Rapid bus service plan gets £1.25m funding

The new service would provide regular buses between Cheltenham and Gloucester

A rapid bus service linking the two biggest urban areas in a county has moved a step closer after councillors approved £1.25m to start developing the project.

Gloucestershire County Council is developing the business case for buses to run every 10 minutes between Cheltenham and Gloucester.

Council chiefs said it would provide high-quality, zero-emission, high frequency public transport across the centre of the county.

A map included in a new report suggested the buses could ultimately link Bishop's Cleeve with Quedgeley via Cheltenham and Gloucester.

Mass rapid transit sits at the heart of the county's planned express bus network and would improve access to public transport to Cheltenham and Gloucester as well as the surrounding rural areas.

Sustainable transport and strategic highways cabinet member Roger Whyborn presented the report at a cabinet meeting on Monday, praising officers for their work on it so far.

"We need to start providing seriously good public transport everywhere across the county," said Mr Whyborn.

He said the initial focus is on Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, the strategic local plan area, where future housing developments will be built.

"After 20 years of doing nothing but studies on rapid transit, I've demanded that we move to action because politics is the art of the possible and practical action as well," he said.

"There's no immediate prospect of laying our hands on hundreds of millions of pounds for a dedicated mass rapid transit system built from scratch.

"We need to continue to prepare for that day and for the planning requirements."

He said studies commissioned by the council have not been able to clearly identify a clear route for a guided bus way or tramway.

And that there is not currently enough population density to justify a rail-based mass rapid transit in the Severn Vale.