That was a surprise

 On two fronts.....

The local elections took place in May and Somerset is to become a unitary authority from 2023. This will mean the dissolution of the county and district councils from that date. The election was won by the Liberal Democrats, the stench of Conservative control over 13 years and their continued national failings finally coming home to roost! 

During the last liberal administration, Somerset enjoyed something of a supportive approach towards bus service provision. Most of the positives were undone once the Conservatives came to power in the name of austerity. 

Also announced during the summer was the results of the BSIP funding. Whilst Somerset hasn't got the £150m it asked for, it has received £12m. This will translate into enhancements for most of the county. 

So from September 2022 we're introducing:

Evening journeys on the 37 - and a doubling of the Sunday/BH timetable to hourly. Additional journeys will run M-Sats in the peaks meaning the PVR rises from 1 to 2 rather than losing the bus during the peaks. 

An uplift on the 430 between Nether Stowey and Bridgwater to hourly offpeak with something planned for summer 2023. Not the 'triangle' as mooted in the BSIP submission but a substantial improvement. 

There would have been other enhancements, but the prevarication at central Government level on recovery funding means we've taken a long hard look at the network and withdrawn around 40 to 50% of what we previously operated. We can only provide viable commercial services and there does need to be some sort of strategy to reinvest in the services. 

Zero emission vehicles would increase the operational costs of providing services. Smaller vehicles which we operate a lot of have a higher purchase price and a shorter working life due to the life of batteries - already we see premature scrapping of smaller buses due to replacement battery costs. Adopting electric buses would mean withdrawal of services. 

We have however enjoyed a very busy summer on the coaching side of the operation. So much so, we've not had sufficient coaches to maintain the level of work coming in and the autumn will see 'new' deliveries.