Edition 9

Autumn 2014

Chairman’s Message Welcome to new members! We have had unprecedented levels of enquiry from recent public meetings in Bridgnorth and in Bishops Castle and from our new posters. We are delighted that many of these enquiries have translated into new members. We now have 70 Members and Supporters. That’s a great start!

At our committee meeting in September we discussed how to engage our members more, to help turn your support into practical activity. Some of us on the committee will be telephoning each of our members in the coming weeks to discuss the bus issues in your area, and to invite you to become a local champion. What motivates most members is a desire to preserve and improve the local bus services in your area. Becoming a local champion for your route or area is a way to become proactive, with the support of the committee but without having to attend committee meetings! If you are happy to use your telephone to stir people on these important issues tell us.

Campaign news These are frustrating times if you live in Shropshire where our local council seems unwilling to do anything more to reduce rural isolation. Information about bus services is very sparse with many stops displaying out of date information, or none at all. Accordingly our committee has decided to take the lead in trying to get some limited, small scale improvements. Our target issues are:  Ludlow to Bridgnorth corridor. We would like to form a working group to raise public interest and money to fund a Saturdays only service and are looking for members to join. For this to succeed we will need to raise about £7000 from sources such as parish councils, local businesses, private donations, and organised fundraising for the first year.  Ludlow to Hereford 492. Following the scaling back of this service on the Shropshire section of the route (including no service on Saturdays) we will be talking to bus operators about providing a service between Ludlow and Orleton to link up with the remaining Orleton to Leominster service. We are pleased that local campaigners have petitioned Shropshire Council with more than 100 signatures. Well done!  Bishops Castle to Ludlow. Shropshire Council already let a contract for services between Knighton and Ludlow. We will talk to bus operators about the feasibility of extending services from Bishops Castle to Knighton. Public Meeting  Information at bus stops. Please fill out the form included in this Newsletter to let us know which stops have missing or out We would like to hear your views of date information. We need recent examples from all over on bus services in the Oswestry area the county please. Come and talk to us Update from Bridgnorth public meeting Since we held the public meeting Arriva have closed their local Saturday 29th November depot in Bridgnorth. Committee members Keith and Peter met 10.30am with Arriva’s Telford manager who explained the reasons behind this and gave assurance on service quality (see news Memorial Hall, Smithfield item on page 6). He agreed to look at the feasibility of including Claverley on their route network, and to a rerouting suggestion Street, Oswestry continued on page 10

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Meeting Notes

A group of members is elected to the Executive Committee, which meets bi- monthly to deal with the main business of BUS. There is a General Meeting for all members which meets twice a year, one of which is followed by the AGM. All meetings are held in Shrewsbury town centre, with the Executive Committee meeting at The Alb public house close to the Bus and Rail Stations.

This is a summary of the Executive Committee meetings held since the last newsletter.

Executive Committee 9 August 2014

4 members attended

Bishops Castle Public Meeting The following two actions were agreed following today’s drop-in in Bishops Castle.  Investigate possibility of running a seasonal service from Bishops Castle/Clun to Shrewsbury or Craven Arms to connect with trains using funding from AONB and/or parish councils  Investigate possibility of running a monthly shopping service from Wentnor to Shrewsbury using funding from AONB and/or parish councils

Meeting with Arriva Peter and Keith updated on meeting with Arriva general manager in Telford, Jamie Crowsley, and Keith’s conversation with the Shrewsbury general manager Andy Pearce. Jamie Crowsley had confirmed the closure of Bridgnorth bus depot but said he did not expect the local population to notice any changes. The Bridgnorth-Shrewsbury service would be run out of Shrewsbury depot in future. Andy Pearce had not seen our posters and needed an additional 20 posters to display on Oswestry buses. It was agreed that we should invite Jamie and Andy to our next Executive meeting on 20 September.

141 Campaign We discussed the withdrawal of the 141 service, and the disappointing lack of response from Councillor Wild or Matt Johnson concerning the Ludlow-Leominster service (Peter had had several phone calls from people in the Overton and Batchcott areas). It was decided that BUS needs to explain to people of Bridgnorth the cessation of 141 following our public meeting there. The future emphasis should be on working with parish councils, with perhaps BUS hosting a joint meeting of 141 corridor parish councils in DItton Priors. We discussed Frank Taylor’s legal challenge, but agreed we are unable to attend his meeting. Frank has also offered to help BUS, but we felt that he has enough on his plate with the legal challenge.

