A senior transport executive claims that a rural bus service operated by Shropshire Council is proving a “disaster” for both passengers and Shirehall finances.

Michael Skinner, who works in London but still lives in north Shropshire, says that in six of nine areas in which ShropshireLink operates, the average number of passengers is less than one a day.

According to Mr Skinner, who has obtained figures under a Freedom of Information request, the average passenger subsidy is £42.21 per person, far more than providing a taxi.

“I am sure that councillors are not aware of this disaster” said Mr Skinner, who was chief officer of the former charity, North Shropshire Community Transport, which folded last year.

He said Shropshire Council had recently told the Information Commissioner it did not have figures for the costs of passenger transport provision in the county, having earlier claimed that these figures were commercially sensitive.

“It means that the cost of the council’s bus provision in the county could be running out of control but councillors have no means of knowing this,” said Mr Skinner.

Unlike a traditional bus service, ShropshireLink is not restricted to a set route or timetable.

The county has been split into nine ShropshireLink zones. Each zone is made up of several smaller areas where ShropshireLink operates on two selected days between Monday and Saturday.

Mr Skinner, chief executive of the largest community transport organisation in south London, said: “If Shropshire stopped bidding for bus contracts itself, and opened up the market, we would quickly see an improvement in services and a reduction in costs to the council tax payer.”

Phil Crossland, the council’s assistant director for strategic transport and highways, said: “ShropshireLink is currently being used more frequently than the services it replaced.

“In the first month of operation it carried over 37 per cent more passengers and last month it carried 122 per cent more passengers.”

He said the buses were also used to carry out school runs, totalling more than 35,000 trips this year.

“We are currently reviewing ShropshireLink, six months after its launch with a view to improving further the service that it provides,” said Mr Crossland.

By Dave Morris