Transport review brings more buses and lower fares

Published by webmaster for Herefordshire Council in Communities

Bus passengers throughout the county are set to benefit from changes to services and, in some cases, lower bus fares, being introduced when Herefordshire Council publishes new timetables on September 2.

Two brand new services will be introduced and others will see extra journeys or extended routes following retendering of subsidy contracts by the council.

Councillor Brian Wilcox, Herefordshire Council’s cabinet member for highways and transportation said: “These changes follow a review of bus service provision throughout the county. We have listened to what passengers have been telling us and, where possible, we have given them the improvements they have been asking for.

“In a small number of cases the fares being charged were found to be excessive and action has been taken to reduce them so as to make the services more attractive to existing and, hopefully, new users.

“I hope the county’s residents will take full advantage of the new bus services which will help to reduce congestion on the county’s roads,” he added.

In Ledbury, a new town service, numbered 600, will link the New Mills and Lower Road areas with the town centre and railway station four times each weekday.

The service between Ledbury and British Camp, number 675, is being revised to operate between Ledbury and Great Malvern with additional journeys. It will be operated by Malvernian Tours.

Passengers from a large area of south Herefordshire including Goodrich, Whitchurch, Llangrove and Llangarron will have a new service 411 to Hereford every Wednesday. This bus will serve Little Birch and then run directly to Hereford, bypassing Kilpeck, which will be served by the Abbeydore service instead.

In Ross-on-Wye the “Ross Runaround” town service, operated by H&H Coaches will have some journeys extended to the Court Road area, although the Ross Labels site will no longer be served.

Abbeydore and Ewyas Harold will gain a new through bus to and from Hereford on Wednesdays supplementing the connecting service to Pontrilas that will continue at other times of the week. The mid-morning journey from Michaelchurch Escley to Pontrilas will, however, be discontinued.

St. Owen’s Cross will regain a daily service to Hereford when the 09.35 Ross to Hereford and 13.30 Hereford to Ross buses on Stagecoach service 38 will be diverted via the village.

Transport review brings more buses and lower fares ctd

The early morning commuter journey on service 412 from Broad Oak to Hereford will be retimed to run 13 minutes later, following requests from passengers

Service 423 between Bromyard and Worcester via Alfrick will have a new operator, DRM and will run to a new timetable. On service 469 between Bromyard, Bishop’s Frome and Hereford there will be extra journeys on Mondays to Fridays.

Service 463 between Brilley and Kington will be revised to run between Arrow View and Kington only due to lack of use.

In north Herefordshire there will be changes to three major services. On the 492, which links Hereford, Leominster and Ludlow, all journeys north of Ludlow and some late afternoon trips to and from Hereford will be run by Whittle Coach & Bus.

Passengers travelling across Leominster will have to change buses, but connections will be provided and through fares will be available.

There will be some extra journeys operating between Ludlow and Leominster, although the late evening journey on Friday and Saturday nights from Ludlow to Hereford is withdrawn. Between Leominster and Hereford, Whittle and Lugg Valley will accept each others tickets following an agreement brokered by the council. Passengers travelling between Ludlow and Leominster will find that their fares have been reduced following a review by Herefordshire Council.

On service 493 between Leominster and Presteigne one morning journey to Leominster is withdrawn and the remaining journeys have new times. Most journeys will run via Pembridge, leaving the Mortimer’s Cross area to be served by service 489. On Saturdays the late afternoon bus from Leominster to Shobdon will be extended to Presteigne after requests by passengers.

Travellers between Kington, Shobdon, Pembridge, Eardisland and Leominster on services 495 and 496 will find that their fares have been reduced following a review by Herefordshire Council. Bus times have also altered and on Tuesdays, one journey in each direction is being renumbered 497 and diverted via Shobdon, Staunton-on-Arrow and Titley to take shoppers to and from the market at Kington. This replaces a separate service operated by Sargeants Bros. and reinstates a link between Shobdon and Kington on market days.

Full details of all these changes, and a number of minor alterations to other services, are contained in new editions of the Area Bus and Train Timetables produced by Herefordshire Council and available (price 50p) from libraries, tourist information centres and many post offices and village shops throughout the county.

Ends

Press release issued: August 22 2007