Passengers will notice changes to WESTlink, starting this week.

WESTlinks are green minibuses that link up passengers making similar journeys to onward travel options.

They cover more remote areas in the West of England. Residents living in the area with the service can "hail" a WESTlink via the app to take them and other locals from their nearest bus stop to another (physical and virtual) one for onward travel. 

From Monday 8 April, the area WESTlink covers will expand to bring in Bath Royal United Hospital, Kingswood High Street, Ashton Vale, Southmead Hospital and other places.

To address passenger concerns that there are not enough WESTlinks available to book, new "zones" will be introduced to encourage shorter journeys and people will no longer be able to book a journey they could take by traditional bus or train.

The changes will kick in on the first-year anniversary of WESTlink minibuses hitting the region’s streets.

Dan Norris, West of England Mayor, says: “On the first anniversary of WESTlink, we are making important changes to improve the region's stop-to-stop bookable minibus service.  "WESTlinks have become a familiar sight on our roads. linking up passengers to main bus routes that run every 15 minutes into our two cities. 

“We will continue to adapt and change so together we can make stop-to-stop travel in the West a success. If you've not tried it before, please give WESTlink a go."  

More than 100,000 trips have been made by people travelling on a WESTlink so far. WESTlink minibuses aim to help those who live in areas with little or no or limited public transport to connect with main bus routes, so attracting new passengers onto buses which is a key priority for the Mayor.

To book, passengers should download the WESTlink app from the App Store or Google Play, or call 01174578561. A single adult journey costs £2. Journeys can be booked the day before.

To view the new WESTlink map and get further information about the changes, visit: https://travelwest.info/bus/bus-service-changes/#westlink-service-changes-from-8-april-1

Dan Norris has also issued a reminder that those born in April can sign up for their free ‘Birthday Bus Pass’ up until the 15th of the month.

Birthday Buses gives locals unlimited free bus and WESTlink travel across the West’s 350-plus square mile network throughout their birthday month.