COMMUNITIES have been left stranded by changes to bus routes in Yate and Chipping Sodbury introduced this month, politicians say.
Thornbury & Yate MP Claire Young and Yate councillor Chris Willmore (pictured above, left and right) have met with the managing director of operator First to urge a rethink over changes to the Y1, Y2 and Y6 services linking the area to Bristol.
Under the changes, effective from September 1, Chipping Sodbury is no longer served by the half-hourly Y1 service to Yate and Bristol city centre.
Instead bus passengers have to use the Y6 via Cribbs Causeway and Southmead Hospital, which only runs every 90 minutes and has had its early-morning services cut.
People who live on Sodbury’s birds estate, and in parts of North Yate, including Greenways Road and Wellington Road, will no longer have any service, as buses are diverted away.
New Y1 & Y2 routes
Ms Young says the changes have “caused an outcry”.
Speaking before the new timetable was introduced, she said: “If these changes go ahead, it will have a massive impact on bus users in Chipping Sodbury and parts of Yate.
“Chipping Sodbury will have just one bus every 90 minutes, the Y6, and the occasional 620 to Bath, but no direct services to Bristol.
“Those on the Birds estate and in parts of North Yate face losing the Y1 and Y2 they rely on.
“It will be a blow to businesses in Chipping Sodbury and bus users will be cut off from the shops and services in the centre of Yate.
“It will be harder for commuters to get to work and children to get to school.
“These services aren’t just about getting people to and from Bristol, they help people get about our towns. Elderly residents can’t be expected to get up the hill from Yate without a bus.
“People who work at Southmead rely on the early Y6 bus service to get them there for the start of their shift. That will no longer be possible.”
Previous Y1 and Y2 routes
‘Damaging changes’ need urgent rethink
Ms Young and Cllr Willmore – South Gloucestershire Council’s cabinet member for infrastructure and a Yate North ward councillor – met with First Bus West of England managing director Doug Claringbold to put the case for keeping the old Y1 and Y2 routes and the early Y6 service.
The MP said: “The Managing Director listened and promised to go away and think about what can be done.
“I hope there can be an urgent rethink on these damaging changes.”
Cllr Willmore said Shire Way children would no longer be able to get a bus to Chipping Sodbury School.
She said she had met with offers from the West of England Combined Authority, which has responsibility for transport planning, to discuss the changes, but added: “Like us, they only have the power of persuasion as private companies can chop and change commercial routes as they wish currently.
“That is why franchising or public regulation of all bus services within a properly designed and funded public transport sector is so vital to being able to ensure people have the services they need.”
New Y6 route
‘Low passenger numbers’ blamed for changes
A First West of England spokesperson said the meeting with Ms Young and Cllr Willmore had been “really productive”.
But the company added: “We considered feedback and looked at our data before making the changes, and in summary the low passenger numbers outweigh the cost of running the services.
“At present, the Y1 and Y2 services are supported by government funding through its Bus Service Improvement Plan, and it’s important that we look at our data and make changes to the services to secure their future if and when that funding comes to an end.
“While the Y6 also has low passenger numbers, it receives no government funding.
“We recognise that when we make changes to the network they aren’t always going to suit everyone’s needs, but we always consider the wider network and try to minimise disruption while ensuring communities are still connected, even if that means using different services or catching connecting buses.”
The comany says service 525, operated by Stagecoach, provides an alternative service for stops no longer served by the Y2.
More details of the changes can be found here.
*First has launched a new college bus service, the SB6, to take students from Yate, Chipping Sodbury and Westerleigh to St Brendan’s Sixth-Form College.