By the time you read this column the two new WESTlocal bus services (the X91 Chew Valley Sprint and the 99 Chew Valley Cat) will have been operational for two months. Not long you might say, but in the context of 18 months of grant funding for these routes that means we are more than 10th of the way through their pilot.

If you haven’t yet got on board, now is the time to take action: just swapping out your car for a bus journey once a month is a good start, once a week even better, and for some there may be the option for daily use. Every journey counts in driving the viability of the route and helping us make a case for the routes to be continued.

Starting a new venture is always a challenge, and the volunteers from the Sustainable Transport Group have been both working flat out, and on a steep learning curve!

You may have met some of them at one of the 8 journey planning sessions we have run since late August, seen them on the webinar we held in August, followed our posts on the ‘Bus Transition in the Chew Valley’ Facebook page whose membership has mushroomed, and on the Chew Valley Sustainable Transport Instagram account, or from the information we have sent out to Parish Councils.

By now you should also have received a leaflet for each of the services through your door. If you want to join this vibrant team we would love new people to get involved, especially with championing and marketing the routes.

We are not saying everything is perfect, issues with the ticketer machines have impacted on tracking at times and road closures and traffic issues, particularly in central Bristol have sometimes impacted on the final return of the X91 for instance, but this is now much improved. Most of the time the services are following the timetable accurately, offering friendly and helpful interactions from drivers, and getting positive feedback from those on board.

Although only a small sample, the feedback forms received thus far show 91 per cent of respondents using the services would recommend them to others. Please let us know your views by finding the forms on The Big Lemon website.

We especially need more footfall on the less common parts of the service such as the weekends and late night Friday and Saturday services on the 99 CV Cat and the middle of the day services on the X91 CV Sprint. So come on board and be part of this good news story.

Jackie Head, Chew Valley CIC