Residents of five villages are scrambling to find ways to get to work and college, following cuts to a local bus service. They are also arguing that a lack of local bus services will increase loneliness and isolation in the community, and particularly affect the social lives of younger villagers that cannot drive.

First Bus has cut the 179 weekday service between Bath, Tunley, Timsbury, High Littleton, Farmborough and Paulton to one bus every two hours and no buses beyond Tesco on the edge of Midsomer Norton.

On Saturdays, workers, shoppers and young people wishing to travel to Bath have only one bus, at 7.45 a.m., returning at 5.40 p.m. There are now no buses at all on Sundays. During the week, commuters are now having to find alternative methods of getting to work, as the first bus of the morning is full. Some are even having to board the bus hours too early to make sure they can get to work.

At a packed meeting in Timsbury on Monday, 5th November, residents voiced their concerns to the Parish Council. Several villagers spoke of the anxiety they face over losing jobs that require them to be in Bath on Sunday, and the difficulty they will face on Saturday and during the week. One group of children at St Gregory’s School now have to wait an hour and twenty minutes at a bus stop to get home each day.

College students face a two-hour wait before starting college, and after their courses finish. On a Saturday, one mother faced a two-hour journey to get into Bath with her toddler and young child. Another villager said their partner now struggled to get to his job in Welton.

Young people in the villages will have no access to Saturday jobs or the ability to meet up with friends and develop a social life outside of the village. Older people and those with medical difficulties are finding themselves struggling to get to hospital appointments or even manage basic shopping trips. One villager, who is unable to drive due to a medical condition, told The Journal that the situation was also limiting opportunities; having signed up for further education courses, he then found himself unable to get to the venue.

There was complete agreement at the meeting that the current situation is unsatisfactory and must be resolved. The Parish Council is in talks with other village councils in the area and hopes to create a united response. There was a suggestion from Clutton Council to join in the creation of a Community Bus, but many people at the meeting felt that this would not be adequate for an already oversubscribed service during rush hours.

First Bus has said the current service is commercially unviable, but with the numbers currently using the bus service, it does not appear to be unprofitable. Villagers are now calling on First to revisit its services, routes and times, arguing that if bus services are underused, it is because they do not work for residents. Opening a dialogue, they say, could solve this and help to get cars off the road.

B&NES Council recognises in its ‘Somer Valley Transport Strategy’ that there is ‘poor provision’ in the east to west routes, and that ‘those in the west of the Somer Valley often have to rely on their car if they wish to travel to Midsomer Norton, Radstock and onto Bath’. These comments were made before the current cuts to bus subsidies.

B&NES Council is due to host a conference on Friday this week on ‘The Future of Transport in Bath: Shaping and Delivering a City Transport Plan’. Local people in the Somer Valley feel that they are being left behind whilst the Council focuses on the city and its own transport issues. Perhaps the key would be helping commuters in rural areas access reliable public transport so that they do not need to take their cars to the city?

Veronica Packham, Chair of Timsbury Parish Council, commented: “This bus service is vital for our villages, and the current cuts in an area recognised to be in need of better provision are short-sighted.

“Many hard-working people are facing great difficulty. We are working hard to find solutions to this problem and hope that B&NES Councillors will join us in seeking a solution quickly.”