Our Campaigns
Better Buses in Somerset
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Buses are a lifeline. Britain's most-used form of public transport, they connect millions of people to work and education, shops and services. They ease loneliness and enable people to live full lives. And they play a key part in cutting congestion and pollution.
Somerset Bus Partnership are campaigning for bus services to be protected, improved and future proofed.
We want to see long-term, ringfenced funding for all local authorities to provide the bus service people need. Fares should be affordable, and we need more bus priority to speed up journeys.
Read our manifesto from 2024
Bus Franchising
The Future of Buses in Somerset: The Heart of Wessex Bus Franchising Proposal
Public transport in Somerset is at a crossroads. For too long, bus services have been unreliable, infrequent, and disconnected from the needs of the people who rely on them. The current deregulated system, now rebranded as Enhanced Partnerships, has failed to deliver the transformation passengers and communities need.
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The Heart of Wessex Bus Franchising Proposal offers a smarter, fairer, and more reliable way forward. Under this model, Somerset’s bus network would be planned as a single, coordinated system rather than a patchwork of deregulated services. Instead of operators deciding which routes to run based on commercial viability alone, services would be designed around the needs of passengers and communities.
This approach is already working in places like London and Greater Manchester, and it's time Somerset gets the same level of investment and planning.
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For more information:
Reinstate the Wiveliscombe to Wellington Bus Service!
With the support of Somerset `Bus Partnership, Wellington and Wiveliscombe Bus User Groups have been campaigning for the restoration of a bus route between the two towns.
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A petition was launched in October 2023 that has gathered more than 1,300 signatures online and on paper.
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The two Bus User Groups say the route, which was cut ten years ago and which also served the villages of Milverton and Langford Budville, has been very much missed by many people across all these communities.
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Wellington offers shopping and health and sports facilities, while Wiveliscombe has the attraction of fine pubs, local walks, and a regular Saturday market. A bus service would also provide residents in both towns with access to work opportunities as well as social contact with friends and families.
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Also the potential of a future railway station in Wellington is a further reason for improved access to the town from Wiveliscombe and nearby villages, as well as offering bus links to onward travel to Taunton and further afield to Bristol, London, and Plymouth by coach from Wellington.
Sign the petition for a Wiveliscombe to Wellington bus service: https://www.change.org/p/restore-the-bus-service-between-wiveliscombe-and-wellington-in-somerset
Buses to Bridgwater Train Station
In May 2019 Bridgwater Train Station car park had improvements made including a new bus shelter. Unforunately, the improvements didn't take it into account the turning circles of coach and buses making the interchange and car park inaccessible to coaches and buses.
Somerset Bus Partnership have been in discussions with GWR and Somerset Council to try and get improvements made to Bridgwater Train Station to allow buses and coaches to access it.
Buses to Castle Cary Train Station
Castle Cary Train station is a main train hub in the South West with trains to London, Weymouth, Yeovil, Dorchester, Bath, and Bristol.
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However, it has some of the worst bus infrastucture to support sustainable integrated transport.
The train station didn't have a bus shelter or any bus seating.
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To catch the SouthWest Coaches1 and 1a you had to wait the other side of the road and board / get off the bus 'in the hedge'.
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The train station is often used for long distance travel and many passengers have suitcases or families who have push chairs. The train station doesn't have a lift. So the only way a disabled person can get to 2 of the 3 platforms is to be pushed on a barrow crossing across the tracks by train station staff. The train station isn't manned all the time.
The good news is the a bus shelter has been installed with seating, however, given the location of the train statin and bus shelter it does little to protect bus users from the elements. The bus shelter seating isn't adquate either unfortunately.
In May 2024 Castle Cary train station was awarded Access for All funding for initial feasibility work and if that is successful, will be taken forward as part of the Access for All programme.
Somerset Council have now scheduled work on Castle Cary car park to allow the South West Coaches 1 service to go into the car park rather than dropping off by the main roadside.
the photo shows the South West Coaches 1 service stopping to let passengers off. The have to get off the bus into a 'hedge' then cross a very busy road t(used by trucks and lorries) o get to the station with no crossing.
Wells Town Circular Bus Service
Wells and its vicinity has had a spurt of growth in housing and much more has already been approved for build. Regretfully no new bus services were provided for in these new communities. At their request we are now fighting for a Wells City W1 Circular bus that will enable non drivers access to Wells facilities and give drivers the choice of car free days easing the traffic congestion in the City.
The proposed circular bus will serve most of the recent and new developments including The Horringtons, Rocky Mountains Garden Centre, Off Bath Road estates, Dulcote, Dinder, Launcherley, Wookey Hole, Haybridge, Leisure Centre and Kewards Estates, Browns Garden Centre, access to the junior schools, GPs, Tesco and Post Office, Lidl, Morrison and The High Street (Market Place) and join up with other buses at the Bus Station for Weston, Bath, Bristol, Shepton and Glastonbury/Street and Yeovil, Bridgwater and Taunton for our hospitals.
Need for Improved Bus Services from Glastonbury
Frustrated by the lack of direct bus links to key destinations, residents of Glastonbury, Street, Pilton, and Compton Dundon—along with businesses, organisations such as Natural England, Somerset Bus Partnership, and Somerset Council—are working together to design and commission new bus services.
To fund the initiative, the partnership are securing grants and contributions from Town and Parish Councils, businesses, and other organisations. Their goal is to launch two essential routes: Glastonbury to Castle Cary Train Station, and Street via Glastonbury to the Avalon Marshes Centre and the nature reserves.
As of 16th February 2025, funding support has been pledged by Glastonbury Town Council and the EarthSpirit Centre for the Castle Cary service. Meanwhile, the Avalon Marshes project is applying for funding from the Somerset Association of Local Councils (SALC) and is awaiting a decision (expected 7 March).
The Avalon Marshes service will begin as soon as formal registration is approved. Meanwhile, the Castle Cary route is making steady progress towards its funding target, with hopes to launch later this year.