Bus services to expand after £950k funding

The funding was given to the county, after plans for post-Covid bus service improvements were rejected in 2022

Herefordshire bus services are to expand, thanks to a grant worth more than £950,000 from the government.

While Herefordshire Council does not run any bus services of its own, it worked with private operators to decide how to spend the Bus Service Improvement Plan Plus (BSIP) funding, this year and next.

Plans include later services, and more regular buses on some routes.

Councillor Philip Price said the authority hoped to make more improvements as more funding becomes available.

The funding will enable the following changes:

• 78X Yeomans service from the city centre to Rotherwas to extend to the Shell Store employment space

• 476 Hereford to Ledbury service, run by DRM, would become hourly between 0900 BST and 1500, six days a week, including two new stops

• Hourly trips would be reinstated, and later services added, to Yeomans' 492 service between Hereford railway station and Leominster

• Two-hourly and Sunday services reinstated for the Stagecoach 36 Hereford to Monmouth service

• The 420 DRM Bromyard to Worcester service would be reinstated, while the timetable of DRM’s 469 Bromyard-Hereford service will be 'simplified'

• Later services added to Sargeants' 461 Hereford to Kington service

The county council had previously made an £18m bid for post-Covid bus service improvements, but it was rejected in April 2022.

BSIP was then introduced to support unsuccessful authorities to work in partnership with bus operators to protect at-risk services.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.