SOMERSET’S BUSES UNDER THREAT

At the recent Somerset Council Bus Advisory Board, First South announced plans to withdraw from the 54 & 58/58A routes and reduce the frequency of their 25 & 28. 

Whilst this might have been a preemptive strike by First in a negotiation with Somerset Council, it did emphasise the vulnerability of not just these routes but of many other bus routes across the county given the financial problems facing Somerset Council.

We therefore launched our SAVE OUR BUSES campaign. 

We’ve held rallies in Yeovil some 10 days ago and last Saturday in Wiveliscombe. Over 100 local people came to protest against bus cuts at both rallies. This generated extensive local TV, radio and press coverage for our campaign to SAVE OUT BUSES. Councillors were there talking about what can be done.

This week, Somerset Council is holding a Full Council meeting in Bridgwater to consider its 24/25 Budget. The Somerset Bus Partnership will be there in force to lobby councillors to SAVE OUR BUSES.

The Somerset Bus Partnership has also been involved in an extended series of meetings with Somerset Council and with the bus operators to refine and help improve their draft new April 2024 bus timetables. 

We will hold some 20+ bus stalls during April in part to provide printed bus timetables to the many folk who prefer a printed timetable. Much of our budget is spent on printing bus timetables as neither Somerset nor most of the bus operators print timetables. 

If you are able to help either run a bus stall or assist on a bus stall, we would very much appreciate your support. The more help we can get, the more bus stalls we can run and thus be able to give out more timetables to people to make them aware of Somerset’s bus services. 

Please drop us an email if you can help for a couple of hours on either Saturday 6 April or Saturday 13 April: somersetbuspartnership@gmail.com.

PUBLIC MEETING

So it's time we had a meeting to update you and your colleagues on the decisions that the Council is taking on buses and what we can do locally to ensure we keep our current bus services … and how we need to keep campaigning for better bus services in Somerset. And we hope we can update you on the new bus timetables for the April service changes. 

This meeting is scheduled for Wednesday February 28^th at 7:00pm via Zoom. Details can be found below.

Peter Travis

Co-Chair – Somerset Bus Partnership

Here is your invite:

Topic: Somerset Bus Partnership Update Meeting for Bus Champions and Stakeholders

Time: Feb 28, 2024 07:00 PM London

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89399161228?pwd=aTcxTjg4R3NNRzJYY1Q1ZnN5SktlQT09

Meeting ID: 893 9916 1228

Passcode: 730837

Peter Travis

Co-Chair

Somerset Bus Partnership