Bus operator First West of England has today announced a significant increase in the number of buses operating in the region from Sunday 2nd April. Following punctuality improvements achieved in previous timetable changes, First West of England will also be extending its use of new, state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) scheduling software to improve punctuality across an extensive range of services.

The changes will add over three thousand hours of bus journeys to routes across the region every week. The operator’s buses will travel over a million and a half extra miles every year to give people more opportunities to travel sustainably. As part of this, First West of England will be reinstating over one thousand six hundred hours of buses in Bristol every week, following the temporary suspension of some journeys in November due to driver shortages.

The increased frequencies and punctuality improvements represent a significant investment from First West of England in service improvements. In addition, the West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset Council are contributing extensive Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding  to enhance a number of key routes across the region.  The combined package includes additional buses into Bristol City Centre from Kingswood, Downend, Staple Hill, Whitchurch and Keynsham; Thornbury and Bristol City Centre; Twerton and Bath City Centre; and between Midsomer Norton and Bath City Centre. 

Despite the improvements to many services, passenger numbers are still down by around twenty percent on pre-pandemic levels and although many services are showing good growth, a very small number have shown no signs of attracting sufficient users to cover their costs. As a result, services 23, 47 and 91 will no longer operate from Sunday 2nd April.

 Doug Claringbold, Managing Director of First West of England, said: “These new timetables will significantly increase the service we offer our customers and I’m confident that our investment in new technology will also continue to improve punctuality. We will also be reinstating journeys in Bristol that we had to temporarily suspend last year, as we are starting to see the effect of our major driver recruitment and retention campaign."

"We’re delighted that the West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset Council successful BSIP award means significant investment in a number of important routes, which together with our own investment in our commercial network will bring improvements for many customers."

"We would like to thank our customers for their patience and for continuing to be considerate to our drivers during what has been a difficult period.”