A fleet of green minibuses forming a new 'on-demand’ service within the West of England will hit the streets this summer. Passengers in zones across the West of England will be able hail a 'WESTlink' by using an app on their smartphone, visiting a website or by phoning up. The minibuses will be unrestricted by a timetable. Ticket prices will match fares on West of England buses. Clever technology will use algorithms to best join up several people’s needs, combining them into one trip to get passengers to where they need to be as efficiently as possible.
The service will run between 7am-7pm Monday-Saturday. The minibuses will run in defined zones designed to get people to key transport corridors where they can then pick up another bus or train. The scheme is being funded by the West of England Combined Authority using money secured from government through the Bus Service Improvement Plan.
West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris said:
“Everyone knows the buses don’t currently work as well as we need them to, so it’s time to try something new. I know change is difficult and people will be concerned about other cuts to supported bus services funded through local councils. But WESTlink will provide a much-needed new public transport option to help people get out and about to their destinations.
“I hope we can encourage many people to use WESTlink as a feeder service to connect to more high frequency bus or rail services. It should also provide access to a wider range of destinations and support local travel essential to many communities. The status quo doesn’t work and many individuals and communities are suffering. For those impacted it is a really big deal so things must improve. We also need to encourage more people out of their cars if we’re going to meet our vital and ambitious 2030 Net Zero targets.
“Revamping busses at a time of such horrendous driver shortage is going to be really tough, but change is essential if we are to get our bus services back on track and thriving in the future. These important changes will be disruptive, take time, and we will have to learn lessons as we work hard to get things right, but I urge people to try WESTlink and embrace this positive opportunity to shape our transport future for the better.”
