New 'stop-tostop' buses launched

PEOPLE living in the Yate, Sodbury and surrounding villages will be able to book a new minibus service to link them to major bus routes from April.

The green WESTlink minibuses do not run to a timetable - instead they are booked up to 24 hours in advance by phone, online or using an app, similar to a dial-a-ride service.

advised by WECA.

“Those costs have now come in higher than anyone thought they would. It’s now too late for councils to get approval for those costs.

"“If this doesn’t happen today, there will simply be no link between Yate and Thornbury. This will mean over 5,500 journeys will not be catered for."

Cllr Savage suggested the £785,000 could come from the West of England’s reserves. But one issue is that the West of England has some of the lowest financial reserves of all 10 combined authorities in England, according to WECA bosses.

Mr Norris said: “What Toby has said about not being able to make an emergency decision is simply not the case. There are processes that you can adopt if you wish to do that.

"I’m going to be a politician now and say that this is more about an election bribe than anything else."

The amendment to spend £785,000 of the West of England’s reserves on keeping some routes going was voted down.

Afterwards Chipping Sodbury & Cotswold Edge ward Liberal Democrat councillor Adrian Rush said: "The whole situation is a

But the destinations for the buses will be limited to existing stops elsewhere on the transport network, such as railway stations, bus stops for metrobus or park and ride services, and WESTlink is not a “substitute for getting a taxi,” according to Metro Mayor Dan Norris.

The "stop-to-stop" service, funded by the West of England Combined Authority using £3 million from the government's Bus Service Improvement Plan, will eventually include 30 minibuses across the region in areas which do not have a regular mainstream bus service.

Single fares will cost £2 for adults and £1 for children, for any length of journey, with concessionary and older people’s bus passes accepted on the services, which will run farce - the 622 was only going to be extended for two months to tide the Tories over the elections in May, the people relying on this bus service were still going to be struggling in June. The new council would have no time to set up a replacement bus service after the elections."

Meanwhile a new hourly subsidised service, the 525, is being introduced from April between Yate and Emersons Green, to replace the 47, which has been axed after only six months of operation.

A school bus service which lost funding has been saved at least until the end of the summer term - but fares are more than doubling.

The 967 from Westerleigh to Brimsham Green School in Yate has been dropped by Stagecoach but taken over by another operator, Transpora Group.

However, fares are going up from £1.20 to £3 for a return trip.

Yate town councillor Chris Willmore said the bus served "some of the poorest people in the community" who cold not afford the rise.

Meeting report by Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service from Monday to Saturday from 7am to 7pm.

People will have the option of paying in advance or in cash on the minibus.

The new services are the largest “demand responsive transport” scheme in the country, having only been run before on a much smaller scale.

Mr Norris said: "This is a major investment for a key project. And it’s new to us all, so it certainly won’t be plain sailing. Undoubtedly things will go wrong, but we’re ready to learn as we go along."

The services will be run by two operators, global public transport, logistics and tech company Via and WeDRT, which has experience of working with Transport for West Midlands.