'Vital' bus route returns after community campaign

6 August 2025

Georgia StoneBBC News, Gloucestershire

News image — The Y8 service is to be reinstated to Wotton-under-Edge in South Gloucestershire

BBC People campaigning with placards as the 84 bus arrives at a bus stop. The bus is cream coloured with yellow writing on the front — The Y8 service is to be reinstated to Wotton-under-Edge in South Gloucestershire

Residents of a town that lost a key bus service due to funding problems have won their campaign to reinstate it.

Locals in Wotton-Under-Edge, Gloucestershire, previously said the Y8 route to and from Yate, which allows them to travel on to Bristol, was "essential" for their lives.

They have campaigned for the route since it was cut in August last year, arguing that it was vital for access to work, college, shops and medical appointments, and allowed them to socialise.

Councillor Linda Cohen, from Gloucestershire County Council, said the reinstatment of the route, beginning on 1 September, was a "fantastic outcome for our communities".

A crowd of people holding up placards in front of a bus stop, campaigning against the scrapping of the 84/85 bus service — Wotton-under-Edge residents campaigning after the route was axed

The service will run 15 times on weekdays and 12 times on Saturdays.

Gloucestershire County Council, South Gloucestershire Council, the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) and the local community worked together to bring the route back.

Weca holds responsibility for buses in South Gloucestershire as the transport authority.

The full timetable will be released in the coming weeks.

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