Rachel Gilmour MP confirms date for meeting with First Bus to discuss local bus concerns

Rachel Gilmour MP is set to meet officials on the 26th September, just a week before the she is due to meet with senior civil servants from the Department for Transport.

After hundreds of constituents contacted her office, earlier in the summer, Rachel Gilmour demanded meetings with both First Bus and Butlin’s to discuss the Number 28 bus service, after publicly stating that the service was “unreliable, overcrowded, and not fit for purpose”, particularly on Mondays and Fridays.

In her surgeries and on her Summer Tour, Mrs. Gilmour also heard local concerns about the Number 25 bus service, which travels from Taunton to Bampton via Norton Fitzwarren and Wiveliscombe. 

As well as these services, Rachel Gilmour MP has mentioned that she aims to highlight the wider issue of disabled persons' travel cards - specifically the entitlement to free travel that often starts at 09.30, meaning individuals are currently unable to commute under their disabled person's bus pass.

In a Public Accounts Committee meeting in July, Mrs. Gilmour put pressure Conrad Bailey (Director General – Public Transport and Local Group) to meet with First Bus to reiterate her concerns about the services provided by First Bus in the Tiverton and Minehead constituency. The next day (18th July), the MP received confirmation that Conrad Bailey met with First Bus CEO Janette Bell.

Mrs. Gilmour is meeting with the Department for Transport in early October to work on linking the heritage railway line at Bishops Lydeard to the mainline at Taunton, as well as other constituency transport issues.

Following the confirmation, MP for Tiverton and Minehead, Rachel Gilmour said:

“Hundreds of constituents have contacted my office to express their concerns about the quality of both the Number 28 and 25 First Bus services in the Tiverton and Minehead constituency. 

The Number 28 is simply not fit for purpose. It is often late and overcrowded, particularly on Mondays and Fridays. I know there are also major concerns about the Number 25 service.

I look forward to meeting First Bus officials, including their operations director, to voice the concerns I hear regularly from constituents. The fact that I am also due to meet officials from the Department for Transport just a week later is positive news. Constituents both need and deserve better public transport, and I will be making it clear that services must improve.”