Bu service THE W IN ES D T O AN F ENGL ARE CHANGING from 23 August 2015 www.firstgroup.com/westofengland Get bus tickets on your phone Search your app store for ‘First Bus m-Tickets’ Servic Change fro 23 Augus! 2015 The following is a guide to all service changes in the West of England. Services are listed under the depot they run out of. In Bath, West Wiltshire and Somerset changes include some being made to improve punctuality and reliability plus a new 174 service (Bath – Wells) which will provide a new link for residents of Shepton Mallet. In Bristol changes include new services creating links to hospitals, schools and railway stations, major route changes in East Bristol/South Gloucestershire following a consultation plus some services being renumbered. Bat Service 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. Service 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. Service 178: Bath – Bristol (via Radstock, Paulton and 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 frequency of buses between Bath and Midsomer Norton on Sundays and Public Holidays increases to every 30 minutes. Services between Bath and Paulton will operate every 60 minutes. Service 184: Bath – Frome The 184 will be withdrawn on 23 August and is replaced in part by other services: • The introduction of new Service 174 combined with services 173, 178 and 379 means the current frequency will be maintained between Bath and Radstock. • Customers in Chilcompton will be able to use service 173 for direct journeys to Midsomer Norton, Radstock and Bath. • Customers in Stratton-on-the-Fosse will be able to use new service 174 for direct journeys to Radstock and 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. Service 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 along London Road every 20 minutes). 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. Service 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: • The 0655 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 0917 Monday – Friday departure from Westbury to Warminster will be extended to start from Trowbridge at 0856. • The 0737 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 0725 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 0715. Service 267: Bath – Frome To continue operating the 267, the difficult decision has been taken to remove some journeys from the village of Rode. • The 0611, 0716 and 0817 Monday – Friday departures from Frome will operate via Rode. • The 1710 and 1810 departures from Bath will also operate via Rode. • On Saturdays the 0722 and 0822 departures from Frome and the 1710 and 1810 departures from Bath will operate via Rode. All remaining journeys will operate via the A36 between Woolverton and 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. Service 271 and 272: Bath – Bowerhil l/ Devize s/ Urchfront There will be changes to the timetable of these services to improve punctuality and customers are advised to check the new timetable. The route will remain unchanged. • The current 0603, 0655 Monday – Friday journeys and the 0622 and 0721 Saturday journeys from Bath to Bowerhill will now start from Melksham (Market Place) and will no longer operate between Bath and Melksham. Service 379: Bath – Bristol (via Radstock and 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. Well Service 126: Wells – Weston-super-Mare Jointly operated by Wells and Weston from 23 August There will be timetable changes to service 126. Some journey times will change after 23 August with some journeys withdrawn, some created and others re-timed. Customers are advised to check the new timetable before travelling. Service 161: Wells – Shepton Mallet First have undertaken a comprehensive review of Service 161. There will be significant changes to both route and timetable from 23 August: • The five buses a day that run between Frome and 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 and Public Holiday service is being introduced which will operate every 60 minutes approximately between 1000 and 1800. A later last journey will operate, this will depart Wells at 1935 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 has 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 and 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. Service 173: Bath – Wells (via Radstock) This service will work alongside new service 174 which will double the number of buses between Wells, Radstock and Bath. On Sundays and Public Holidays service 173 will operate every 60 minutes (an increase on its current timetable). Service 173 will also work alongside Service 178 to provide a bus every 30 minutes between Bath and Midsomer Norton throughout the day. NEW Service 174: Bath – Wells (via Radstock and Shepton Mallet) This new service will create a new direct link between Bath and Shepton Mallet. It will work alongside other services to double the frequency of buses between Wells and Radstock, Bath and 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. 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 and 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. Service 375/377: Wells – Bridgwater/Yeovil There will be a number of minor timetable changes to Services 375/377 to improve punctuality. Service 376: Street – Bristol (via Wells) There will be some timetable changes (Monday – Friday) which have been designed to improve punctuality. First will also 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 0738, over an hour earlier than the current early morning bus. Customers travelling to Street and Glastonbury will benefit from new evening departures from Bristol. The 2135 and the 2235 departures from Bristol Bus Station will be extended to serve the full length of the route and terminate in Street.