Bid to boost Shropshire buses with on-demand and electric services

From buses on demand in very rural areas to an electric bus town, the ideas being considered by council officers could attract large grants from Westminster.

The county has already received a £320,000 grant.

That will be used to support and extend bus services where there is a gap and could be used to restore a lost bus service or extend timetables into the evenings or weekends.

Councillor Steve Davenport, portfolio holder for transport and highways, said it was an exciting opportunity to improve bus connections in Shropshire by getting on board the Government’s Superbus strategy.

“We will be looking to put in a number of grant applications as part of the Superbus pot of £70 million that the government is making available,” he said.

“A primary objective of the fund is to increase bus patronage, give bus priority on some roads, reduce bus fares and increase service frequency.

"We will make an expression of interest before the April 30 deadline and then follow up with our project suggestions.”

One pot is the rural mobility grant that would fund trial, on-demand buses.

“In rural areas it is difficult to maintain a service with very few users. An on-demand type of service would see a bus visit an area at a pre-arranged time if it was ordered in advance,” he said.

He said of that rural mobility £20 million fund, councils could bid for up to £1.5 million. There is also expected to be a bid for one of Shropshire’s towns to be an all-electric bus town.

"Our proposal is to act as a pilot town to understand what can be achieved by running an all electric bus fleet in a town. We have already had an electric bus in Shrewsbury and trialled a Shrewsbury to Ludlow route to ensure the electric charge will last for a longer route."

Councillor Davenport said Shropshire had just received a £320,000 grant for supporting bus services.

"We are going to go out to talk to people to see where they think that money should be used. Putting on night buses is one area that we have been asked to look at in a number of places.

"It might also help to extend buses into the weekends or to visitor tourist areas or to restore a lost bus service."