Two key Bristol bus routes are set to be lost in April. The 506 and the 516 - both run by the Lemon Bus Company - will stop running after local authority subsidies are scrapped.
The move is part of the council’s retendering process for bus services in the city. The result will see 42 bus services in the west disappear.
Two of them are services run by the LBC - the 506 and the 516. But the firm has been awarded a contract to continue the 515 park and ride from Long Ashton to Southmead, which it plans to convert into a fully-electric vehicle by the end of the year.
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The 506 is a subsidised route that runs from the city centre to Southmead Hospital but is a highly-congested route with narrow streets and parked cars often causing delays, LBC CEO, Tom Druitt explained. But ultimately the axing of the routes is a result of finances.
The 516, which goes from Hengrove to Knowle in south Bristol, will also be scrapped. From April, alongside the assessable transport services, the LBC will be left with only one route in Bristol.
Although the 505, which the LBC started running in October last year, will continue to operate, the new contract was awarded to another company. But Mr Druitt remains hopeful and said that the company plans to build back its Bristol services and expand on them in the future.
The bus company director said that times are hard in the industry, with high inflation, supply chain issues and the ongoing driver shortage. Mr Druitt said: “It is very disappointing but we are very committed to Bristol and keen to develop services here as much as possible. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to build the services back to what they are at the moment and further.
“The biggest concern for us is the impact on the community. The services that are being discontinued forever will leave a massive hole in the communities that rely on them everyday. I’m very concerned about loneliness and isolation in some of these communities. They’re not great for young people either who want to get to college and jobs.
"We’re very keen to work with anyone to maintain bus services for local communities in Bristol. We made a commitment for all of our vehicles to be zero emission vehicles and the services that we are running longer term will be moving to electric later this year.”
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