Oswestry Public Meeting

We discussed the BUS public meeting in Oswestry Forthcoming Meetings scheduled for 29 November. It was agreed this would be a good opportunity to give feedback to the public on issues Executive Committee raised at the Your Bus Matters event held in Oswestry on 30 Meetings open to all Members as observers July, if Bus Users UK can provide it. Memorial Hall, Smithfield Street, Oswestry

on Saturday 29 November at 12.15pm. Other matters  Bus Users UK had postponed the Local Groups event The Alb, Smithfield Road, Shrewsbury on scheduled for 9 August—no new date available yet. Saturday 13 December at 10am.  A letter had been received from Martin Loake of Shrewsbury concerning the lack of a pavement and bus General Meeting stop opposite the Starbucks at Battlefield roundabout, Memorial Hall, Smithfield Street, Oswestry and we suggests he writes to Shropshire Council on this. on Saturday 29 November at 11.30am.

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Meeting Notes (continued)

Executive Committee 20 September 2014

5 members attended plus one as observer.

Finance and membership report Les Bell reported that we have funds of £62.05 in bank and £91.77 in cash. Total membership is now 69 including 35 supporters. We had a lengthy discussion about motivating and encouraging our members. We recognised also that despite most bus passengers in Shropshire being young and/or female our committee is currently exclusively male (and not young!). It was agreed that committee membership does not appeal to everyone but that we need to encourage local activism by our members as local champions for buses in their area or route, and keep the committee informed of anything happening locally. Les Lumsdon agreed to act as the lead for maintaining contact with Members in south Shropshire, Keith in north Shropshire, and Peter in Shrewsbury. We will also place information about BUS in parish newsletters and local papers to recruit new members.

Public meetings We agreed both Bishops Castle and Bridgnorth had been successful in their own way. Bishops Castle had produced several new members, and the informal approach of a round table had been more involving of participants but would be difficult to repeat with a larger audience. One comment had been that having an official start time, rather than drop in, would have been better. We went on to discuss attempting to boost our membership and knowledge of local issues through more public meetings in north Shropshire. Neil thought it would be good to return to Bridgnorth to take forward the momentum.

Campaign updates  Arriva. Following our meeting with Jamie Crowsley at Telford, it was agreed to ask him for an update on the diversion of a service to Claverley, routeing of buses in Albrighton, and the confusing use of bus stops in Bridgnorth (need for map on timetables). There had been no response from Andy Pearce to a request for a meeting in Shrewsbury; we want to discuss unreliability issues on route 436, options for the Knighton-Ludlow service to provide a connection to Orleton, and ask about the position re concession ticket holders before 0930 and payment for part of journey.  Bishops Castle Wentnor residents requested early and late community transport to connect in and out of the Bishops Castle-Shrewsbury services, and it was agreed to write to Bishops Castle Community Transport to request this as well as the possibility of monthly shopping trip to Shrewsbury. Regarding the lack of regular services for villages around Clun and Clunton to Craven Arms or Ludlow, this is unlikely to change as Shropshire Council is not interested. An improvement to Bishops Castle-Clun- Ludlow service might be possible (note Castle Connect at summer weekends, and Arriva service on part of route from Knighton to Ludlow). It was agreed to contact John Jones of Minsterley Motors for a meeting to discuss the requests, and the possibility of the company operating a connecting service from Ludlow to Orleton when the Bishops Castle bus is laying over in Ludlow on Monday and Friday.  141 Arriva had now ended this service following reallocation of the bus from Bridgnorth depot to Shrewsbury depot. Peter had published a letter in Bridgnorth Journal to explain why this had happened. We discussed options for providing a limited service between Ludlow and Bridgnorth given that Shropshire Council are unwilling to do this. The exclusive use of a bus for one day costs c. £200- 300 less revenue taken. At £200 less revenue we would need to raise £7500 pa for a Saturdays only service (or at £300 per day less revenue it would be £12500 pa). It was agreed that BUS should lead a community action group to establish a service with financial support from parish and town councils, chambers of trade, local business sponsorship, and individual donations, and that we should also talk to Ludlow21 and the AONB.

