Bus operator the Buses of Somerset is assisting Somerset County Council with providing additional bus routes following the cessation of WebberBus’s services on Friday (13 May).
The Buses of Somerset has agreed with the Council that it will cover those WebberBus routes, which do not have an alternative bus service, on an emergency basis. The company has taken over all of these routes apart from one, which will be operated by its sister company, First West of England.
WebberBus’s eight contracted school routes will be covered by five operators under an arrangement with the Council. Two of these routes will be run by the Buses of Somerset.
Commenting on the arrangements, Alex Carter, Managing Director of the Buses of Somerset, said: “Our main priority is to ensure that Somerset bus customers are provided with a good bus service. We are working closely with Somerset County Council to ensure that all affected routes previously run by WebberBus are covered.
“Of course, we will accept WebberBus tickets up to their expiry dates on all services so that customers are not left out of pocket.”
He added: “On Thursday, we were able to provide emergency services to colleges to ensure that no students were left stranded. We are now working up plans with Council officials to see how we can assist with maintaining these vital services to schools and colleges in the area.”
For more information, please contact: Alison Reijman, PR Manager (South Coast), First Bus, on 023 8071 4832/07730 195427 or email: [email protected].
Notes to Editors:
The Buses of Somerset is part of FirstGroup plc, operating services that are used by more than 70,000 passengers every week between Taunton, Bridgwater, Wells, Yeovil, Weston-super-Mare and Minehead. For more information about The Buses of Somerset and its bus timetables, visit the website, http://www.busesofsomerset.co.uk. The company is also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/busesofsomerset or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/busesofsomerset
FirstGroup plc is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America and our services help to create strong, vibrant and sustainable local economies. During the last year around 2.4 billion people relied on us to get to work, to education, to visit family and friends and much more and, each day, every one of our 110,000 employees works hard to deliver vitally important services for our passengers.
Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world… keeping people moving and communities prospering.
First Bus
FirstGroup is one of Britain’s largest bus operators with around a fifth of bus services outside London. A fleet of some 6,300 buses carries approximately 1.7 million passengers a day in a huge number of communities including 40 of the UK's largest towns and cities. We operate some US-style yellow school buses and have a fleet of coaches available for charter. We also operate the Aircoach network in Ireland.