New Avonmouth bus service to operate hourly after key route axed

A new bus service will reconnect people living in Avonmouth with Henbury, Lawrence Weston and Brentry after a key route through the community was axed earlier this year.

The new WESTlocal 40 service will be run by The Big Lemon - a Community Interest Company - and funded by the West of England Combined Authority (WECA).

Nicknamed the Yellow LAB, it will serve residents in Avonmouth who were left "disconnected" when FirstBus removed the number three service from the area in April.

Starting from the Brentry Roundabout on Crow Lane on 2 September, it will run on weekdays from 7:50am to 6pm and pass through Henbury and Lawrence Weston to St Andrew's Church, Avonmouth.

On school days it will also pickup from St Bede's school and make a one-off stop at Cribbs Causeway via Station Road in Henbury.

Darren Jones, the MP for Bristol North West, said: "Avonmouth village was disconnected from the rest of this part of Bristol when there were changes to the First Bus route, so we bought the community together to identify what stops they needed in what locations - for the food bank or the GP surgery or the school - and we were successful in bringing together this community bid for a new bus service."

WESTlocal is a fund from WECA and set up in partnership with North Somerset Council. It's funded by the Department for Transport.

The idea of the scheme is to give communities the power to design and run their own, not for profit bus services.

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