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Meeting Notes (continued)

Other updates  It was agreed to concentrate efforts on south Shropshire and to hold a further public meeting in the south if needed.  The lack of up to date timetable information is a disgrace and the newsletter will again include a sheet for logging this if space available.  For the Oswestry public meeting in November we will contact Bus Users UK to obtain copies of Your Bus Matters comments sheets and feedback from operators and Shropshire Council. We will also ask our local member about the current issues affecting bus passengers in Oswestry, to ask her to put up posters, and find out if there is a local newsletter for BUS to advertise in.

Any Other Business BUS had received notification of a complaint by a passenger from Wem to Whitchurch who wished to pay for part of journey prior to 0930 then use concessionary pass thereafter, which was refused by the Arriva driver. We will contact Bus Users UK to find out the legal position concerning split ticketing. ______Media Monitor

This is the section where we feature articles or letters from local newspapers or other media about bus services in Shropshire. If you see anything about buses in your local paper, cut it out and send it in to the address at the bottom of the back page.

Bus services in Bridgnorth area

Some of your readers attended a public meeting in April to discuss bus services in the Bridgnorth area. We have been in fruitful discussion with Arriva to take them forward and will be able to report on progress in the next edition of ‘Bus Users Shropshire News’.

One unforeseen change since the meeting is the forthcoming closure of Arriva’s outstation in Bridgnorth which Arriva have told us is because of a decline in local authority contracts combined with increased costs. We have been assured that the outstation closure will not affect the experience of passengers using services in the area and that the same drivers will operate the Bridgnorth routes, with a spare bus kept in the town during term time as a reserve. An exception is that service 141 from Ludlow to Bridgnorth is to cease from 4 September. This once daily service was used to position a bus in Ludlow for their service to Knighton. Bus Users Shropshire will continue in our campaign to get at least two return journeys on a similar route to the 141 to link villages with both Bridgnorth and Ludlow. We would like to work with parish councils to secure a low cost service for Bitterley, Burwarton Cleobury North, Ditton Priors, Middleton and Neenton.

If any reader would like to join Bus Users Shropshire to strengthen our campaign for good quality bus ser- vices please email [email protected], telephone/text 07580 564458, or write to BUS c/o Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, 5 Castle Gate, Shrewsbury SY1 2AE.

Bridgnorth Journal, August 2014

Christmas Social

Join us for a Christmas get together on Saturday 13th December at 12noon The Alb public house, Smithfield Road, Shrewsbury (next to bus station) All members welcome

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NEWS & PHOTOS

Bishops Castle Public Meeting  There is a need for a bus service from Clun to Shrewsbury. Perhaps the Ludlow Traveller could Introduction meet this by providing a connection to and from The meeting, which was held on 9 August, had been Bishops Castle. called by Bus Users Shropshire to collect the views  It is difficult to access train services without a car, of users and residents on the state of bus services in so there is a need for a service to Craven Arms for the Bishops Castle area. As well as five members of the railhead. the BUS committee, the meeting was attended by  Request for Sunday service to Shrewsbury, and 11 people, 9 from Bishops Castle and 2 from also an evening service into the town linked into Wentnor. entertainment options.

 Want to see Ludlow services retained, but an Background additional one on Thursdays for the Farmers A short account of bus services in the area and the Market would be useful. reliance of the Shrewsbury service on subsidy from ______Shropshire Council was provided. The meeting was then open to comments and questions from anybody present, with the opportunity to complete Improved bus times between Ludlow and a comments sheet. A summary of comments made Kidderminster in the meeting, and on the 5 sheets returned, are included in the full report available from BUS. Bus times between Ludlow and Kidderminster changed from 1st September. There is a much improved service, the 2L, which replaces the 292.

