Friday 5 November 2010

Flat rate bus fare success for Yate & Chipping Sodbury - now what about the villages?

Local transport campaigners are celebrating the news that you will soon be able to travel anywhere in Yate & Chipping Sodbury for £1. The flat rate will apply on all buses within the towns run by Wessex Connect and Severnside Transport buses.

Yate Town Councillor Chris Willmore said, “This is something we’ve been fighting for for over three years. It makes taking a bus within the town cheaper and simpler. People will be able to get on the bus knowing exactly how much it will cost them and knowing it won’t be an arm and a leg.”

Cllr Sue Walker, Chair of Friends of Yate Station, said, “Now it’s cheap enough, we all need to get out there and use the buses so we don’t lose them. This flat rate fare will be a real boon for rail users, who up to now have had to fork out nearly as much for the short bus ride to the station as they have for their rail tickets in some cases. Taking a bus to the station and then travelling further afield will now be a real option for many more people.”

This is great news for people living in Yate and Chipping Sodbury, including the Stover Road area, but Westerleigh councillor Claire Young would like to see something similar for the surrounding villages. “When it can cost over half as much to get the bus from Coalpit Heath to Yate station as it does for the train trip from there to Bristol and back, it’s no wonder people are put off using the services.”

The Hopper ticket will cost just £1 single or £1.50 return and will be valid in a zone extending from St Johns Way, Chipping Sodbury in the East to the Badminton Road Council offices in the West.

The following services will be covered by the Hopper ticket:

* X27 Yate to Bristol via Brimsham Park
* 84 Yate to Wotton-Under-Edge via Chipping Sodbury
* 85 Yate to Emersons Green
* 86 Wotton-Under-Edge to Kingswood (South Gloucestershire) via Chipping Sodbury and Yate
* 87 Chipping Sodbury to Longwell Green via Yate
* 88 Chipping Sodbury to Iron Acton via Yate
* 200 Chipping Sodbury to University of the West of England
* 482/3 Chipping Sodbury to Cribbs Causeway via Yate
* 581 Chipping Sodbury to Hanham via Yate
* 620 Tetbury to Bath via Yate and Chipping Sodbury
* 622 Chipping Sodbury to Cribbs Causeway via Yate
* 689 Yate to Bristol via Pucklechurch

Please note that if you buy a return ticket, you will need to use the same company's buses coming back.

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