Driven back into our cars by bus service
The Chronicle recently published an article regarding our vanishing bus service. This situation culminated in every single bus to our villages being pulled after 4pm on Friday, October 1, leaving residents of all ages stranded and unable to get home or get to work and appointments.
The 3/3A First Bus services for Bathford and Batheaston have suffered an unacceptable reduction in buses with no warning or information to bus users east of Bath.
First Bus apps and interactive notice boards at bus stops throughout our villages and at dedicated stops in Bath rarely inform or notify residents that the service is either cancelled or delayed.
School pupils are arriving at school late, missing registration or first lessons at least three times per week due to missing buses in the morning. Residents are left waiting, forced to walk over four miles, drive or call taxis or lifts for appointments and work. The same woeful service is common on the return
journey leaving our young, our vulnerable and elderly residents waiting for over an hour in many cases for the 3/3A bus.
Residents are taking to their cars due to the unreliability and increasing lack of faith in the 3/3A First Bus service and concerns for the safety of young people and family members as winter and darker nights approach. This in turn has environmental implications for our city that could be avoided.
It is clear that driver shortage is a major issue in the frequent withdrawal of our bus service as evidenced by the often driverless 3/3A buses at the bus station in Bath. The east of Bath services and drivers appear to be the first to be diverted in favour of other routes, and although we wouldn’t wish this abysmal service on other areas – we need peak-time buses that can be relied on at the very least. After the disruption to our children’s education because of Covid it is extremely concerning that they are suffering yet more uncertainty due to public transport.
We are calling for urgent action to restore a reliable and punctual service, or find a sustainable solution to the unacceptable disruption to our rural communities east of Bath.
Please find our petition here: https://chng.it/xjkq5gjrkq
Bath East Bus Action