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Buses operated by First in Somerset are getting a new livery and corporate identity. The 'First' name has been dropped entirely and the new identity goes by the name of the buses of Somerset. The new name and livery will be applied to 68 vehicles based in Taunton and Bridgwater.


There's a new website also. http://www.busesofsomerset.co.uk/index.shtml. From that website is the following news item:


Taunton Bus Station has had a lick of green paint.

There's also a Twitter account for this new entity. https://twitter.com/busesofsomerset

Internet chatter suggests this is the first of many rebrands for First Bus across the UK. 

Yesterday I was in Yeovil and noticed a rather smart bright green bus with the branding ' the buses of Somerset' with some investigation online they appear to be old first Somerset routes ... But is this a rebranding exercise or another operator


http://www.busesofsomerset.co.uk/

Thanks for posting, 6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01: it is indeed a rebranding exercise - I've therefore merged your post with an existing topic here.  ;)

Interestingly if I buy a First Day South West ticket on a bus in Frome it costs ^7 and covers unlimited journeys throughout the south west on First buses, however Buses of Somerset have replaced the First Day ticket with their own Day Unlimited ticket which costs ^10 and only seem to be valid on the said Buses of Somerset.

I wondered whether this would happen when I first heard about the re-brand last month.  It seems that as part of First's strategy of restructuring fares locally, there will be a loss to those who have enjoyed a wider area for leisure travel in particular.  [Nostalgia moment: How well I remember the vast area a 12/6d (65.5p) Midland Red Day Anywhere ticket bought me in 1966 (Shrewsbury - Northhampton; Birmingham- Gloucester/Cheltenham were two of the longest routes)]. 

With the ever increasing Balkanisation of bus companies within the larger groups I suspect these unlimited ticket offerings will become even more localised and it will only be the Bus Pass holders who will be able to travel at will for more than 20 miles or so without forking out for another ticket.  This of course merely continues a trend since privatisation which was temporarily halted as the 'big boys' absorbed more companies and allowed group-wide travel on one ticket.  I know it's commercial necessity, but a pity, nevertheless.

Sorry about a duplicate post, i did check the new posts link before I started this one unfortunately bnm's thread was not showing for me.

Back to the topic i find it interesting that first has chosen to remove it's corporate identity  from this area, to me this says something about they believe their brand is viewed in the area

No problem at all, 6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01 - I merely completed your commendable attempt to avoid any such duplication!  ;D


I agree: it's interesting that quite a few big organisations seem to be rebranding themselves, apparently trying to distance themselves from their previous corporate image ...  ::)

I believe First in Cornwall have now made the day ticket ^10.

This makes the Ride Cornwall ticket very good value as it includes nearly all buses and trains.

One change for the positive I have noticed is that, since November, service 21 now runs Taunton - Weston-super-Mare hourly. It previously only ran as far as Burnham-on-Sea.

Doesnt make up for the fact that all the evening services to Burnham got pulled just before that though, thus making my visits there a lot harder.

Note to "the Buses of First Somerset or whatever our name is this week" - spend the money on reinstating those services, rather than on a job lot of green paint for a pointless rebranding excercise  >:(

The change in name and livery and complete removal of the word "First" makes me wonder if they are preparing to sell off this bus company. Would it be more attractive to a potential buyer if they didn't have to repaint and remove all references to the previous owner? If so you could probably rule out Stagecoach and Arriva because they'd probably want the buses in their own corporate identity so perhaps a smaller operator might be interested.
First sold their London operations a few months back. Operating TfL routes the new owner Metroline had to keep the existing red colour scheme so the only changes to those buses was the Metroline logo replacing First.
I understand that First have sold other bus fleets in recent years possibly to reduce their debt.

I'm a little suprised that a certain operator with a base in Wellington hasn't made any moves yet... I would imagine they are being patient and waiting for it to all fall apart before moving in

First flogged off the TfL routes because they were not making enough money from the management contracts on the tenders. Most of the routes went to a new Australian Company Tower Transit (http://www.transitsystems.com.au/tower-transit)

First Hampshire & Dorset (now calling themselves First Solent) have rebranded their Portsmouth buses (but not the Southampton buses) to "The Star", retaining a small First logo on the bus.  I was somewhat confused this weekend waiting for the First No. 40 bus when The Star No. 7 turned up.

Maybe they are trying to remove First's "reputation" from certain areas?

My understanding is that just over half went to Metroline with those remaining going to Tower Transit

I've had it confirmed by First that the First Day South West (^7 in Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset; ^7.40 in Devon; ^7.60 in Yeovil*) purchased in other areas served by First Buses in the west and south west continues to be valid on routes served by Bridgwater and Taunton depots.

However it cannot be purchased on 'the buses of Somerset' and their ^10 day ticket is not valid on services operated by First elsewhere in the west or south west.

So now, the good folk of Somerset have a day ticket that is up to 43% more expensive and has a greatly reduced area of validity. The cynic in me suspects that First are recouping revenue in an area with a less vocal bus usership to offset the fares reductions and price holds in Bristol.

Well done First.  ::)


*Yeovil remains in Somerset but wasn't included in 'the Buses of Somerset'. Huh?

This is my fear regarding the current First West of England area bus fare consultation (http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/bristol_bath/travel_news/news_initiatives/?item=16071&conf=0) - that it might be used to isolate services & fares in Bath & North East Somerset,North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and surrounding area in the same manner. Currently, because my work requires me to travel right across the region, I use either the ^25 weekly South West ticket or the ^96 monthly South West ticket, which to be fair to First is very good value. However, if they do a 'the buses of Somerset' on us, then we could see something similar to their ^25 weekly ticket and ^100 monthly ticket valid over a far smaller operating area, which would screw me over big time.


