Bus fare changes improve travel into Bath area

First bus fares changed a couple of months ago. As regular bus users will already know, apart from a few exceptions like Park and Ride, there are no longer any return fares. Instead you can buy a Day Ticket for the zone involved, or buy a 10 Journey ticket for ten journeys. Week, month and year tickets are also available if you're going to be travelling regularly.

The latest change will be of interest to people who travel from Yate or Chipping Sodbury to the Bath area. Yate and Chipping Sodbury are now within the Bath Outer Zone, as well as the Bristol Outer Zone. So you could buy a Bath Outer Zone Day Ticket for example, and get return bus travel from Yate or Sodbury via Bath to Frome or Chippenham.

More details on the Bath fares are shown here

The main First Bus website fares page is here but it hasn't caught up with the "Bath Outer Zone" change yet.

These tickets only apply to First Bus services - if you want to mix and match with other operators, you will need an AvonRider ticket.

Roll on fully interchangeable bus tickets - it's about time that this restriction was removed.

Tetbury bus service axed - we were right all along!

Back in February we predicted that the Tetbury - Yate - Bath bus service would be vulnerable to cuts in Gloucestershire County Council's bus budget. At the time this was denied by the GCC Cabinet Member for Transport (see the comments on our February article)

Well, we were right. GCC have withdrawn their support, and from 4th September the bus will start in Old Sodbury, then run through Yate, Pucklechurch and Wick to Bath - the new 620 timetable is here

Update 30/08/2011 - details of the new No.27 Tetbury to Old Sodbury link have now been published - many thanks to our commenter who pointed this out. The 27 connects to the 620 to Yate and then Bath - details are on the same timetable. The service frequency has been reduced to match the demand, and passengers now need to change at Old Sodbury.

There will also be some minor changes to the 482, 483 Chipping Sodbury - Yate - Cribbs Causeway route from 18 September. On Mondays to Fridays the timetable is altered and journeys on 482 towards Cribbs Causeway are re-routed to operate direct from Highwood Road to the Bus Station, omitting the loop via The Venue and Asda. There will be no change to Saturday or Sunday arrangements. The new 482/483 timetable is available here

Other bus timetables are available on the South Glos website. Note that there are two timetables for some services like the 620 - one before the service changes, and one from the change date onwards.

Fight to stop axing of Tetbury Yate to Bath Bus

Gloucestershire County Council are planning to axe a vital bus, without consulting anyone in the parishes affected in Cotswold Edge, Yate and surrounding areas.

The 620/629 bus links Tetbury, the A46 villages to Yate - so people can get to the station, health facilities and to buses to Bristol - and then links Yate to Bath - so commuters can get to Bath to work.
But now Gloucestershire is planning to axe it. They have consulted BANES Council, i.e. Bath - but have not bothered to even TELL parishes along the route what they are doing.

Chris Willmore, from Yate Town Council found out by chance."I happened to be at a transport meeting, when it was mentioned. We have asked South Glos Council to protest as strongly as possible and need all the parishes along the route to write as quickly as possible to Gloucestershire County Council, South Glos and BANES objecting. This is too important a route to be axed. We fought for it before, and saved it. We need to do it again."

"I know people in Yate who work in Bath for whom this bus is vital."

Cllr Sue Hope is campaigning on behalf of communities along the A46 affected by this cut.