Bus operator First West of England has announced its upcoming changes to timetables over the Christmas and New Year period, to ensure services remain reliable and punctual for customers.
Some late evening journeys will not operate on Christmas Eve, 24th December and New Year’s Eve, 31st December and no services will be operating on Boxing Day.
James Freeman, Managing Director of First West of England, said: “Each year we adjust our services during the festive season to reflect the change in customer demand.
“Of course, this year we have had to have a slightly different approach due to the pandemic. Our priority is, as always, keeping customers moving safely and reliably so that they can reach their destinations.
“Furthermore, the arrangements we have made for this year make best use of our people – by having no service on 25th, 26th December and 1st January we can make sure that everything else will operate as scheduled.
“It’s been a year like no other and we’d like to thank all of our customers for their ongoing patience and cooperation as we have all coped with Covid. We hope that we can look forward to a more positive 2021.”
Monday 21st December to Wednesday 23rd December 2020
In Bath, First West of England will operate on a Saturday timetable across most services. Exceptions to this include services 11 and 12, which will run on a special holiday timetable, and service 42 which will operate on a weekday timetable.
There will also be adjustments to the timetables of the University services for the Christmas period. Service U1 will run according to its Saturday holiday timetable, and service U5 will run on a Sunday timetable.
Thursday 24th December (Christmas Eve)
Services in Bath will continue to operate as between 21st – 23rd December.
Late evening and night journeys will not operate on Thursday 24th December and into the early morning of Friday 25th December. In Bath, these include some journeys on services 1, 5, 39, 172, and D2. Customers are advised to check timetables carefully before travelling.
Friday 25th December 2020 (Christmas Day) & Saturday 26th December 2020 (Boxing Day)
No First West of England services will be running in Bristol, Bath and the West of England region on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Sunday 27th December & Bank Holiday Monday 28th December 2020
Services across Bristol, Bath and the West of England will operate as a Sunday service on Sunday 27th and Monday 28th December.
Tuesday 29th December – Wednesday 30th December 2020
In Bath, services will run according to a Saturday timetable. Exceptions to this include services 11 and 12, which will run on a special holiday timetable, and service 42 which will operate on a weekday timetable.
There will also be adjustments to the timetables of the University services in Bath for the Christmas period. Service U1 will run according to its Saturday holiday timetable, and service U5 will run on a Sunday timetable.
Thursday 31st December 2020 (New Year’s Eve)
Services in Bath will continue to operate as between 29th – 30th December.
Late evening and night journeys will not operate on Thursday 31st December and into the early morning of Friday 1st January 2021. In Bath, these include some journeys on services 1, 5, 39, 172, and D2. Customers are advised to check timetables carefully before travelling.
Friday 1st January 2021 (New Year’s Day)
No First West of England services will be running in Bristol, Bath and the West of England region on New Year’s Day.
Saturday 2nd January 2021
Service will operate on their normal Saturday timetables except for some university services.
Service U1 will run according to its Saturday holiday timetable, and service U5 will operate on a Sunday timetable. Service U3 will not be operating over the Christmas period.
Sunday 3rd January 2021
Normal service will resume across all services.
For more information on First Bus services over Christmas and New Year, or to view the timetables of a particular route, visit www.firstgroup.com/xmas2020.
