Council Supports new Bus Initiatives from 01.04.2025

Free buses 24/7 for Disabled Person’s travelcards holders and an extension to care leavers’ free bus travel are part of new measures starting next month across Bath & North East Somerset. 

West of England Mayoral Combined Authority has announced measures to make public transport more affordable and accessible for all residents, promoting sustainable travel across the region. 

The key measures include: 

• Most children’s bus fares capped at just £1, instead of rising to £1.30 – saving parents/carers up to £60 per child, per school year, in addition to the two months of free travel offered by Birthday Buses for under-21s. 
• Extending Disabled Person’s travelcards so that buses are now free 24/7, rather than just after 9am. 
• Extending care leavers’ free bus travel for another year. 
• Capping the cost of multi-operator day bus tickets (valid on 11 different companies’ buses) in the region at £7, instead of that fare rising to £8. 

Sarah Warren, deputy council leader and cabinet member for climate emergency and sustainable travel at Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: 

"We are thrilled to support these new transport initiatives, which align perfectly with our commitment to improving travel choices by creating a sustainable, accessible and efficient transport network.  

The package is set to start on 1 April 2025 and run until 31 March 2026, representing a £1.3 million investment from the Mayoral Combined Authority’s Bus Grant allocation and further funding from North Somerset Council

Bus Service Changes from 29.08.2021

We have been informed that FirstBus are making changes to a large number of their bus services from 29th August 2021.

Below are details of the ones that directly Twerton and Whiteway:

Number 5 - No route change, but times change Monday to Friday daytime frequency increased from every 12 minutes to every 10 minutes. On Saturdays the frequency between 10:30 and 16:30 will increase from 15 minutes to 12 minutes.

Numbers 20a and 20c - these will cease to operate in their current form but are replaced by 2 other services as below:

Number 20 - Twerton - RUH - Centre - Widcombe - University of Bath, this service will operate hourly Monday to Saturday daytime.

Number 22 - Twerton - Odd Down - University of Bath, this service will operate hourly Monday to Saturday.

We will confirm the exact routes of the 20 and 22 as soon as we have the details.

Safer Roads - UPDATE

Further to some of our recent blogs, we are pleased to confirm BANES Council are finally starting to listen.

Cllr Ball & Sarah Moore at Junction of  Kelston View & North Way

We have had meetings with members of the Highways team and the Cabinet Member for Highways and as you will see from the image below, some of the "potholes" are being finally repaired.

Junction of Kelston View & North Way today

However, this is only the start, we have had confirmation that some sections of the roads in the area are not able to be "patched" but will  need to have a more costly repair.  Councillor Tim Ball and I have further meetings arranged to discuss what options are available for these roads, including a meeting with the Divisional Director for Environmental Services at BANES.

Linked with this issue is the increased number of large busses that are running through the area, whilst we welcome the options of a greater bus service, it needs to be affordable and relevant for the needs of residents to encourage better usage.  There are over 100 busses a day running through the Twerton area and most of these have only a handful of residents on them.

We have a meeting arranged with the Managing Director of FirstBus in July at which we will be discussing issues such as the size of busses, the routes the busses travel, frequency of the busses and importantly the fares that are being charged.

We will be updating you more following the meetings

by
Sarah Moore
Local Campaigner