Another example of this was experienced by my wife recently. She has a Bath area season ticket, which used to extend at the weekends to be valid over the entire South West area. This benefit was quietly removed by First as part of the Bristol fare changes, which means that the joint days out we used to enjoy are no longer as affordable as they were.

The point about Somerset having a less vocal bus usership is very well made too. In order to further illustrate this, I will return to the Burnham example:

This time last year, Burnham had evening bus services to Bridgwater and Taunton, Sunday services to Weston-Super-Mare, and direct bus services to Highbridge railway station. All of the above have since been withdrawn as a result of commercial decisions by First.

However, if you swallow the following examples of how some of this was spun, its almost as if First were doing us a favour:

I actually travelled on "the buses of Somerset" last Saturday, taking a return trip on the 21 from Weston-Super-Mare to Burnham. I didn't get to travel on a bus sporting the "stylish new look", but the drivers were friendly, accepted my South West ticket without question, and the buses were punctual in both directions.

The experience was only slightly marred by an elderly gentleman relieving himself on the back seat, sending a stream of urine down the nearly full bus. To be fair, this is not something "the buses of Somerset" could have readily anticipated, and it would be most unfair for anyone to use the incident as a metaphor for bus services going down the toilet in the area.


The same thought has occurred to me, most recently when flicking through their "bite-sized bus guide" booklet (a play on the buses of Somerset logo being apple-based).

You missed out one of the bus company big boys in your post though, Surrey 455, and if you compare "the buses of Somerset" website with websites of certain subsidiaries of said bus company big boy, then you would be forgiven for thinking that First had sold the operation to them:

the buses of Somerset (http://www.busesofsomerset.co.uk/)

Southern Vectis (http://www.islandbuses.info/)

Salisbury Reds (http://www.salisburyreds.co.uk/)

Or indeed the email addresses:

talk2us@busesofsomerset.co.uk

talk2us@southernvectis.com

talk2us@salisburyreds.co.uk

However, one suspects that this has rather less to do with an impending sale, and rather more to do with the trademark branding of Best Impressions... (http://www.best-impressions.co.uk/)

...whose email address is talk2us@best-impressions.co.uk

Oh dear. Not the sort of advertising this 'new' operation would want:

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-26373967):

Oh dear indeed - What are the odds of one of the few buses painted in the new "Best Impressions" livery being involved in creating this particular photo-opportunity?

Also very telling that we appear to have a "First Somerset" spokesman being trotted out to explain what befell this "First Somerset" bus...

This road can be hazardous for buses and passengers.  I saw a lady alight along this road one lovely summers day and fall into the ditch backwards as she lost her footing. The bus had pulled in just a bit too close. Fortunately, the dry reeds broke her fall nicely and apart from embarrassment and a struggle to get out no harm seemed to have been done.  I'm sure that today, with the current conditions, the driver had the narrowest of margins to judge the safe edge of the carriageway.

Some good news at last - From 13 April, daytime Sunday buses are reinstated on route 21 from Burnham through to Weston-Super-Mare, running hourly.

Also, on Mondays to Saturdays daytimes, buses will now run every 30 minutes from Taunton right the way through to Weston-Super-Mare, although this is at the cost of losing the current Monday-Friday daytime every 20 minute frequency between Taunton-Burnham. The eagle-eyed among you will note that this means there has been a 50% drop in the Monday-Friday daytime frequency between Burnham-Bridgwater compared to September 2013.

The new service 21 timetable can be found here. (http://www.busesofsomerset.co.uk/pdfs/21-april2014.pdf)

From the same date, route 1 serving the Bridgwater Estates will also serve Bridgwater Community Hospital - new timetable here. (http://www.busesofsomerset.co.uk/pdfs/1-april2014.pdf)

Interestingly, this means that the much-vaunted (and currently still much-distributed) "bite-sized bus guide" booklet introduced on 26 January 2014 will be out of date less than 3 months later...

A follow up ... I found myself using the 21 yesterday from Weston-super-mare to Brean

I'm confused (as a non-native to the area) by the series of changes of late - and more to come next weekend - and it's not helped by the fact that local information at Weston station seems to reflect not only the current service, but also two other very different recent offerings.   Also rather shocked at the local fares ... and the valid fare reduction techniques I came to appreciate after.

http://www.wellho.net/mouth/4257_Over-a-pound-a-kilometre-my-bus-in-Weston-super-mare.html

Editing to add another link to our trip yesterday - I think this should be public readable - if not, let me know!
https://www.facebook.com/graham.ellis.5055/posts/10152364482577094

I've been regularly using Buses of Somerset services this past week. In particular service 54 between Curry Rivel and Taunton.

Being used to services in Bristol I've been a little frustrated by a lack of 'live running' information, either at bus stops (many don't even have a bus stop sign, let alone a timetable) or via a website/app. Also disappointed that there is no service beyond 1830 from Taunton on the 54.

That's the negatives. A couple of positives now. An hourly Sunday service has been reinstated on the 54. The return fare between Taunton and Curry Rivel has reduced (no doubt as a result of competition from WebberBus), and those return tickets are now valid for 5 days. A period return bus ticket is quite a novel thing.

Finally, WebberBus. I've not bothered with them. Unreliable buses, terrible timekeeping, staff shortages leading to cancellations, byzantine fares structure. I do hope they can weather their current problems though. Competition is a good thing generally. If they pull out of providing scheduled commercial bus services in direct competition with First Buses of Somerset, I fear BoS will increase fares and reduce services.