Another heavy fine imposed for poor bus services from First

THE company which runs most of West Somerset’s public bus services, First, has been heavily fined for poor performance.
The Traffic Commissioners imposed a fine of nearly £52,000 on the company after monitoring 476 buses in parts of Somerset, including the Minehead to Taunton link.
The investigation revealed one-in-five First bus services failed to arrive on time or did not turn up at all.
First was fined £100 for each of its 517-strong fleet of buses, but it escaped the maximum penalty of more than £280,000 in fines because of efforts it had already made to improve.
The fine was handed down at a Traffic Commissioners hearing where it was staed First had a history of poor performance and being fined.
Only in 2005 it was fined nearly £100,000 for similar problems in Bristol, and in 2002 it had to pay more than £26,000 for failing to run services in Somerset properly.
Despite this, First said it was working to improve its performance and had put monitoring and disciplinary procedures in place which were starting to produce results.
The company admitted, however, there was still room for improvement.
First spokesman Tony Anthistle issued an apology to customers and said: “We assure you that we are working closely with local authorities to continuously improve the quality of the service we provide.”
The Traffic Commissioners are part of the Department for Transport and have responsibility for registration of local bus services.
The latest fine comes only weeks after it was announced bus services in West Somerset were being extended, improved, and reinstated in a major initiative backed by Somerset County Council.
The Somerset end of the route for passengers from Dulverton to Taunton has been reinstated by the county council after First Devon and Cornwall withdrew from the contract to provide service 307 from Barnstaple and Taunton.
In a major revision of timetables, the Minehead to Taunton service 28 has been doubled from hourly to run every 30 minutes throughout the year.
And a new shuttle service linking the West Somerset Railway Station to Taunton via the Silk Mills park and ride site has been introduced.