THE DETAILS of bus services offered for the holiday period have been outlined by First West of England.

Buses will operate as usual on Christmas except for the Bath to Bristol bus (service 39) which will finish earlier than usual.

No buses will be running on Christmas Day and very limited services will run on

Boxing Day.

Services in South Gloucestershire will be operating as usual on Christmas Eve and no buses will be running on Christmas Day or Boxing Day.

Normal timetables will apply from Saturday, December 27 until New Year’s Eve.

On New Year’s Day a limited number of services will be operating, amongst them, the 46, 47 and 78 services will be running – linking Thornbury and Yate to Bristol.

On Friday, January 2 most buses will operate Saturday services with services returning to normal the following day.

A special guide to Christmas and New Year services has been published by the firm and is available to pick up on buses, from travel shops and can also be viewed on their website (www.firstgroup.com/westofengland).

Talking about the festive bus provision, managing director of First West of England, James Freeman, said: “Trying to plan Christmas services can be challenging as you need to understand how many people are likely to be travelling, compared with the amount wanting to put their feet up, taking time off from work and staying at home.

“This year we’ll be running more than we ever have before though. That includes some services on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day too. Some services will have special timetables – reflecting the fact that we’re not expecting to see the normal volumes of people out and about – or they’ll revert to Saturday schedules, but nonetheless, we’ll be doing what we can to provide links to key destinations.

“We’ve got this information out as soon as possible to help people plan their travel arrangements over the festive period.”

To view or download the Christmas Service booklet for Bristol online, see: www.firstgroup.com/ChristmasServices.