Fears Stagecoach's plans to axe 'vital' bus routes will 'imprison entire community'

Passengers and residents have started petitions to try and prevent 'vital' bus services from being scrapped in South Gloucestershire.

Bus routes that have been described as 'lifelines' for people in more rural communities are expected to be scrapped in early June.

Routes affected include the 84/85 service between Yate and Wotton-under-Edge and the 622 from Chipping Sodbury and Yate to Thornbury and Cribbs Causeway.

An online petition and a paper petition to campaign against the changes were launched in February and gained hundreds of signatures.

They called on bus company Stagecoach to maintain the routes through South Gloucestershire, describing them as vital for children in getting to and from school and for people getting to work.

Dozens of people gathered at Wotton-under-Edge monument on Tuesday 23 May to protest the changes.

One resident of the town, Elizabeth Roper, said that the planned cuts would be massively detrimental to the area.

"I am here representing people. I am really concerned older people who will be cut off. They might suffer sadness by not being able to communicate with people on the buses," she said.

"I am also here for people who use these services to get on to Southmead Hospital for appointments, it would mean they can't get around the county."

Another person at the rally, Ruth York, said: "Buses need to be part of our lives, it is my link through to Bristol, Bath and all other places and if they take it away then you will isolate people.

"People are viable and people need buses."

For Roy Brooks the service helps him visit family in nearby Yate, without it he would be unable to visit his father-in-law in his care home.

"A lot of the people in this community are middle-aged or older. You are imprisoning them by not having a bus service," he said.

"You are literally imprisoning an entire community."

Rachel Geliamassi, Managing Director of Stagecoach West, said that the company regretted having to axe the routes.

“Services 84 and 85, running between Yate and Wotton Under Edge, are currently operated under an extended contract on behalf of West of England Combined Authority (WECA)," she said.

“We are proud to have been able to cover the extended period from March to 3rd June 2023, even with the pressures around resources faced at the time. It is with deep regret that we will not be able to continue beyond the agreed extension date.

 “We will work with WECA and South Gloucestershire Council as they review their next steps for the newly extended period of the contract, to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.

'Our priority is to ensure that we continue to successfully delivery on the longer-term contracts we have already committed to beyond June 2023.”