WESTlink to trial new Town Zone approach from September 2025

Residents in North Somerset will see changes to the WESTlink service from Monday 1 September 2025. 

WESTlink launched in April 2023 as a regional trial of ‘demand responsive transport’, funded by the UK Government’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). WESTlink has no set route or timetable with journeys booked by users.

The vehicles operate from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday.  

Changes aim to improve reliability, better connect communities to the wider public transport network, and make the service more cost-effective.

The current WESTlink trial runs until March 2026 and the outcomes of this phase will help to inform decisions about services beyond that date.  

The changes will:  

• introduce smaller Town Zones in Clevedon and Portishead as well as a new Nailsea & Backwell zone to increase availability of WESTLink for shorter town trips

  
  

• connect passengers making longer journeys to a local hub location to transfer to a scheduled bus or rail network for onward travel. Where there is no scheduled service, WESTlink can be used from key hub stops to a neighbouring zone. This means that Portishead residents will have onward travel access to Bristol airport from key hub locations

  
  

• connect passengers travelling from Rural Zones to local towns to key hub locations. Passengers will still be able to travel to any location within their Rural Zone

  
  

• extend WESTlink to cover Long Ashton to enable passengers from surrounding rural areas to connect with scheduled bus services

  
  

• extend the Weston-super-Mare zone to enable passengers to access town centre Waterloo Street stops and Uphill

  
  

• extend the Airport Shared Zone to include Barrow Gurney, meaning residents can now connect with other parts of North Somerset, and not just the Chew Valley area

  
  

Local guides providing information on scheduled bus routes and WESTlink access in each area, including details of hub locations, are being sent to all residents over September. The hub locations and new zone maps will be found on the WESTlink app and website.

Information on the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority website will be updated soon: WESTlink - WEST.

Cllr Hannah Young, North Somerset Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for highways and sustainable travel said: "The WESTlink trial has been a lifeline for many communities, but we’ve heard clearly that it hasn’t always been reliable or available when people need it. These changes are about making the service work better, so that more people can reliably access public transport to get to where they want and need to go, including children and young people travelling to school or college. They will also help us to assess the most cost effective way to use the government bus grant funds that we receive to serve the needs of as many of our communities as possible in the future.”