Elderly residents in Keynsham who say they already feel “completely stranded” are set to lose several local buses this month as part of the withdrawal of 30 bus routes in the West of England. Keynsham will lose Stagecoach services 663, 664 and 665 and the First Bus 178, which is to be replaced with the new 522 bus from Bristol to Bath.
Keynsham will benefit from the new on-demand minibus service but there is scepticism over how it will work, especially for older residents who don’t carry mobile phones. A retired bus driver named as Mr Gale, who lives with his wife on the Chandag estate in east Keynsham, is no longer able to drive and says that the deterioration of the bus service has left him and his neighbours “completely locked in”.
Mr Gale, who used to drive the 178, said that up until several years ago it was an hourly service they could rely on and would use for trips to Bristol. But the bus route has since changed and it no longer stops at the estate but on Wellsway instead, which the 85-year-old says is too far away for him or elderly neighbours to walk to.
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Although this service will be replaced by the 522, which will operate every half an hour between Keynsham and Bristol, he feels the bus stop is still too far away. The withdrawal of the Stagecoach bus services which were originally funded by the Chocolate Quarter Development may present further challenges for older residents who used to use those buses for shopping.
Although Mr Gale stopped using the local Stagecoach services because he found them too irregular and unreliable, the former bus driver is not confident that the on-demand services will be an adequate replacement. He says he currently has to pay £40 for a taxi to see the doctor because it is the only way he can book ahead.
Mr Gale said: “There’s people living here now who moved in as young couples and now there’s a lot of older people living on their own. When we moved in there was a reliable bus service, every quarter past the hour.
“I used to drive the 178, we used to go through the Chandag estate and there was never a day when you didn’t pick somebody up on that route. People would pop into town on that bus, Bristol, Keynsham and Bath, then all of a sudden they decided that we weren’t good enough for them and they went straight down the Wellsway.
“We live in a little cul-de-sac with 16 flats and out of those 16 flats you have six people who don’t have transport, so they rely on the buses. We can’t get to the doctor's, the doctor's is an all day trip, we have to catch three buses where we used to be able to get just one.
“The whole thing has left us completely stranded. Our car is sitting outside and I’m getting rid of it at the end of the month, we’re just completely locked in now.”
While in theory the on-demand mini-buses could make travelling by bus easier once people get used to them, Mr Gale thinks they should have introduced the new service prior to the withdrawal of the “shopping buses”. Although the new service can be booked by telephone, local councillors said there has been confusion from residents about how these new buses will work.
Mr Gale is sceptical about how useful this new service will be. “I think it’s a waste of time, you are going to have buses waiting around doing nothing like a taxi service and then if I ring up it could be fully booked,” he added.
Stagecoach's response
Rachel Geliamassi, managing director of Stagecoach West, said: “Services 663/664/665, between Somerdale and Keynsham, are currently financially supported by the West of England Combined Authority. The contract for this funding expires on the 1st April 2023.
"Passenger numbers remain low, with the three of these services combined carrying, on average, only 71 passengers per day. We would need to see at least 400 passengers per day for it to be a service that we could run without funding to make it a viable service.
“This is not a decision we’ve taken lightly; our local communities are extremely important to us. We know how vital buses are to people but unfortunately, we cannot continue to run the services on an entirely commercial basis."
First bus and the West of England combined Authority (WECA) were contacted for comment.
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