Bus Service update
First Bus cancel 1,450 Bristol bus services a week
Following on from the cancellation of our X2 service and continued restrictions to late night services First Bus last week added insult to injury by cancelling 1,450 Bristol Bus Services a week until at least April. Although North Somerset services are not impacted (yet), the same cannot be said for connecting services in Bristol. A full list of the cancellations can be found here.
We're all too familiar with ghost buses. Turning up to the bus stop only to find the bus never arrives. First Bus have even acknowledged that the electronic display boards at bus stops as well as on the 'live bus tracker' app don't actually reflect actual buses on the road. As the
Bristol Post has reported, the information in the App
'is simply what is supposed to be happening according to the timetable, and not an actual representation of whether the bus is on the road and approaching within a few minutes'.
'Can't get drivers' excuse not good enough
First Bus say that they can't recruit enough bus drivers. This may well be true, but the real question is why they can't they recruit enough drivers and what are they doing about it.
A quick look on Indeed, the recruitment website, to see reviews by current and former employees makes the cause very clear. They simply don't pay enough. Pay and conditions are perceived to be poor with an average rating of 3.1 out of 5 (working as an Amazon Warehouse Operative has a higher score).
First Group, the business that owns First Bus, made profits of £226m in the year to the end of March 2022. This was an increase over the previous year.
First Group could have decided to pay drivers more, to persuade some out of retirement, to convince others among us to have a career change. It was easier for them to cancel services and increase profits. Frankly it's not good enough.
Motion of 'no confidence in First Bus' at North Somerset Council
What makes the situation worse is that First Bus seem unwilling to engage meaningfully with local communities. We all know and understand that there is a driver shortage. Even if First Bus were paying more there would be an issue. In such a situation we want to engage, discuss, and work together. To date this has been seriously lacking.
At a meeting of North Somerset Council earlier this month I was pleased to support a motion by Caritas Charles, a North Somerset Councillor representing Portishead, declaring no confidence in First Bus.
Although the motion was defeated, you can watch my short (under 90 seconds) speech opposite.
We were also pleased to get some coverage on the BBC website where I was quoted as saying residents are "sick and tired" of the situation - which we are.
Please sign my bus petition.....
As one of the North Somerset Councillors for Long Ashton, Leigh Woods, Failand, and Wraxall I am collecting signatures for a local petition. You can join hundreds who have already signed, please click here to add your name.
I plan to present the petition to the next meeting of North Somerset Council in January 2023. I hope that as a consequence a representative of First Bus will come to meet us to discuss our concerns.
If you want to keep up to date on local issues in and around Long Ashton, Failand, Wraxall, and Leigh Woods then please sign up to my newsletter. If comes out roughly every other month and is a summary of all the articles I post on this website and social media.