Seven buses run from Ludlow to Kidderminster and eight from Kidderminster on Monday to Friday, up from the current six. The first bus from Ludlow is earlier at 0840, and the last bus back from Kidderminster is an hour later departing at 1725. There is a later bus to Cleobury Mortimer at 1815, returning to Kidderminster at 1902. On Saturday there are eight buses from Ludlow to Kidderminster and back, two more than at present. The first leaves at 0840 and the last at 1846. Coming back from Kidderminster, the last bus to Ludlow is 1725 and to Cleobury at 1815 (the latter returning to Summary of comments Kidderminster at 1902.  There is no bus to Shrewsbury from Wentnor since Shropshire Link finished. Although Bishops Castle Dial-a-Ride provides a useful service into Bishops Castle, there is no connection to Pulverbatch or Bishops Castle so that a return journey could be made to Shrewsbury. A regular service to Shrewsbury would be used by visitors to the caravan park as well as residents.  Satisfied with the 553 service from Bishops Castle to Shrewsbury (punctual, reliable and courteous drivers), which is used for shopping and hospital appointments, and would like to Richard Huffer, Shropshire Councillor for Clee Hill, ensure that this service remains as it is with no welcomes the new timetable. “It is great to hear reductions. that we are to get more buses. Usually we only hear

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NEWS & PHOTOS (continued) of buses being cut back. The 292 has been a vital Unfortunately the closure has resulted in the loss of service for people who live in the Cleobury and Clee service 141 as this was operated as a positioning area who need to get to the shops, go to school and journey and would not be commercially viable to college, and visit their friends. The new 2L service operate as a stand alone operation. looks set to be even better. This is very good news indeed in this time of heavy cuts which seem to be I am confident passengers will notice no decline in hitting rural areas harder than elsewhere.” operations around the Bridgnorth network. ______Jamie Crowsley, Arriva General Manager Closure of Bridgnorth Depot ______

Following a continued increase in general Extra buses will help students get to college overheads and associated operational costs, along with a decline in local authority tenders, we decided Bosses at Shrewsbury College have stepped in to to close our Bridgnorth out station from 1 ensure bus services are increased by over a third to September with services and staff returning to our ensure students can get to their lectures. The move main Shropshire bases in Shrewsbury and Telford. is in response to the challenges facing young people The majority of the services will operate from with ever-increasing bus pass prices and reducing Telford depot with the exception of services 436 bus service routes in the county. The college, in and 738/740 which will operate from our London Road, decided to add a third main subsidized Shrewsbury base. bus route for students after Shropshire Council ran a consultation on proposed bus fare rises on student The main concerns I received about the closure transport. The results of the consultation, which when speaking to passengers related to the effect ended in May, meant that the cost of travel for students aged 16 and over will increase from £550 to up to £876 per academic year—an increase of about 60% - to be phased over two years.

on reliability and new drivers not knowing the route.  Currently engineers from Telford and Shrewsbury already attend any technical issues with the Bridgnorth fleet as the out station had no real engineering facilities. So response times will be unaffected and if anything should improve. During term time a spare vehicle will also be available for technical issues, and will be Principal Steve Wain said the consultation had come parked within Bridgnorth to allow for a quick “very late in the year” when most students had vehicle exchange. already decided which college they wanted to  I have designed a rota which will contain all attend. He said “Shropshire is a very rural county current Bridgnorth staff members who will and some of our students have to travel a long way continue to operate the services as normal. to get to college. This is a very important issue for us and transport should not be a barrier to education.

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NEWS & PHOTOS (continued)

