Shropshire's Sunday bus services may return for a trial period
Sunday bus services could be reintroduced in Shrewsbury early next year for an extended trial period under new proposals, Shropshire Council bosses have revealed.
The move is being considered as part of major changes to how car parking works across Shropshire.
Shropshire Council wants to introduce on-street parking charges in Shrewsbury on Sundays and hopes to use the extra revenue to bring back some of the subsidised bus routes which were axed or scaled down as part of cutbacks last year.
Simon Jones, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member responsible for transport, said: “We are working to find a way to bring back Sunday bus services in Shrewsbury, which will give local people and visitors an alternative way of getting into the town.”
Members of Shropshire Council’s cabinet will be voting on the wider parking plans next Wednesday. They will cost Shirehall £218,000 in lost revenue – £151,000 from slashing Sunday charges in Shrewsbury and Ludlow.
Councillor Jones added: “A lot of work has gone into this review and consultation, and I hope it serves to alleviate some of the concerns that came about following the introduction of the parking strategy last year.
“The proposed new charging bands for many market town car parks mean that people will be able to park for up to four hours for just 50p, which seems pretty reasonable to me.”
Comments for: "Shropshire's Sunday bus services may return for a trial period"
The Dr
WHAT !!! Has some one with a brain finally joined the council ?????? About time this happened , Shropshire travelling back towards the twenty first centry
Robin Hood
Cllr Jones says that buses provide an alternative way of travelling into town, for some people it provides the only way of getting into town (and the hospital etc etc). Mind you, people like that don't matter to the Tory Council nor the Tory Government.
sowhat
Hopefully they will resume sunday buses in the lead up to christmas as well....
Joules
Fantastic news to hear about the bus services coming back, but seriously on street parking on a Sunday? Surely Arriva and the council can find away to keep the buses going without charging people parking, and do the Council realise how few people now come into the town on a Sunday. People have been driven out by the cost of parking in the week, so they don't both coming into town on a Sunday.
Peter
Could never understand the knee-jerk decision to cut all subsidised bus services. Sunday buses were only costing the county £85k a year - all of 67 pence per household. Yet delivered tens of thousands of people into our town centres which badly needed them. Ah well, at least it's a step towards a network seven days a week - if councillors vote for it of course.
Les
Lets hope the trial includes part of the summer; I should imagine that there have been people coming to Shrewsbury for the weekend this year, only to find there is nowhere to go on a Sunday.
ludslow
This has to be good for local residents and for tourists too. I hope that the proposals include services to Oswestry and Hanley as they awere actually increasing passengers when they were cut last year! The route through to Bridgnorth was also popular and deserves merit. In Ludlow, there are proposals for a service through to the Shropshire Hills next summer managed by the Shropshire Hills AONB; that will be a major improvement for those of us without access to a car. It really is good news all round that Councillor Jones is spearheading this revival in the bus network.
A Driver
so, reintroduce Sunday services eh....perhaps the people of Shrewsbury will learn this time that they either use them or lose them, as 95% of the people that did use them when they did run were concessionary pass holders anyway, therefore no income for the Council to pay for the service (seeing as they subsidise the concession cards anyway) and the same goes for the late services, if i remember correctly people were up in arms about the axing of them, so where were these same people when the buses were empty every night. No wonder they were axed
Peter
Certainly the buses were nowhere near full, but they were carrying 1000 passengers a day on those routes that did operate on a Sunday. And most routes were seeing an increase year on year. Now the only Sunday services are on the edges of the county, linking Shropshire towns to places over the border and taking their money with them!
Shrewsbury Bus User
I was asked today (Sunday) when buses ran from the bus station by a couple of tourists who had arrived by train.
When I said that there weren't any, they were flabbergasted and asked "so where's the nearest bus stop where we can catch one from then?"..... to which I repeated my first answer. They couldn't believe it. I then said that our Council has money to subsidise a big theatre but not Sunday buses - that is the reality of the Tories managing our town.
The Council, in its attempts to attract lots of moneyed tourists to Shrewsbury, is driving out the things that us ordinary folks need and not even providing us with the transport we require to get there.
And it's the money of us ordinary folks which keeps Shrewsbury ticking over. Yes tourists are important and bring in lots of money but unlike us, they are fickle and cannot be relied on to spend money in the town day in day out like we do.
Shropshire Council needs to open its eyes and start doing things differently if they are not going to destroy Shrewsbury for good.