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Bus company defends widespread timetable changes

Helen Burchell
First Bus Part of a First Bus bus is pictured in close-up. It has the company name and logo in white on a blue background.First Bus
Widespread timetable changes are in place from 30 August

Passengers are being warned about upcoming timetable changes to some bus routes across Norwich and Norfolk.

First Bus said routes including those in Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Attleborough and Wymondham would be changing "to improve reliability and punctuality".

All services to the Harts Farm estate in Wymondham will be cut and services taking people from Great Yarmouth to the James Paget Hospital will be reduced to one an hour.

First Bus East of England regional director, Simon Mathieson, said that while some decisions had been "hard", the company was constantly reviewing its services based on demand and sustainability.

The changes come into place from Sunday.

Revised bus routes between Norwich, Wymondham and Attleborough - and new links to Norwich Airport and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital - are among the changes to be introduced.

Mathieson said the changes were in response to passenger numbers and funding, and demand and travel pattern changes needed to be reflected.

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First Bus A man stands next to a bus, with his right hand leaning on the handle of the open door. He is wearing a hi-vis jacket over a navy coat, a beige jumper and a white shirt. He has short hair and dark-framed glasses.First Bus
First Bus East of England regional director, Simon Mathieson

Harts Farm will be losing the 15 and 16 routes as the services will now by-pass the estate, leaving people with a 15-minute walk to the nearest stop, which could have an impact on those with mobility issues.

"Whenever we make changes that have that sort of impact, it is hard," Mathieson admitted.

"We looked at what we needed to do with the network in Wymondham and we were seeing something like only 22 people a day on average using the services around the estate.

"We wanted to improve links to the railway station and we had to make a decision one way or the other and just purely because of the low passenger numbers, we are pulling the services out of Harts Farm estate."

Asked about the reduction in numbers of buses between Great Yarmouth and the hospital, Mathieson said the frequency had been increased in 2023 due to an input of funding, but demand had not been seen, so the services were "being adjusted back down to the sort of level they were running at prior to 2023".

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