WESTlink have advised of changes, including new zones and booking adjustments, taking place to the service from today. They have said:
'WESTlink has now been running for a year, helping many people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to link up to other public transport. More than 110,000 trips have been made by people travelling on a WESTlink bus since it started – and it’s becoming more popular with the number of monthly trips doubling to more than 13,000 in February.
However, it’s not worked for everyone in the way it was originally intended. Therefore, changes are being introduced to try to fix some of the issues and make the service better. Feedback from passengers as well as community groups and local councils has helped to shape these changes:
New zones
The current three large zones – North, South and FTZ (largely North Bristol) and two shared zones are being replaced with nine smaller “core” zones and 12 shared zones.
This will help tackle one of the biggest issues that customers have identified – that WESTlink minibuses aren’t always available when needed. One reason for this is that minibuses are too often being used to make long journeys often with just one person on board. This can take a bus out of action for up to an hour and leave other people waiting. One journey was logged at almost 20 miles long.
The new zones won’t allow this and the vast majority of trips currently made by WESTlink will still be possible. The zones have been carefully designed to make sure that popular journeys are still covered – for example between Yate and Thornbury – and allow people to make short trips and connect with standard bus services for onward travel.
The WESTlink area has been expanded to bring in new locations including:
Royal United Hospital, Bath University and St Martins Hospital in Bath
Hengrove Leisure Centre, Kingswood High Street, Ashton Vale, Hungerford Road area and a small area in Withywood, in and around Bristol
Failand, Hewish and Nailsea and Backwell railway station in North Somerset
A number of key destinations such as Cribbs Causeway, Southmead Hospital, Aztec West, UWE and Parkway Station will now be able to be reached by WESTlink for the first time from new locations including Yate and Thornbury.
The new zones have been developed by looking at where WESTlink trips have been made over the past year, overall regional travel patterns plus feedback from residents and community groups. '
For more information including maps can be found at: https://travelwest.info/bus/bus-service-changes/#westlink-service-changes-from-8-april-1
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