First Bus, which operates bus services in the Burnham-On-Sea area, has confirmed that its services will be affected by strike action today (Friday, October 21st).
The bus firm says that is expects that its services in the county, which operate as The Buses of Somerset, will be “very limited” with “no guaranteed journeys”.
It says, however, that it hopes to run many of its school and college buses.
Members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) are striking over pay and conditions. The first day of strike action was on Monday, October 10th, and further action is expected on Friday, November 4th and Friday, November 11th.
Before the first day of strike action, First Bus said the RMT had “deemed that a package worth 17.4 per cent over the next 19 months” was “insufficient”.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our members have no choice but to take strike action following an insulting and paltry pay offer. First Group is swimming in money and could easily pay bus workers a decent rise that goes some way to dealing with the escalating cost of living crisis.”
“The public in Cornwall and Somerset who our members faithfully serve need a service that pays workers properly, so they do not leave the industry, creating chronic bus shortages. We are determined to win for our members, and we urge First Group to come to a negotiated settlement with RMT.”
A First Bus spokesman says: “RMT has advised us that that their members will continue with their planned second 24-hour strike action on Friday 21st October 2022. As such, we regret that the travelling public will be without many Buses of Somerset and Cornwall by Kernow services.”
“We would like to apologise sincerely to all our customers for the inconvenience this will cause. We are doing everything possible to operate what services we can. However, there is likely to be a very limited-service operating, with no guaranteed journeys. We advise our customers to seek alternatives where possible.”
“In Somerset, we expect Taunton Park & Ride to be the only registered bus services to operate a full timetable. Many of the private school and college buses we operate we hope will run.”
“We plan for any available staff to be deployed on the 21 & 22 Taunton services, and the 51 in Yeovil. Unfortunately, no services are guaranteed, and the above is based on expected driver availability.”
“We apologise sincerely to all our customers for the inconvenience this will cause. We are doing everything possible to operate what services we can.”
Check this page for details of services affected and the First Bus Twitter feed at @busesofsomerset for details.