In July the college received its best ever Ofsted  We are committed to providing a range of good rating of good.” On the issue of transport the value tickets, so that you can choose the one inspector’s report said: “The high cost of public that suits you best transport locally is a significant barrier to ensuring  Information about the times of Arriva buses is students are present in lessons, although the college available from www.arrivabus.co.uk or from has been extremely successful in improving Traveline on 0871 200 22 33. If you wish to be attendance of a small cohort of students for whom it kept up to date with information about your has been able to issue subsidized bus passes.” local bus service, including any promotions, please let us know via the Contact Us section of The college routes are: Bridgnorth/Telford/ our website. Shrewsbury; Powys, covering Welshpool/Newtown/  We will make it easy for you to tell us what you Oswestry; and the new route of Wrexham/ like or don’t like about our services via our Whitchurch/Shawbury/Hodnet/Battlefield/ customer services hotline 0344 800 44 11. This Shrewsbury. There is also be a new minibus shuttle number will be displayed on all our vehicles. service from Shrewsbury bus station to the college Feedback can also be provided in writing: Arriva between 8am and 9am and from 4pm to 5.30pm. Customer Services, FREEPOST ANG7624, Luton, ______Bedfordshire, LU4 8BR, or at www.arrivabus.co.uk/contact-us. New bus App from Arriva  We will respond to comments made within 10 working days of receipt and will keep you up to Did you know that travelling with Arriva just got date on progress in the meantime easier? Their new free Bus App gives you real time  We try to run all buses on time. However information on the go. The App is designed to make sometimes things outside our control, like traffic it easier for you to get around on the bus—whether congestion or road works, might affect your you want to know where the nearest bus stop is, journey. We will work with others to reduce the how long before you get to your destination, or even impact wherever possible exactly where your bus is at any given moment. It means you can make better use of your time, with If your bus leaves early or is more than 5 minutes less waiting around. late and we are to blame, we will offer you a future ______journey free of charge. Should this be the case please contact our customer services on 0344 800 Arriva’s customer promise 4411. You can contact us by phone on Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm Did you know that Arriva have published a customer ______promise which lays out their standards of service. If you have not seen it, the quality of service that they Rural communities isolated by lack of public promise to deliver to their passengers is reproduced transport below. Rural communities in the UK are feeling more  We aim to ensure that you have a safe, isolated due to a lack of public transport. This is comfortable journey on a clean, well-maintained according to leading transport groups who were bus summoned to a meeting with MPs to discuss the  You will be able to identify your Arriva bus by its matter. distinctive turquoise and cream colours  The route number and destination of the bus will The committee was told that the increased be clearly displayed centralisation of facilities and the fact that new  Your bus will be driven by a professional wearing developments appear to be designed solely with a uniform cars in mind, have contributed to people in rural  We will always endeavour to be helpful, communities feeling trapped in their own postcode. courteous and treat people with respect An additional factor was the growing trend of rural 7

NEWS & PHOTOS (continued) properties being bought as second homes, causing the withdrawal of services such as local schools, In a change from previous years the growth in bus small hospitals and public transport, due to a dip in travel was driven not by older people but by fare the population. According to one MP, there are paying passengers, suggesting a boom in popularity some villages in the UK where around 50 per cent of among working people. Passenger numbers outside the local community is made up of second home the capital increased by 1.5%, the first rise since owners, causing the full-time residents to feel national free bus travel for older people was increasingly more isolated. introduced in 2008/09, while journeys in London increased by 3%. The number of journeys taken in The Department for Transport has argued that it is the capital each year has now doubled since the mid the responsibility of local government to resolve the -1980s, but this boom has so far been tempered by issue. It said: "Local authorities, operators and local declining usage across the rest of the country due to communities should work in partnership to decide rising car ownership. how best to provide access to services for residents in rural areas where commercial services are not The growth last year could be due to “wider viable." economic conditions, relatively low fare increases ______and milder winter weather”, the report said, although experts could not rule out a simple Fare cuts see First passenger numbers soar fluctuation in numbers. Martin Abrams of the Campaign for Better Transport said the trend could FirstGroup has announced a jump in passenger even be down to workers being priced out of train numbers since fares were reduced. According to the travel, but said it was impossible to come to a Guardian, the embattled transport company has conclusion without more research. He added that seen an increase in revenue in its bus division, with while many figures in the government’s report were some areas reporting a rise of 150,000 people a “good news”, the figures also reveal a significant week. drop in supported bus services is “leaving whole communities stranded”. “These are less Giles Fearnley, managing director of First's bus commercially viable but more socially viable division, acknowledged how it had improved a services, many of which operate in non- service which was previously raising prices, yet metropolitan areas and more isolated reducing the frequency of its buses. He said: "We're communities,” he said. “People still need to get to seeing the fruits of that improvement coming work and have access to hospitals and town centres, through after working hard behind the scenes to and those services have seen a 7% cut in the past keep our promises." year.”

