Bus passengers in Little Stoke have received mixed news about the future of local services.
The good news is that First Group has reversed its proposed withdrawal of the Council-subsidised number 18, which runs between Emersons Green and Southmead Hospital, via Frenchay Hospital.
In Little Stoke, the number 18 runs along Gipsy Patch Lane, Little Stoke Lane and Kingsway.
The service has been saved after First Group agreed a modified timetable with South Gloucestershire Council’s Integrated Transport Unit (ITU). This will see the half-hourly frequency during the day maintained but the evening and weekend frequency halved to “every 30 minutes”.
On the downside, Wessex Connect’s commercially-operated U7 and U8 services, which run along Braydon Avenue, are to be discontinued from 2nd September.
Parts of Bradley Stoke currently served by the U7 and U8 will instead be served by a new 74 route operated by First Group but the new service will operate along Orpheus Avenue rather than Braydon Avenue, leaving users in much of Little Stoke without a direct service to Bristol city centre or major employers’ sites in Patchway and Filton.
The Journal understands that the Council is still in talks with Wessex Connect over the possibility of providing a replacement service for Braydon Avenue, where the only other buses running are currently the 312 (Thornbury – Fishponds) and 482 (Chipping Sodbury – Cribbs Causeway).
Related link: Bus services in Stoke Gifford (The Journal)
