THANKS so much to everyone who came to the Bus Engagement Event in March. All of the ideas shared by you on post-its on the day and in the form we sent to those who couldn’t make it have been curated into a report: The future of local bus services: What the Chew Valley Wants.

This has been sent out to our email members, to parish councillors and senior management teams and councillors in B&NES and WECA and will in due course appear in paper form in community hubs around the Chew Valley. Let us know if there is somewhere in particular where we should be placing them.

We asked four key questions:

● What works well about X91, 99, P1 and WESTlink services

● What doesn’t work/needs improvement

● How do you think WECA should continue to involve the community going forward

● What do you think should be in place from August 2026 (when the present tenders run out)

The overall feedback is clear: keep the fixed routes!

Our key recommendations to WECA are:

1. Secure a 3 year supported route tender for the X91, 99 and P1, recognising them as vital and trusted routes which have the potential to grow.

2. Secure a 1 year supported route tender for WESTlink under the new operator, and engage with the community to build trust in this route. Set KPIs for service improvement with further funding relying on those targets being met.

3. Secure funding for a radical bus stop improvement programme in the Chew Valley across the next 3 years and consult with the community to find the best places for stops to be cited, thus updating some of the present inadequate provision.

4. Work closely with existing community groups such as ours to grow footfall on these services, allocating community engagement budget and officer liaison time and expertise to this, to create meaningful passenger behaviour change towards bus use.

5. Arrange to meet with our group to discuss the findings of this engagement process in the context of future plans

A report has been compiled using the data collected. In it they say: “The individual voices of people in the Chew Valley ... provide a surprisingly coherent and clear narrative of what works, what doesn’t work, and what they want to happen next. It is also clear that the ‘people powered transport’ experiment of WESTlocal buses has already been transformational, and people want to continue to have a chance to influence provision. The strong response ... and the clear popularity of WESTlocal routes provides a spring board to grow the movement to truly transition people out of their cars and into buses.”

WECA also have a bus survey out and we need as many people as possible to take part and use the free text boxes (4a and 14) to say what is needed in our area.

Email [email protected] or follow Bus Transition in the Chew Valley group on Facebook to find out more.