Fed Up of FirstBus?

The problem

Unreliable services, with many delays and cancellations, plague local bus services, especially those run by FirstBus. Dozens of routes have also been axed over the past year, leaving some communities, especially rural ones, without any regular public transport. On top of this, fares remain high, with young person tickets continuing to rise in price despite a cap on adult fares.

This lack of a suitable bus network means many have no suitable alternative to driving, leading to more carbon emissions, air pollution, and congestion across our region, and those without access to a car are stuck with less access to jobs, education, services, and seeing friends or family, increasing social inequality.

The solution

We need to take public control of our local buses through ‘franchising‘. Local government would decide routes, timetables, and fares. Bus companies would compete to operate routes but must meet our criteria. This would prevent cuts to routes and frequency, help reduce fares, integrate different companies’ routes and tickets, and hold operators to account.

In the Greater Bristol/Bath area, this could be done by the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), led by Metro Mayor Dan Norris.

Franchised
WE DEMAND that WECA follows suit with other local/combined authorities around the UK and franchises our bus network, putting power back into the hands of local people and allowing our buses to be run for the good of our communities – not for private profit.

Free
WE DEMAND free travel within the West of England (including North Somerset) for all those under the age of 25, all students, and all apprentices.

Fair
WE DEMAND a fairer bus service, including reversing the cuts to bus routes and improving working conditions for drivers.

Join us on Sat 9th Sept
1pm start on College Green, before marching to WECA in Redcliffe! More details to follow…

Sign the petition
The Reclaim Our Buses coalition are petitioning WECA for public control of our buses – sign here

Get involved
Under 30? Why not come and join XR Youth! Or part of another group? Get in touch to support the campaign.