Cost of running free weekend buses in Herefordshire rises

Herefordshire’s free weekend buses scheme will continue until the end of August – though it will need more money to keep it going until then.

Herefordshire Council said the scheme “has been a huge success” but that the cost of maintaining it for a whole year “will be higher than originally forecast”.

Last summer it allocated £800,000 out of a £6.1 million government Covid-19 support package to the scheme, which began at the start of September.

The council expects the cost of it up to the end of this month to total £453,000. To extend it up to the end of this August will cost a further £475,000, bringing the total up to £928,000.

The extra £128,000, which will be taken from underspent schemes in the council’s Covid recovery plan, has now been approved.

An allocation from the fund also supports extra Sunday services around the county.

The scheme allows free and unlimited travel on any scheduled bus service all weekend, but journeys must be entirely within the county.