Crippling bus cuts to the 161 and 184

First bus have decided to withdraw two of their  bus services from within Frome with devastating consequences for bus users. Frome will lose two of their Saturday bus services on the 161 and 184 routes.
Cuts to the 161 will see the loss of 6 buses a day along with another 13 buses on the 184 bus route. Cuts to both bus services will leave bus users living between Frome and Shepton and Frome and Radstock without a bus service over the weekend or 3 days during a bank holiday period.


Paying bus users will be hit the hardest as they will have to pay to use more than one bus to complete the full bus journey on the 161 and 184 routes. Anyone that works during a weekend will be left without a bus service to get them to work. A lot of working families only get to spend time together at the weekend if they don't drive how  can they enjoy a day out together without a bus service. Bus users wont be able to visit sick or elderly relatives, so their relatives will be left to feel lonely and isolated from their loved ones. Bus users will know longer be able to visit Frome or Wells market which is one of the busiest days of the week in both areas. Bus users living in Coleford, Holcombe, Mells, Stratton -on- the-Fosse and Great Elm will have to take 3 bus journeys to get to their major hospital for appointments a major headache for those feeling unwell. The new operator of the 184 bus service have  cut their  service to Frome's Sainsbury's as it will now terminate at Frome market place. Cutting Sainsbury's from the 184 route will mean that villagers will struggle to buy the basics unless they take 2 bus journeys, the smaller stores in Frome market place don't carry a wide range of products.


Favbug did some research for usage of the 161 last year and we found that the 11am, 1pm and 3pm buses were the busiest times. It would take 2 buses to save the Saturday 161 if they ran them at 11am and 1pm. Their must be quieter times during the week were buses could of been cut back to help to save Saturday bus services on both bus routes.
Instead of cutting both bus services on a Saturday without any kind of consultation a better solution could of been found if the bus users themselves had been consulted.