n NEWS FROM THE METRO MAYOR Try our innovative new minibus scheme 150 years of the chocolate Easter egg

THE West of England Combined Authority is trying something new.

WHAT’S your favourite chocolate treat? A Mars Bar? A KitKat? An Aero, or perhaps a Fry’s Chocolate Mint Creme?

The Big Choices public meetings I held last summer with residents talking all things buses showed me that the status quo doesn’t work. People want change.

As winter turns to spring, it’s not just budding daffodils that are appearing. No, it’s Easter eggs showing up in all good West of England shops, too!

It’s one reason why I’m introducing WESTlink, the brand-new stop-to-stop minibus service offering tailor-made journeys for locals.

I love seeing Easter eggs displayed every year, because we live in the place where the hollow chocolate egg was invented.

reach the first milestone of 30 full-time minibuses.

make chocolate by mixing cocoa fat with cocoa powder and sugar. This made a super-smooth paste, which could be poured into egg moulds.

It is all thanks to a £3 million investment my West of England Combined Authority is making.

These new eggs were just as tasty but lighter than solid continental eggs, which made them easier to afford.

This is a big moment for the West of England, and our local transport journey.

Similar schemes have been trialled in other areas of the country, but never on such a scale. This scheme will grow to become the biggest in the UK.

People couldn’t get enough of these new egg-shaped chocolate treats, and it wasn’t long before they were selling all over the world.

And this year there’s an eggs-tra reason to celebrate - because it was exactly 150 years ago that it happened.

The first passengers will be able to book a WESTlink from their local bus stop from April - dropping them off at another bus or train stop to continue their onward journey. WESTlink will continue to fully roll out over successive months.

It comes hot on the heels of my decision to bring forward a £7 million package of big bus improvements, including adding more main route buses to areas where WESTlink is arriving.

the best way to make your onward journey, whereas in the future you will be able to do that all in the app.

lead the anti-slavery movement, it is also correct to say that not every Quaker held this view, particularly in America.

I saw the first WESTlink a few weeks ago. The bright green minibus, which was taking part in testing, is one of what will eventually be a new 30-strong fleet that residents in the West of England will be able to book by phone, online or with a dedicated app.

That bus will be ready from April, with more WESTlinks to follow until we

When I nipped to the local shops on my travels last week and got chatting to staff busy putting a huge range of eggs on shelves, I told them that Fry’s chocolate makers - who started out in Bristol but later moved their factory to Somerdale, Keynsham, having merged with Cadbury - came up with the idea of the hollow chocolate egg.

The Fry family’s innovation was to

I love it when something that starts out as a new idea in our great region goes global - now as well as back in 1873. It’s a tradition we need to keep going!

In acknowledging our local history of chocolate manufacturing in the 18th and 19th centuries, we also need to recognise its ugly side, for sugar and cocoa grown on Caribbean plantations exploited and abused people of African descent, who were forced into slave labour.

Now, I’ll be frank with you – it certainly won’t be plain sailing at the start.

We’re over a dozen drivers short at present. And there are other things we need to iron out to ensure people get to the places they need to go to as easily and efficiently as possible.

In the first instance, you will need to consult a bus or train timetable to check

While it is true that Quakers in the UK, like the Fry and Cadbury families, helped

But I’m determined we get on with trying something innovative and something different, so I need your help.

Despite the closure of the Fry’s/ Cadbury factory at Keynsham just over a decade ago, our region is today home to many, many independent chocolate makers - using creative talent and ethical practices including Fairtrade chocolate.

Please play your part by trying WESTlink yourself. Tell me how it needs to change and improve. By doing so, together we can grasp this fantastic opportunity to shape our transport future for the better.

Turn to Pages 10 and 11

The commitment from chocolate companies to learn from the past actions, both good and bad, of their predecessors is encouraging and very important.