Somerset Council is keeping 82 bus services on the road this year helping more people to bus it to work, school or for pleasure.
The Council subsidises the bus routes which wouldn’t otherwise exist, helping to link communities across Somerset.
About £2 million from the Government’s Bus Service Improvement (BSIP) supports around 30 per cent of these routes, the rest are funded from the Council’s public transport budget.
BSIP-funded services include the 25 between Taunton and Wiveliscombe, the 54 between Yeovil and Taunton, the 58 between Wincanton and Yeovil, the 126 from Wells to Weston-Super-Mare, which serves Axbridge and the surrounding villages, the 27 which serves West Buckland and Wiveliscombe, the 30 Frome Town Service and the 14 service Bridgwater to Cannington, plus many more.
Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Transport and Waste Services, Councillor Richard Wilkins said:
We support a huge range of bus services up and down the county, because if we didn’t, there is a very real chance they could be lost.
Our priority as a council is to keep communities connected by keeping these vital services on the road – getting people to work, school, the shops, for a night out, or to explore our beautiful county.
But we need people in Somerset to value and use their bus routes regularly – we know if people do, services can become sustainable and remain that way.
We can’t keep supporting routes if people don’t use them, so wherever you’re going, make sure you try and bus it there at least once or twice a week.
Just over £6 million of BSIP funding (capital and revenue combined) was announced by Government for this year (2025/26). In addition to safeguarding key services, other measures this coming year include:
- Additional and enhanced evening bus services and Sunday services in Bridgwater and Yeovil, feasibility studies for transport hubs in both towns, bus priority signal measures and other service improvements and trials.
- In Taunton there is continued support for evening services, 1E, 21, 22, 28 and 30, serving, Burnham-On-Sea Bridgwater, Wellington, Minehead and Chard. Maintaining the £1 Park and Ride fare and supporting the development of Taunton’s Transport hub, as well as the roll out of the Slinky Digital Demand Responsive Transport in Taunton, Wellington and the Bridgwater area.
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