A NEW bus service for Thornbury has started.
The 65 links the Park Farm and Butterflies estates to the north west of the town, off Butt Lane, to the town centre via Gloucester Road, Severn View Road and Eastland Road.
Buses also run along Park Road, Castle Street, Rock Street, Midland Way and Bristol Road to the leisure centre.
They stop at The Castle School, Tesco and Thornbury Health Centre.
The route and timetable were published on July 20, shortly before the launch date of July 26.
Buses will run about once an hour in each direction on Monday to Saturday, starting from Barley Fields from 7am to 5.15pm and from, the leisure centre from 7.30am to 5.45pm.
No Sunday services are currently scheduled.
News of the new service, which will be operated by Kempsford Transport, was first announced by the West of England Combined Authority in June.
The regional organisation says the 65 will “connect more communities to the town centre”.
The route is one of ten that are either being created or expanded to connect more areas to the region’s public transport, funded from WECA’s three-year Bus Grant from the Department for Transport.
Also announced last month was the incorporation of the 918 school bus from Severn Beach to Castle School into the Y2C route, linking the areas to Iron Acton and Yate’s Ladden Garden Village estate.
Parents and residents who ran a long-running campaign to save the 918, which is relied upon by more than 60 families, welcomed the commitment to the service for the next three years.
Caroline Brewser, co-ordinator of the campaign, said parents had been told the bus for school pupils would continue to be a double-decker, in contrast to the minibuses that run at other times of day, and will serve Severn Beach, Pilning and Easter Compton as well as Lower Almondsbury, Tockington, Olveston and Alveston.
She said: “This service is absolutely essential to families living in the villages south of Thornbury. “Many have no other way of getting their children to school, and The Castle School is also their nearest sixth form.”
Parents campaigned for three years after the school-time bus from Severn Beach was first withdrawn with the rest of the 622 service in 2023, with interim funding found four times from the council before the route’s future was secured.
Caroline said: “We are hugely grateful to the Council and other organisations that supported our campaign.”
Updated timetables and route maps can be found online at travelwest.info.