Met with Doug Claringbold from First West of England who was receptive and understanding of my concerns surrounding service cancellations and reliability. We discussed the challenge of the shortage of bus drivers which is the main cause of these issues with First needing an additional 200 drivers for the region, we talked about the possibility of using apprenticeships and part-time staff to reduce these pressures. We will work together on an event with First Bus to help increase driver recruitment which would improve service reliability and could lead to additional services in April with the next service review.
