Council steps in to save evening bus

FROME Town Council has agreed to pay to keep the town’s last evening bus running for six more months.

Campaigners have praised the town council for stepping up to help keep the 267 evening bus service running, after funding cuts in Bath threatened to stop the weekday bus before 6pm.

The council recently agreed to pay up to £1,200 to join Somerset County Council and other local villages in paying to keep the service going until September.

Founder of Frome and Villages Bus Users’ Group (FAVBUG), Tracey Harding said, “This is great news. Thanks to Frome Town Council for giving this service a lifeline. It’s good that young people who are approaching exam season at Bath College won’t be hit by their bus home being cancelled; that was my main concern. I hope public pressure helped to sway the council’s decision, and FAVBUG will work with them to try and come up with a better, more sustainable service for the future.

“I think an evening bus service is a bonus for the town and a well-run one could encourage people from nearby villages to come to Frome for the cinema or for nights out, instead of going to Bath or Trowbridge.”

Mayor of Frome, councillor Toby Eliot, was opposed to funding the service and abstained from the council vote.

He said, “My view hasn’t changed, but the council agreed to pay the money on the condition that other councils contribute as well.

“We have made it clear that this will be a one-off payment; the money will have to come out of the council’s reserves and it won’t be paid again in September. Local government funding has been so reduced that bus services simply can’t be run the same way they were before. Things will have to be done differently in future and we’ll be looking into a more sustainable solution.”