Bristol, Bath and the West

First announces changes to Bath bus services - including new faster Chippenham - Bath service

First is making a number of changes to bus services in Bath and Wiltshire in order to improve reliability.

The changes will come into effect from 1 February 2009, with timetables available in week commencing 19 January.

The changes include alterations to Service 4, which currently runs between Bathampton and Whiteway in Bath.

This service is not as reliable as we would like and delays at one end of the route have been creating a knock-on effect for customers further along the route.

Very few passengers currently use this service to travel across the city. We have looked carefully at ways to improve reliability and have decided to split the route into two:

Service 4 - Bus Station - Bathampton - the frequency of this service will be every 40 minutes instead of every 30 minutes as at present.
Service 12 - Bus Station - Whiteway - this section is more heavily used and frequency will remain every 30 minutes.

Other changes include:

Some services will be retimed to improve reliability, including Service 5 (Whiteway - Bus Station) and Service 10 (Bus Station - Southdown).

A new faster service will be introduced between Bath and Chippenham. The new Service 233 will run via Batheaston by-pass, Corsham, Pickwick Road, Newland Road, Kings Avenue and the A4. This will be 20 minutes faster than current services between Chippenham Bus Station and Bath Bus Station and creates a new link for Corsham residents with Chippenham Community Hospital.

With the introduction of better low floor buses on the route last October, this represents a real commitment to improving services for customers.

To enable us to make this positive change for the majority of customers,
there will be a slightly reduced service to Pewsham on the current 231/232 service linking Bath with Chippenham: Service 231 between Bath and Chippenham is being doubled in frequency from hourly to half hourly although it will no longer serve Pewsham estate except on evening journeys financially supported by Wiltshire County Council. Service 232 is being withdrawn from Monday to Saturday but will continue to run on Sundays.

Service 318/319 (Keynsham/Bath - Cribbs Causeway) will no longer serve Abbey Wood. This was only a peak time service and is not heavily used - latest figures show that on a typical day as few as five passengers get on or off at this stop. The closest alternative stop will be at Sainsburys.

Services X39, 339, 639 and 649 between Bath and Bristol will now have an additional stop at the Paintworks trading estate.

First Bristol, Somerset and Avon Managing Director Justin Davies said, "Traffic congestion increasingly means we cannot always meet the expectations of our customers and run our services on time. As a result, some timetables need to alter to reflect the actual conditions we experience every day on the road.

"We believe these changes will make significant improvements to the running of our services."

ends