Rescued Bristol bus service lacks daytime users
Concerns have been raised that a rescued bus service in Yate might not be used enough outside the rush hour.
The X27, which runs between the town and Bristol, was due to be axed earlier this month by bus operator First because it was no longer viable.
-
It led to a campaign to keep the service on the road and South Gloucestershire Council eventually stepped in to subsidise and save the route.
The bus will now continue to run with the council's support initially until November, when a decision will then be taken on its future.
But feedback since its re-launch a fortnight ago indicates that although the bus is well used in the morning and evening, when people travel to and from work, school and college, there are not many passengers using it during the day.
There have also been complaints that some buses are running late.
Yate councillor Ian Blair said the route the bus followed might also need to be looked at when the council came to review the first six months of operation to see if it was providing the best service.
Mr Blair said: "Some of the buses are not carrying many passengers at certain times of the day – but that's something you find with a number of bus services.
"I've also been told by users of the X27 that some are running late, including the first of the day when there's no reason.
"There is a need for a Yate-to-Bristol bus that runs in the day but one that is connected to a local bus service.
"With the X27, a tender was put in to simply replace what was already operating. During the six-month trial, I want the council to see what is actually needed, as improvements could be made to make it more efficient and better used."
South Gloucestershire Council staff are monitoring use of the X27 and a report is due to be made at a public transport forum in Kingswood Civic Centre on June 8.
Dozens of local people signed an online petition to register their disgust when First decided to pull out with no consultation and with a minimum of notice.
They said many people in North Yate and Iron Acton would effectively be left without any daytime bus services.
First is still running the bus under the new arrangement because it managed to put in the lowest bid for the hourly Monday-to-Saturday service.
8 Comments
by Bus driver, Bristol
Sunday, May 31 2009, 8:26AM
“All bus companies are limited to the number of buses they are allowed by the traffic commissioner. It would not be cost effective to pull all the deckers in at 10am and then put them all out again at 3pm. If a company has a product that costs more to produce than it sales would you expect them to continue to sell it??? I think not.
Don't forget when the few of you out there board the bus, the driver is not the one making the decision to cut services or increase fares so please cut them some slack.”
by MendipMan, Wurzel Country
Saturday, May 30 2009, 5:41PM
“How economical would it be for a bus company to operate effectively two fleets of buses - minibuses for the day and fullsize buses for the rush hours? It wouldn't - it's a nonsense.
No surprise about X27 not being well used still. People make lots of noise about losing bus services then few use them when they are retained. Same is happening on the 121, the village tour from Bristol to Weston. That was due to be axed but there was such an uproar that North Somerset Council stepped in with public money to keep it going. Why? It's almost empty most of the time and that's a near two hour journey, not a thirty minute hop to Yate.
I do wonder though why some routes with 12-minute frequencies such as the 1 and 54 are not reduced to 15-minute frequencies out of the rush hour.
Both routes take nearly an hour and a half to cross the city from separate parts of the south-east to reach Cribbs Causeway in the north-west by different routes, although they follow the same route from Three Lamps to the far end of the Downs (about four miles).”
by Rob, Bristol
Saturday, May 30 2009, 3:54PM
“Denise, a lot of the services you claim to see as empty off peak are services returning to the depot after covering certain peak services.
These services have extra buses put on certain routes to accommodate the obvious extra passengers and go off service as the rush hours end.
I remember a service x41 if i remember that did a couple of runs out to Avonmouth Industrial area that had a couple of runs in the morning and the same in the evening. Whenever i did that route, there were a maximum of 4 passengers out to the end terminus, the rest getting off at the normal termination of Avonmouth Village.
I love it when people complain on here without having the foggiest idea of exactly how the bus service runs and would love the keyboard warriors to actually go out in rush hour and drive a bus, then come back and complain.”
by david, bristol
Saturday, May 30 2009, 1:16PM
“you mean the mini dart buses
yes where are they now”
by johnB, Bristol.
Saturday, May 30 2009, 8:35AM
“So what happened to the Mini Buses ??.On a Peak period you use a BIG bus,on off peak times a MINI Bus.Not exatly Rocket Science is it ???.”
by Denise, St George
Saturday, May 30 2009, 8:18AM
“If the criteria for running buses is the number's of passenger's carried off peak,perhaps someone from First can explain to us why they run ANY service off peak,every bus I see at this time is empty.”
by Joe, Kingswood
Saturday, May 30 2009, 8:12AM
“What nonsense,why single out the X27, just look at any bus during off peak,and you will rarely see more than 3 passenger's.
Why use double deck buses off peak,where are the 12/15 seater's we used to have,but more importantly,why not try a drastic reduction in fares?”
by Gareth, Warmley
Saturday, May 30 2009, 7:05AM
“why not introduce a dial a ride service so passengers can book a journey then you,d know that the bus would have people waiting for it. no point in the council running a service with no one using it.”