First fares to rise in January

First are putting some of their fares up from 5th January. Details here.

For us in Brentwood, it means that a FirstDay Brentwood goes up to £3.60.

FirstWeek Brentwood will be £15.

First4Week Brentwood will be £50.

A day return to Billericay on the 9 goes up to £4.40.

There's no change to FirstDay Essex, which remains at £8 - the same price as an Essex Saver which can also be used on other bus companies.

FirstDay Basildon Outer, which includes Brentwood, goes up to £6.40.

Cuts to early evening buses to Ongar

Townlink have brought in a very poorly publicised new timetable on the 21, with the last two journeys to and from Brentwood on weekdays axed. The Gazette mentioned it last month.

The last 21 towards Brentwood on weekdays now departs Harlow at 1600, Epping Station at 1629 and Ongar Four Wantz at 1650. The last weekday 21 towards Ongar and Harlow leaves Warley at 1730 and Brentwood High Street at 1742.

The Saturday timetable looks like it is unchanged.

See the full new timetable here.

Vintage buses to Upminster

Brentwood is to regain a direct bus route to Upminster... for one day only.

Ensign Bus are running some special Christmas shoppers' routes with vintage buses on Saturday 6th December. One of them is a half-hourly service on the X81 between Shenfield, Brentwood and Lakeside. The other is route X86 between Brentwood and Upminster.

See the full timetable for these one-day-only special routes here.

Gazette slams poor service from First

The Brentwood Gazette has published this article highlighting several problems with the services provided by First in our town. Route 9 is singled out as being particularly unreliable.

How do you find service levels on the routes you use regularly? Leave a comment and let us know.

Formal warning for First over punctuality

First Essex has been issued with a formal warning by the Deputy Traffic Commissioner for the East of England, Marcia Davis, for running too many services behind schedule or not at all.

The Harlow Star tells how bosses were summonsed to explain themselves after passengers complained to the Traffic Commissioner about buses not running to time. A bus is officially classed as not running to time if it:

• is more than one minute early
• is more than five minutes late
• doesn't run at all

First have pledged to improve services in Essex. The Traffic Commissioner's full written report will be out in a few days time.