The special ‘5 for £5’ return ticket, will be valid for any five people of any age going to the panto performances at Kings Theatre over the Christmas period, making getting there by bus only £1 return per person.
Theatre goers will be able to purchase the ticket directly from the driver, two hours before the start of the performance and it will be valid for two hours after the curtain closes.
First West of England is about to launch its first Poetry Bus, which showcases work by budding poets at St Dunstan’s School in Glastonbury and design students and staff from Strode College in Street.
Over the past few weeks, year seven and eight pupils have been working with Somerset writer Thommie Gillow to create short pieces of poetry inspired by a wide range of subjects from mental health and the environment to everyday issues and nature.
First Worcester has announced that services 38 and X38 (Worcestershire Royal Hospital to Worcester Bus Station) will now also operate on Sundays, connecting the hospital with the wider Worcester network, with hourly services between 9am and 6pm.
A host of improvements to the company’s bus routes in south and west Wales will see some services restored, extra journeys added and routes extended from 1st September.
In Swansea, service 2A (Swansea to Bracelet Bay) will be extended to provide an hourly Sunday service to Newton, while in Neath Port Talbot service X3 will be extended to Sunnycroft Roundabout via Dinas Baglan Road, resulting in a service being restored to the Baglan area.
Other changes include:
Thirty-eight-year-old Daryl Jones, who has been with First Cymru for almost 10 years and is based at the company’s Ravenhill depot in Swansea, was named the best competitor from a depot in Wales at the bus industry’s prestigious UK Bus Driver of the Year contest. The title also clinched him a £100 prize.
Suicide Prevention UK (SPUK), which is based in Bristol but offers a national helpline, says since its new project with First West of England launched in January - aimed at spotting the signs of suicide among passengers - an increasing number of callers mention buses when phoning for help.
Construction equipment has begun arriving at the Weston-super-Mare depot ahead of a £14.9million scheme, which will see the transformation of the two-football pitch sized site, just off the A370, and the arrival of 24 new electric buses on the Weston network next year.
In addition, £44 million is being invested in electrifying the operator’s Hengrove depot in Bristol alongside launching 74 electric buses on the city’s network. The Hengrove transformation is planned to get underway at the end of next month.
To be eligible, passengers can either wear their military uniform or show the bus driver their service ID card on Remembrance Sunday (10th November) and Armistice Day (Monday 11th November). It is available on all First Bus services apart from the Airport Flyer.
The free travel offer is being made available to make it as easy as possible for customers to get to and from remembrance services and events, and is also available on First Bus services across England, Wales and Scotland.
Inspired by their love of the First Bus journey between Glastonbury and Bristol, a group of four young multi-genre DJs have named themselves ‘3SEVEN6’ after the 376 bus service, and one of them has even had the service number tattooed across his stomach.