Additionally, the group has announced it has placed The overall growth in journeys across England a £70 million order for 425 new vehicles. The new masked a significant regional variation, with fleet, which includes six electric buses is expected to journeys increasing by 2.6% in the South and East be delivered during the 2014-2015 financial year. but just 0.8% in the North and West, where ______passenger numbers remain 9.4% lower than in 2008/09. The Government data also revealed that Buses as popular today as in 1980s as many as one in three bus services arrives more than six minutes late in some parts of the country. Buses are more fashionable today than at any time Across England an average of 83% of “non-frequent” since the mid-1980s after a surge in people services – those that run fewer than six times per returning to work boosted journey numbers by hour – arrived on time. almost 100 million a year. Passengers in England made 4.7 billion trips by bus in the 12 months to The Telegraph, September 2014 March, the highest total in three decades, according Bus service information now on App to Government figures released on Tuesday. 8

NEWS & PHOTOS (continued)

Public transport information for the whole of Great Britain is now available on Google’s Maps App. The Giles Fearnley, Managing Director of First UK Bus, data includes departure times and routes for buses, ferries, trains and trams in England, Scotland and Wales. "It's an amazing shop window for our operators' services," said Julie Williams, chief executive of Traveline, a partnership of Great Britain's transport operators and local authorities. "The presentation and way Google has pulled together the data looks exceptional - we've not seen anything like that before."

In total, schedules from nearly 1,500 different transport operators have been integrated, including more than 17,000 different routes and more than said: "We are setting new standards of customer 330,000 pick-up points. "It's a frightening amount of service across our operations in the UK. By improving data," Google's public transport product manager our customer proposition we will encourage more David Tattersall told the BBC. "It's every single train, people to travel by bus and to travel by bus more bus, tram and ferry right down to the small request often. Each of our 17,000 drivers receive specific stops as well as the major National Express training so that they have a better appreciation of coaches." some of the obstacles people who are blind and partially sighted have to overcome when catching Google is not the first company to put this the bus.” information on an App, as Rome2Rio's UK Transport ______Search App provides similar coverage. ______Transport Direct to close

Bus operators support RNIB’s charter The Department for Transport announced that it has decided to close its trailblazing website Transport A number of bus companies, including First, Reading Direct on 30 September. Buses and Kinch Buses, are supporting a charter to ensure services are accessible for customers with Launched in 2004 the site was the very first journey sight loss. The charter has been developed by the planner to cover England, Scotland and Wales, and Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), has since assisted with 160 million following the success of the 'Stop for me, Speak to travel requests. Stephen Morris, Deputy Chief me' bus campaign. As part of the campaign RNIB in Executive of Bus Users, said: "This is an absolutely partnership with bus operators across the UK hosted brilliant journey planner that's been invaluable to the ‘swap with me’ events which saw bus drivers 'swap' travelling public. We'll be lost without it: literally." places with blind and partially sighted customers so that they could better understand the challenges the Anyone who wants to raise this issue can write to passengers face when using the bus. the Department for Transport, either via their website at https://forms.dft.gov.uk/contact-dft-and- Fazilet Hadi, Director of RNIB, said: "We are agencies/ or at Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry delighted at the positive and enthusiastic response Road, London SW1P 4DR. from First, Reading Buses and Kinch Buses to our Charter. Local bus travel is a lifeline, providing an Note: Traveline continue to provide their very good important means of transport and we want joined up travel service online or by phone. Contact operators to ensure current and future services are Traveline Midlands at www.travelinemidlands.co.uk accessible."

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Service Changes Details of recent and forthcoming changes to bus services in Shropshire

31 August 2014 125 Bridgnorth to Kidderminster to Stoubridge. The extension to Stourbridge is reduced from hourly to every 2 hours except at peak times.

292 Ludlow to Cleobury Mortimer to Kidderminster. Renumbered 2L with a revised timetable. On Monday to Friday there is an extra bus from Ludlow and two extra buses from Kidderminster. On Saturday there are two extra buses from both Ludlow and Kidderminster. There is also an extra late bus from Cleobury Mortimer to Kidderminster.

492 Ludlow to Leominster to Hereford. This daily service is withdrawn, and only a partial replacement is provided for Ludlow on Mondays to Fridays by 490.

490 Ludlow to Leominster. New service on Mondays to Saturdays mainly between Orleton and Leominster, with just four journeys on Mondays to Fridays only extending to and from Ludlow.

