A huge swathe of Bath and North East Somerset could be left with no buses in a “devastating” loss for local people as the funding for its only two buses faces a cliff edge.
The X91 and 99 were set up to serve the Chew Valley after it was left with no buses after 2023’s bus cuts, but the funding for routes is set to end in March.
At a meeting of Bath & North East Somerset Council on 20th November, Chew Valley locals and councillors urged the council to work with the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) to keep the buses running.
Phil Collins was one of three members of the Chew Valley CIC Sustainable Transport Partnership, which set the buses up, who spoke at the meeting.
He told councillors: “If the X91 and the 99 weren’t continued, the whole of the Chew Valley and indeed all of B&NES from the A37 westwards would be without any timetabled bus services.”
The X91 runs between the Chew Valley and Bristol, while the X99 completes a figure-of-eight circuit of the villages around the area.
The buses are run by bus company The Big Lemon and were some of the first to be set up under the WECA’s WESTlocal scheme last year, which allowed community groups to set up bus services.
Jackie Head said: “The X91 began with a great triumph of numbers on it. Now, 18 months later, three times as many people travel on that bus service.”
Elaine Workman urged councillors to consider the struggles the two services had faced before making snap judgments about their value on flawed data.
She told the meeting: “The X91 travels in and out of Bristol but after Imperial Park it is not permitted to pick up passengers from the bus stops following that because of the arrangements that WECA has with First Bus.
“So everyday it passes queues of people wanting to travel into Bristol that it simply cannot pick up.”
She added: “The 99 being a very rural route struggles to operate to bus stops that don’t even have a marker flag — let alone benches or shelters — or any phone signal.
“This also means that the ticketing machines are significantly underreporting footfall on the map.” In one month, 41% of the 99’s usage data was missing.
Chew Valley councillor David Harding (Liberal Democrat) told the meeting: “The Chew Valley is the worst connected area in B&NES when it comes to public transport.
“Access to public transport affects the functionality of the rural economy and leads to isolation for those without access to private transport.”
He said that both he and fellow ward councillor Anna Box (also Liberal Democrat) used both buses. He said: “I use it to go to hospital appointments in Bristol, meet with friends in Bristol, have a cider or two in the ward with my ward colleague.
“Kids use the buses to go to school. People go shopping in Chew Magna or they go to Imperial Park in Bristol or they go to the doctors in Chew Stoke, and they use the buses to catch trains at Temple Meads.
“Our buses get vulnerable people out of their homes every day. As these bus routes become more and more established, their use is only increasing.”
Councillor Box said to the council leadership: “Our duty as public servants is to look after our residents so I therefore urge you to continue to lobby WECA for rural bus funding as it is a high priority for us.
“They are socially necessary and I urge you to continue with your good work.”
Lib Dem councillor Simon McCombe, who was elected to represent the Mendip ward in July, called the buses “vital arteries for our communities”.
He said: “These services are not a luxury, they are essential. The risk of losing funding for these routes would be devastating.
“It would cut off lifelines for many residents, undermine our sustainability goals, and weaken the fabric of community life across the Chew Valley.
“We must press WECA to keep the funding in place.”
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
