New bus services to Bristol from Taunton and Bridgwater

The two First Bus new routes to Bristol, via Street, Glastonbury, and Wells, will be among some of the longest in the South West, at about 50 miles, and will start in April.

On a current £2 adult fare, a trip on the full length of the route would cost as little as 4p per mile – a fraction of the average cost per mile of running a car at 47p, as reported by NimbleFins.

The new services to Bristol, being introduced from Sunday, April 7, are the 374 from Taunton and the 375 from Bridgwater (replacing the existing services 29 and 75 to Glastonbury).

Both services will operate alongside the existing service 376, with a bus between Bristol and Street continuing to operate every 30 minutes.

Midsomer Norton will also benefit from a new service to Bristol in the early mornings, and from the city in the evenings when the service 376 becomes 376a as a result of a small re-routing of the current service.

George Burton, head of Network for First West of England, which manages services 374, 375, and 376, said: “We believe the creation of these new services, coupled with our frozen single ticket prices and our Tap On, Tap Off technology, which makes getting the cheapest fare for your journey quick and effortless, will encourage more people to make the bus the travel of choice.”

There are also a number of other minor timetable changes.

The changes are part of a bi-annual review of routes by First West of England, and will come into force on Sunday, April 7.

Timetables for the new routes will be published in the coming weeks on the First West of England website, and passenger are urged to check details before travelling ahead of the new services coming into effect.

Across the rest of the county, Buses of Somerset, which is managed by First South, will announce its network changes on Monday 4th March.

These changes will come into effect on Sunday, April 14.

Full timetable details will be available on the Buses of Somerset website in the coming weeks.