499 Burford to Hereford. This monthly Wednesday shopping service is withdrawn, and Tenbury Transport Trust provide a pre-booked community transport replacement.

500 Burford to Leominster. This Friday shopping service is withdrawn, and Tenbury Transport Trust provide a pre-booked community transport replacement.

4 September 2014

141 Bridgnorth to Ludlow. Arriva withdrew their journeys on this route due to the closure of their Bridgnorth depot. ______continued from page 1 within Albrighton. With the transfer of the 436 Bridgnorth to Shrewsbury service to the Shrewsbury depot we are waiting for a meeting with Arriva’s manager in Shrewsbury to discuss issues.

Members’ meeting 29 November The committee is always pleased when Members attend committee meetings to observe our discussions and decisions but there’s nothing quite like a Members’ meeting for swapping news! We are holding one in Oswestry on Saturday 29 November at 1130. We will also be holding a public meeting beforehand at 1030. Both meetings are being held in the Memorial Hall, Smithfield St, Oswestry SY11 2EG. Member Joan Collins will be helping us to publicise the public meeting. We hope to also be able to give feedback from operators following the successful ‘Your Bus Matters’ event organised by Bus Users UK in Oswestry during the summer.

Peter Gilbert, Chair of Bus Users Shropshire NEXT EDITION (Published beginning of January 2015)

Please submit your contributions no later than 8th December 2014

It would be really helpful to receive information electronically in Word or plain text format, and digital photos, which should be sent to: [email protected] Alternatively, you can send written information, or photo prints which will be returned, to: Bus Users Shropshire, c/o Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, 5 Castle Gates, Shrewsbury SY1 2AE

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Bus Users UK

Your Bus Matters event in Oswestry

Bus Users UK organised another Your Bus Matters event in Shropshire, this time in Oswestry on 30th July. It was designed to give bus users the opportunity to talk to the people who run their bus services, and was attended by representatives of Bus Users UK, Bus Users Shropshire, and local bus operators Arriva and Tanat Valley Coaches.

This poster was distributed around Oswestry and further afield, including on buses, and a press release was issued. As a result about 100 people came along to talk, and a variety of points were raised about a number of different services. These included:  a reduction in the number of buses on service 53 that now serve the centre of Oswestry (the rest terminate at the bus station resulting in a long walk)  The revised route around Oswestry is picking up few passengers and the passengers that used the bus on the old route can no longer get to Shrewsbury  Buses from Oswestrydo not provide good connections with trains at Gobowen, particularlyin the evenings

The comments were collected on forms, which are being processed by Bus Users UK, and it is hoped to include an analysis of all the points raised in the next newsletter. 78 forms were completed which is excellent for a town the size of Oswestry. Thanks go to Bus Users UK for organising the event, the bus operators for coming along, and Les, Harold and Keith for their hard work on the day in collecting people’s views and helping to publicise BUS. ______

Archive Corner

Does anyone remember this old bus in Shrewsbury or the original Midland Red garage (not bus station as the title suggests) in Ditherington, Shrewsbury?

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MEMBERS VIEWS Please let us have your views on this newsletter, anything you have read in it, or on any bus subject. Letters should be sent to the address at the bottom of page 10.

Closure of Bridgnorth depot

I have today received confirmation from Arriva that their Bridgnorth depot will be closing in mid-August. I am told that in the event of a breakdown (which is not infrequent), a replacement bus will be sent from Telford - a daunting prospect for Bridgnorth residents and particularly those passengers served by Arriva living in the outlying villages and hamlets. In addition, under normal circumstances when the buses are operating to their timetables, the fact that the first buses of the day will have to travel a considerable distance before even commencing their timetabled journey from and to Bridgnorth. I would suggest that traffic and weather conditions could have a very detrimental effect in this event. Bridgnorth is an important tourist town, contributing hugely to the Shropshire economy, it does not deserve to be treated as the 'poor relation' in this way by losing the depot which can and does provide excellent service. On another point, it is somewhat ironic that as a tourist town, with many events staged on a Sunday, we do not warrant a Sunday bus service of any description, once again being 'the poor relation'. I attended the meeting you recently held in Bridgnorth, when no mention of the proposed closure of the depot was made by the representative from Arriva. I would be most interested to hear your comments on the closure of the Bridgnorth depot, for I feel the full impact of such an action has not been taken by Arriva.

