Bristol, Bath and the West

First announces changes to bus services in North Somerset

First is making changes to bus services in North Somerset to improve reliability.

Weston-super-Mares summer season timetable is also being extended to provide a better service for residents and visitors alike.

Several services will see timetable changes to help create a more realistic, reliable schedule. A number of changes have been made in response to customer requests.

The changes include -

Portishead:

Changes to the route of Service 357 (Bristol - Portishead) to serve Valley Road via Down Road - this creates a link to the new health centre and supermarket in Port Marine for customers living in the Valley Road area. This is in response to requests from North Somerset Council.

Some later journeys on Service 358 (Bristol - Portishead) are being re-routed to include Weatherley Drive, providing a service to residents during the evening.

The evening timetable of Service 359 (Bristol - Portishead) is being changed to improve reliability, with one current evening journey leaving Bristol at 22.30 now running as a Service 358 and including Brampton Way.


Weston-super-Mare:

Based on customer demand, seasonal timetables for services 1 (Railway Station - Sand Bay Weston Town) and 112 (Weston-super-Mare - Highbridge) are being extended to provide a more frequent service for both visitors and residents. To provide better integrated transport links, buses will now serve Highbridge Railway Station all year round at least hourly on Service 112.

Several Sunday and public holiday journeys on Service X26 between Weston-super-Mare and Cribbs Causeway will be extended to improve reliability and provide more choice. For example, some journeys from Cribbs Causeway currently ending in Clevedon will now be extended to Weston-super-Mare.

Service X1 (Weston-super-Mare " Bristol) will stop in the village of Flax Bourton " this is as a direct result of customer requests.

Service 102 (Weston-super-Mare - Puriton) will be re-routed via Ellenbrough Road and Neva Road to avoid congestion in Oxford Street, and will now include the railway station.

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

First Bristol, Somerset and Avon Managing Director Justin Davies said, "These changes are driven by our commitment to improve the reliability and punctuality of the services we offer customers.

"We hope that customers in Portishead are already enjoying the benefits of the five better low floor buses which we have just introduced on services 358 and 359. These will be joined by newer vehicles on service 357 by the end of March 2009 - all buses in Portishead will then normally feature special low floor access, making it much easier for wheelchair users and people with pushchairs."

ends