Call to rethink county bus priorities

A late-evening bus service from Hereford to Ross-on-Wye should be a priority for spending new government cash in the county, it has been claimed.

Herefordshire has recently been awarded a further £3.2 million from the government’s Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus (BSIP+) fund to beef up services in the county.

At the last full meeting of county councillors of the year, Ross West member Coun Louis Stark asked that this be used “to enhance the Ross service, particularly reinstating a late-night service from Hereford so residents can return from a convivial evening in Hereford by public transport”.

“Too often we in the south of the county are forgotten about – we don’t have a railway station,” he added.

Coun Stef Simmons called for a summit on bus transport in the county, saying there was “uncertainty about how the money for this is allocated and spent” via the so-called enhanced partnership between the council and bus operators.

“Some of us have been fighting for a year to give new housing developments access to the transport network,” the Ledbury councillor added.

Non-aligned Hereford councillor Jim Kenyon said a summit was “a great idea” and should also involved parish councils.

Hereford City Council, on which he also sits, already independently operates the “excellent” free Zipper electric service – which was deserving of funding from the latest pot once its current funding ends next year, Coun Kenyon added.

And Coun Toni Fagan said the council should look at providing rural bus shelters to benefit young people in particular, “who get drenched while waiting for buses that are often late”.

Herefordshire should also look at bookable local bus services to join up with existing bus routes and other destinations, in the style of the Robin service in neighbouring Gloucestershire, she added.

Council leader Jonathan Lester said a bus summit was “a great idea” which would “open up the discussion”, particularly to young people.

But the current government funding applied only to chargeable bus services, rendering the Zippers ineligible, he added.

Cabinet member for transport Coun Philip Price said the funding would enable the 476 service between Hereford and Ledbury to go from being two-hourly to hourly from the end of January, to include extra stops to take in new housing in the town.