Indeed, there are currently seven buses every hour between Wells and Street (five First, two WB) and EIGHT every second hour when the 375 runs! That is far too much and it will certainly be interesting to seeif that continues, particuarly with WB. And oddly enough not a single one of those serves the West Mendip Hospital in Glastonbury. (Although the 29 used to, so I suppose it wasn't very well used despite initial calls for a bus stop).
Webberbus are just in the way - give it a year and 37/38 will be gone!
My idea has always been to have a service between Wells and Street every 10/15 mins. Have something like this:-
376 .00 (from Wells)
375 .15
29 .30
377 .45
Scrap the X75 (apart from peak) and do away with 37 & 38.
The above is probably the best suggestion, but I personally prefer this:-
377 .00
376 .10
375 .20
29 .30
376 .40
X75 .50
But as I'm sure many of you will say - "there's not enough demand for a service between Wells and Street every 10 mins" and "there's not enough demand for a Wells to Bridgwater service every 30 mins".
Another idea would be to actually work with Webberbus:-
376 .00
375 .10
37/38 .20
29 .30
37 .40
377 .50
This would also mean the 54 shorts could stop (if BoS all of a sudden experience a drop in staff).
The likelyhood of all this is, that Wells depot aren't going to reduce the Wells to Street services any time soon, unless they get back the 126 and/or 379 and/or have a new service. This is because of the staffing in Wells - they are currently 2 over (at least) what is required for the depot (as two have been moved into Bath). If I was going to make a guess, I would expect to see Wells get back the 379 and interwork it with 376 and 173, then Bath would possibly start doing some of Bristol's services (possibly 42 or 17?). But you never know - it's highly unlikely!
I've probably gone off into the realms of fantasy on this!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Many apologies. The depot moved later than I thought and was in its old location in 1976. See
https://www.flickr.com/photos/92215343@N04/9542958346/
I think the old depot may be near the old station as you come in from Shepton. However, the current depot has not seen deckers allocated as they won't fit.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
You would have the 20/40 split for Chewton and Farrington but hey, the 376 was only hourly 15 years ago! And yes, you'd have to retime the 173 potentially but really, that's not the biggest issue. As for clashes with other buses, you meet so many trucks on the A37, you really can't worry.
You have to remember that changing the 173 will impact on 379, 184 and 178, which could have an impact on other services. But I think these are just minor issues - something that First can work around.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Until 2011 there were much later services to Glastonbury/Street. Certainly throughout the 00s the last bus for Street left Wells at about 23.15, and returned by about 00.00. There was also a service to Yeovil which left Wells at 21.15, returning by 00.00. There even used to be late night services to Shepton, though that's going back a few years.
Sunday services have varied over the last ten/fifteen years. Now there is just an hourly service Wells to Street on Sundays, but tbh that's all that is needed. A couple of years ago there were probably too many services.
I remember back in 2001, there was (and still is) an hourly service to Bristol. One was operated by Wells, and continued to Yeovil as it did in the week, although was numbered 977. The other was operated by Taunton, on what was probably a five hour round trip. It came in to Wells as service 929, continued to Bristol as 976 (via East Wells), and returned.
I really wish they would bring back some of those later services in the evenings. I know they wouldn't have any demand, but if they were two hourly (at least), they would help any drunks get home on a Friday/Saturday night. I personally think there should be 2 later X75/375s, 377 should run until 20.00/21.00 and 161 should have a Shepton - Wells service every 2 hours into the evening.
The Sundays are awful in Wells now. Admittedly they are only running the services that take any demand - 376 and 173, but the way in which the 376 is run is appalling. If you look at the timetable, there is a half hour gap between 376s going into Bristol at about 10.00ish and going out of Bristol at about 18.00ish (pointless due to the demand), along with a 50 minute wait in Bristol for the drivers. Bring back the 377 on a Sunday and have it running only to Somerton. That would probably sort out the problem.
