Good news on 82 bus

Thank you once again to everyone who signed our 82 bus service petition. The great news is that both the 82 and X49 bus services will be extended to Chipping Sodbury from 27th May.

Our petition in autumn 2016 showed that hundreds of people wanted the 82 service to run to and from Chipping Sodbury again, so they wouldn't have to change buses in Yate. At the time we were told that wasn't possible, but we have kept up the fight. We are delighted that First Bus has finally listened.

Not all of the changes being made by First Bus are good news though. On Sundays, the 82 service drops to 2 hourly. We will continue to campaign for better bus services for local people every day of the week.

You can check out the new timetables on the Traveline South West site.

Campaigning for better buses

On Monday Claire Young once again took our campaign for improving local bus services to the South Glos Public Transport Forum.

Claire reminded the First Bus Director James Freeman of the 82 bus service petition she presented last autumn and followed up again at the Forum earlier this year. As well as better reliability, we are calling for the reinstatement of a direct bus service from Chipping Sodbury (and the villages beyond) to Southmead, Parkway and the Mall and a later bus service for people who work at the Mall to get home after it closes.

Mr Freeman said that their records showed that since they switched the 82 service to run out of a different depot, reliability has improved (do let us know if this isn't your experience). They're considering options for improving the service but will only implement them once the Bromley Heath viaduct works have finished. Let us know if you have any comments on what you would like to see and we'll pass them on.

Claire also challenged First Bus on the age of buses being used on the 47 and X47 service into Bristol. They are planning changes to the Yate-Bristol corridor, which should bring good news, but again this will be once the viaduct work has finished. Contact us if you would like us to pass on your views about how they could improve the services.

Update: From a subsequent email it appears that First Bus have ruled out extending the 82 bus service beyond Yate before anyone has had the chance to get back to them with their suggestions.

Southmead bus improvements to include later last service

First Bus have responded to pressure from Cllr Claire Young, Dodington Parish Council and local campaigners by adding an extra bus at the end of the day, Mondays to Fridays. From 30th April, the last service back from Southmead will be at 8.30 pm (instead of 7.15 pm), calling at Cribbs Causeway at 8.45 pm, Bristol Parkway Station at 9 pm and Frampton Cotterell at 9.11 pm, reaching Yate at 9.26 pm.

The full timetable is available here

Please be sure to show your appreciation for this later journey by making use of it and help to encourage usage by making your family, your friends, work colleagues or anyone else you know who uses the 82 service aware of this positive change to the service.

Let’s hope that the changes of service management First promised us recently will result in better reliability.

Positive news on 82 bus

Campaigning last autumn for improvements to the 82 bus

After many months of campaigning with bus users for improvements to the notoriously unreliable 82 service, we are delighted to be able to report some more positive news.

Alan Barrett of First Bus attended Dodington Parish Council on Wednesday to give councillors and parishioners an update on the problems affecting the 82.

He said that at the end of April they would be transferring responsibility for running the 82 service to the team that currently runs the more reliable 46 and 47 Yate to Bristol services. It is hoped this will improve reliability.

We have also been calling for the 82 to continue to Chipping Sodbury and beyond, as it did before the cuts last September. He said that once they have resolved the reliability issues they would look again at this - and he promised to come back to the Parish Council to get their feedback on any proposals before making the final decision.

Several times he mentioned the representations we'd made at the Public Transport Forum meetings in October, when Claire Young presented a petition, and January. Thank you again to all who signed the petition, you really helped to make an impact.

82 bus service problems continue - but new evening journey promised

Local resident Ian Muirhead and
Cllrs Claire Young and Paul Hulbert

Along with her Focus team colleagues, Claire has been campaigning for a more reliable 82 bus service with a later bus back from the Mall. Sadly, we are still regularly receiving complaints about late running and cancelled buses, as covered by the Gazette newspaper this week. However there is some good news - from 30th April there will be a later journey for people returning from the Mall at 8.30pm.