A POTENTIAL compromise has been reached during negotiations to improve the D1 bus service following timetable changes late last year.
Portfolio holder for transport at Wiltshire Council, cllr Horace Prickett, has been in negotiations with First Group following the service cuts to the popular D1 service from Bath and Trowbridge to Westbury.
The bus company said that the former timetable, that ran from April 2018 to November last year, was ‘no longer commercially viable’ and cuts had to be made.
Earlier this month Westbury town councillors labelled the changes to the D1 bus timetable as ‘absolute nonsense’ as many of the services from Bath/Trowbridge were now terminating outside of Westbury at the industrial estate.
Horace Prickett says that after ‘ernest negotiations’ they have come to a potential compromise, that is awaiting approval, that hopes to improve the current service.
The new timetable, if approved, will start from Sunday 5th April.
He said, “I am pleased with the negotiations we’ve be having and the result is good compared to other services which have been slaughtered, so all in all we’ve done quite well.
“I think everyone will be as happy as they can be with the compromise we have managed to get. More information about the new timetable will be available as soon as it has been approved.
“The D1 service, from April 2018, when they introduced the comprehensive service has been losing money, it has been a dead loss.
“The D3, which serves Melksham has gone already, both services were losing a lot of money for the Bath, Bristol, Western Super Mare section of Firstgroup and the headquarters in Aberdeen said enough is enough, so they terminated the D3 service and reduced the D1.
“We now, we think, have got a good compromise for the D1. I can’t give you any details as the timetable is still confidential, but I am certain that the representations we made has been fruitful.
“The service isn’t quite back to as it was before the 10th November but it is almost. We’ve managed to get them serving the technical college for example and other cuts that were made, we hope they have been reduced.
“It’s not what we had from April 2018 but it is a lot better than what we have been having since November 10th.
“It’s with Wiltshire Council now, and they then have to log all the information with the traffic commissioners. They allow 70 days for Wiltshire to make their comments and 40 days for themselves to see whether they agree and if all being well, the new service will start on the 5th April.”
