.
The Monday – Friday journeys from Yate, Shopping Centre to Bristol, Bus Station which
currently depart at 0825 and 1745 will now depart at 0830 and 1750 respectively.
Services 342/X42 Bristol – Chipping Sodbury
To improve punctuality and reliability of these services we have made a number of
changes to both departure times and journey times. We have also added a number of extra journeys following passenger requests and re-numbered some Service X42 journeys as Service 342 to provide additional opportunities to get to Downend and Fishponds.
The following are additional journeys:
Service X42, Monday to Friday at 0830 from Chipping Sodbury, Wickham Close to
Bristol, Bus Station.
Service 342, Monday to Saturday at 2115, and Saturday at 1837 from Chipping
Sodbury,Wickwar Road to Bristol, Bus Station.
The 0914 Monday to Friday journey on Service X42 from Chipping Sodbury, Wickwar
Road to Bristol, Bus Station is re-numbered Service 342 and re-timed to depart earlier at
0907. The arrival time at Bristol, Bus Station will be at 1013, three minutes later than the
present arrival time of 1010.
The 1850 Monday to Friday journey on Service X42 from Bristol, Bus Station to Chipping
Sodbury,Wickwar Road is re-numbered Service 342.
Oh come on, do your research before you post, last week you unnecessarily aggravated Gloucestershire county council with some questionable allegations over the 620 service.
ReplyDeleteAgain this is not totally accurate. The Greater Bristol Bus Network (GBBN) corridor that covers Yate to Bristol is corridor 5, which mirrors the route of the 342 through Downend and Fishponds NOT the X42 route via the A4174 and M32. So by increasing the number of 342's surely the route is being better utilised not less ?!?
Also the showcase route is not yet complete and quality contracts have not, as far as I can see, been signed with the Bus operators on the route. Until such time, as an operator of a commercial service First are free to make any changes they wish to their services provided they provide the required notice to VOSA of those changes. It would be good business practice for First to consult with all local stakeholders (not just the council) before implementing changes, but at the moment it is not a requirement.
Also the late reporting of this ‘news’ implies that these are forthcoming changes “First Bus fares to Bristol are rising by up to 20p”. All of this has already happened, the fares increased on the 23rd of January, nearly a month ago. And the service changes came into effect last week (6th Feb).
Unfortunately it's our commenter that needs to do some fact checking - the X42 uses a combination of Corridor 1 (the M32) with Corridor 5. It appears clearly as a GBBN service on GBBN documentation.
ReplyDeleteIf you're correct that there's no contractual responsibility for First to consult on changes, despite all the public money that has been spent on the route already, that would suggest poor contract management by the previous government and by their agents South Glos.
That's right Paul, blame somebody else!
ReplyDeleteYou really do the council no favours with your snide and unpleasant replies.