Anger as late night bus service is cut

LOCAL bus campaigners have expressed their disgust that First Bus has cancelled an evening bus service from Bath to Frome.

First Bus has confirmed that the 8.10pm service from Bath to Frome is to be withdrawn from Sunday 24th April.

Local bus user and campaigner Tracey Harding said, “Cuts to the evening bus service will affect anyone who works unsociable hours or who just wants an evening out.

“The lack of prior warning about  cuts to an evening bus service is  rather worrying as bus users could have been left stranded at night for an hour. I am worried that more cuts could follow as B&NES (Bath & North East Somerset) are looking  to make £38million in cuts to their funding in the next few years.

“I think it is disgusting that B&NES have cut the funding without any kind of consultation to the bus users who use this service. A lot of unskilled and often young workers work unsociable hours in retail, hotel, cafés and bars and rely on public transport as they can’t afford to run a car. If more cuts to bus funding happen, this could force these unskilled workers to look for another job or onto the dole, through no fault of their own.”

In a statement, First Bus said, “The timetable of Service 267 will be significantly altered to address current issues of punctuality and reliability and to provide spacing between Service 267 and Faresaver Service X67.

“The majority of departure times from Bath and Frome will change. The majority of off peak journeys will depart Bath at 20 minutes past each hour, and Frome at 26 minutes past each hour.

“The 2010 departure from Bath will be withdrawn.”