You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February 2009.
Well, there certainly seems to be a lot of digging going on this week!
Following on from the work yesterday, we are advised that Westgate Buildings will be closed from 18:00 onwards for the next three evenings.
The Number 21 Newbridge Park & Ride service will be using stop Wm in Avon Street from 18:00.
All other services that use Westgate Buildings (Services 14,/14A/714, 17,/717, 319, 332,/632, 337 and X39/339/649) will be diverting via James Street West and Charles Street, rejoining their normal routes at Monmouth Place. There will be a temporary stop on James Street West near the City of Bath College for these services.
Thankfully, as with the other diversions in place at the moment, we are not expecting this to cause any delays, so we will continue to observe the normal timetables for all of these services. However, if you have any questions or observations about this diversion, then please leave a comment and we will get back to you 
Starting today, there will be planned road works taking place in Melksham that are expected to last for the next four weeks.
Bus services operating from Melksham to Bath, Chippenham and Trowbridge will not be affected, so these services will be operating via their normal routes and stopping at their normal stops.
Bus services operating to Melksham from Bath, Chippenham and Trowbridge will be diverting via the A350 and then the B3104. There will be a temporary bus stop at Melksham Town Hall.
We are not expecting this diversion to affect the timetable for these services, but if we find that delays are arising we will update you so that you can plan any journeys in this area.
If you have any questions about this diversion, please leave us a comment and we will do our best to help
For the next five days the road between Hinton Charterhouse and Norton St Philip will be closed for planned engineering works, so our Number 267 service will be diverting.
From Bath, the service will be turning off at Branch Road, Hinton Charterhouse to join the A36, then turning into Farleigh Road to rejoin the normal route at Norton St Philip. The buses will do the same in reverse when travelling from Frome to Bath. This means that we will be missing out the High Street stop. We regret that there will be no stops along the diversion section of the route.
We do not expect this diversion to affect the timetable for the service, but if we notice any problems as the week goes on we will let you know so you can plan any journeys involving this service.
If you have any questions about this diversion, do leave us a comment and we will get back to you
The council have informed us that they intend to close the road at Westgate Buildings for resurfacing works this Sunday (22nd February). This will mean that our services will be diverting and will not serve the Westgate Buildings stops.
Any services that would usually operate via Westgate Buildings will be continuing along James Street West and using the stop outside the Salvation Army/Metropolitan Pub. The services will then turn right into Charles Street and then left into Monmouth Place to resume their normal routes. No other bus stops will be missed out.
So, if you plan to use the Number 14, 17, 339 or 632 services you will need to make your way to James Street West to pick up your bus on Sunday. We do not expect the timetables for these services to be affected by this diversion.
We appear to be in a phase of the building works at the new Southgate development which involves narrowing the road at Dorchester Street whilst moving large vehicles in and out of the building site throughout the afternoons.
Unfortunately, this has caused traffic congestion in the city centre for the last two days – particularly during the afternoon rush hour. The congestion has been affecting all of our services that come through the city centre, as traffic from Dorchester Street has been backing up around the block, impacting other routes into the temporary bus station as well.
Worst hit have been our frequent local Bath city services, as the buses get progressively later each time they have to battle through this congestion. Usually our services would use the “recovery time” which is specially added to the timetables for certain services to prevent these kinds of accumulative delays. However, over the last two afternoons we have seen lengthy delays that exceed the recovery time that is built into our timetables.
We regret that we can only apologise to passengers who have been affected by these delays, and hope that you will bear with us as we do our best to operate around the necessary activities at the Southgate site. We are very much looking forward to moving into the new bus station they are building for us there and from what we have seen of the plans we know our customers will enjoy the new site too, so hopefully it will all be worth it in the end!
Today saw the start of road works in Weston Lane, which affects the Number 20 local circular service.
The service is diverting via Park Lane, Lower Bristol Road and Combe Park to rejoin its normal route through Weston Village. The work is expected to take place from 09:15 to 16:00 Thursday 12th, Friday 13th, Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th February.
Our experience today is that this – coupled with the normal levels of traffic congestion throughout the route at peak times – caused significant delays to the service. Where possible, we have been trying to minimise the impact of this on passengers by juggling buses around so that the services were at least departing the Bus Station on time, but the service has unfortunately been delayed throughout the day.
We will continue to do our best for you all, but if you are using planning to use the Number 20 service during these times, please allow extra time for your journey.
Anyone would think that the weather was against us at the moment!
There has been flooding in some parts of Wiltshire overnight, which is impacting on some of our services, but thankfully there has been no more snow on the hills, so all of our city services are operating normally.
Our Number 237 service is currently unable to serve Staverton or Hilperton due to flooding on the route, whilst the Number 264/265 service from Bath to Warminster cannot service Yarnbrook.
But, thankfully, that’s it at the moment. There are blue skies over the city centre, so with luck we should have a normal day in Bath
We have to be totally upfront with you all now… we really don’t know how our services will operate this evening. There are reports about snow and sleet on the hills around Bath, but at the moment, all of our services are operating. There are delays due to the wet weather (there is always more traffic when it rains), but everything is going and we intend to keep going, provided it is safe.
Obviously the interesting question we are all wondering about is: “will it freeze?”
Well, if it does, then we will have to review the safety of our routes again, and that may mean that we cannot access certain areas. However, we really don’t know if it is going to freeze, or to what extent the roads will be prepared if it does.
All we can recommend that you do if you have to travel this evening is to keep an eye on the weather reports. If you can ski to the bus stop, then there is a high chance the bus won’t come 
Hopefully, it won’t come to that. We will continue to do our best for you despite the changing conditions.
One of the things that makes public transport so interesting is the great British weather!
After the snow and ice at the end of last week, we now have rain, which is slowing down traffic.
There are roadworks around the building site in Dorchester Street, causing some delays to all services operating through the city centre, and the Peasedown St John/Radstock corridor was apparently quite congested earlier this morning for some reason that we have yet to discern. This means that the Number 173, 178 and 184 services are particularly delayed.
Service 20 is also operating approximately 30 minutes late after peak time traffic at Foxhill/Combe Down/Midford Road delayed the service this morning. The road works in town have made it difficult for the service to recover time after these delays, but our drivers and inspectors are doing their best to get the service back on time.
Rain does tend to drive people into their cars, so if you are planning to travel by bus today – particularly during the rush hour this evening – we do advise that you leave plenty of time for your journey.
We are pleased to say that all of our buses have gone out this morning as normal and so far we have received no reports of problems with ice on any of our routes. You won’t believe how much of a relief that is to us all after the last few days!
Obviously, there is the normal Monday morning rush hour traffic to contend with, which may delay some services, but all services are operational, which is a good start!
Thank you all for your patience and goodwill over the last few, very difficult days. It has been very much appreciated by all of our staff as we have worked to get services operating for you
Now, just have to remember what it is we normally do first thing in the morning…..
