Hundreds of villagers will be left “completely isolated” if an under-threat, lifeline bus route is axed, residents fear. Scores of people packed a public meeting held by metro mayor Dan Norris in Yate on Monday night (August 1), including many from Pucklechurch campaigning to save their only service to Bristol, the Y5.
Mr Norris, who heads the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), which is responsible for the region’s strategic transport, announced on his website on July 18 that First planned to cut the route, along with the No 5, from Downend to Bristol, and the Y4 and Y5 between Yate and the city. The operator has called this “speculation” ahead of a network review being completed, but the firm’s boss told a South Gloucestershire Council meeting last month that some services would have to be withdrawn from October when the Government’s covid funding ends amid a driver shortage crisis and spiralling costs.
This week’s meeting at Yate parish hall was the first in a series of two-hour brainstorming workshops called Big Choices on Buses where residents are invited to help the Labour Weca mayor thrash out ideas to save vital routes. Several residents who live in the town said they did not want to travel just to Bristol city centre but that recent cuts meant they could not get to places like Fishponds, Downend, Southmead and Kingswood.
