Here is the letter that Deborah Marsh wrote.

villages lose out on Taunton to Wells route

This service which connects the county town of Somerset to the city of Wells, which is the only bus service for many villages, lost it's Sunday bus service over a year ago. Now the weekday and Saturday service has been cut back because of Somerset County council cuts, despite these buses always having plenty of passengers. The only customers on this route who have not seen a decrease are those in Monkton Heathfield as, the number 21 (Taunton to Bridgwater) bus has had it's service increased and all number 21 buses now run via Monkton Heathfield, which is also on the Webberbus route from Taunton to Bridgwater. Monkton now gets 5 buses an hour from First and Webberbus

I have never received a response from Firstbus. The buses that run on that route are very busy, especially after Street. The stock is also very old, as I mentioned before, First have only reduced the service on routes where other operators do not run, but they also put the better buses on the routes where other operators run. For the last two weeks running, the bus from Glastonbury to Taunton has overheated and broken down. My friend who was on both buses mentioned this to the driver and he replied "probably the same bus, the engine packs in when it gets hot, but by the time they've towed it to the depot, it's cooled down and they can't find anything wrong with it" A young man on that bus had a job interview in Taunton, they told him if he couldn't get there by one o'clock they couldn't interview him, with that bus broken down and the one that used to run after it now gone from the timetable, he didn't make the interview.

Good evening,

Thank you for your coments via Fix My Transport.

Service 29 is a subsidised service. Whilst that subsidy has been reduced by 50%, First has been able to maintain a 90 minute frequency (instead of cutting it to two hourly). We have managed this through efficient use of vehicles and have also ensured that all key journeys for commuters, students and leisure travellers were maintained.

Whilst we are not currently able to restore a 60 minute frequency, we will raise your concerns with the Council and would urge you to also do the same with your local councillor.

I would also like to apologise if you have experienced delays on our services. It really is not our intention to inconvenience our customers, but we do know that sometimes we get it wrong and that is why we introduced the customer promise which will give our passengers free travel in the case of certain delays or non-running of vehicles. More details can be found here - http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/bristol_bath/help_contact/customer_panel/index.php

Kind regards,

Natacha Tagholm
Regional Customer Services Manager
First South West and Wales