Anne Wariner

Editor’s note: A full explanation of the closure of Bridgnorth depot is given by Arriva’s General Manager on page 6.

Withdrawal of 141 service between Ludlow and Bridgnorth

I know this service was hardly used, and I can understand you axing it, but please consider those living at Wheathill who need to get into Ludlow and Bridgnorth. If the service could be re-designed so that it gave a reasonable time in which to do some shopping etc, then it would be used. In Wheathill we have an active Parish group and we would publicise any new service thoroughly to help to stimulate usage. We have already lost the ring and ride - there will be no public transport at all after 4th September.

Tina Ranson

Editor’s note: It was not Bus Users Shropshire who axed the service, but a commercial decision by Arriva who only ran the 141 in order to get a bus over to Ludlow for their Ludlow - Knighton service. The 141 was made available to the public on its lunchtime trip back to Bridgnorth to change drivers. Now that Arriva have closed their Bridgnorth outstation they are providing the Ludlow - Knighton bus from their Shrewsbury depot so, regrettably, the 141 routing is no longer needed by them. In the days before Shropshire Link there was a regular and well used service on this route. We will explore whether school contract companies could provide a limited service at a cost that a consortium of parish councils could afford to support financially (as Shropshire Council have made it plain they are not prepared to do so).

DID YOU KNOW

There is no law requiring buses to carry mobility scooters; it is at the discretion of the bus company. Many bus companies will assess your mobility scooter and, if it meets their requirements, they will issue you with a permit allowing you to take your scooter on the bus. The requirement is usually that it is a ‘Class 2’ scoot- er (not a ‘Class 3’ that can do 6-8mph) and that it is no more than 600mm wide and 1,000mm long.

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Help us know which bus stops have out of date bus timetables Send to Bus Users Shropshire, c/o Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, 5 Castle Gates, Shrewsbury SY1 2AE

Your name and contact details (in case we need to clarify anything with you)

About the bus stop

Bus stop number on the pole or sign

Street address, town, post code if known

Any other description of location

Direction of travel

Which bus routes are affected?

Date when you saw this bus stop

About the bus stop

Bus stop number on the pole or sign

Street address, town, post code if known

Any other description of location

Direction of travel

Which bus routes are affected?

Date when you saw this bus stop

About the bus stop

Bus stop number on the pole or sign

Street address, town, post code if known

Any other description of location

Direction of travel

Which bus routes are affected?

Date when you saw this bus stop

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What is BUS?

Bus Users Shropshire is an action group of volunteers formed in 2011 as a response to big cuts in bus services. We are part of Bus Users UK. We don’t support any political party but we do want politicians locally and nationally to take an interest in buses. We are governed by a constitution and managed by an elected committee who implement our plans and report to meetings of all members where we share ideas and news.

Aims of BUS Our vision is for a well publicised comprehensive network of well used bus services that are reliable, affordable, convenient, safe and friendly. Buses should be quiet, clean, comfortable, and non-polluting. Information about bus services should be easy to understand with ‘live’ departure boards that display actual departure times.

We want Bus Users Shropshire:  to be a strong and influential voice for bus users in Shropshire;  to be representative of bus users across the whole of Shropshire;  to achieve a constructive relationship with bus companies, local government and other interested groups.

What BUS does  We campaign for improvements to services and proper funding and development  We talk regularly to Shropshire Council who recognise us as a representative body of bus passengers  We give feedback and ideas for improvement to bus operators as a ‘critical friend’

What you can do Bus services are still under threat. If you are not already part of BUS share your experiences as a bus user with us. A big membership also gives influence.  Become a Supporter. This costs you nothing.  Become a Member. Have your say. Get active! Modest subscription payable.

Contact details Bus Users Shropshire, c/o Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, 5 Castle Gates, Shrewsbury SY1 2AE Email: [email protected] Telephone/text: 07580 564458 Website: www.bususers.org/your-local-group/bus-users-shropshire

Links

Shropshire Public Transport News: http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/traveltransport.nsf/open/55E9DBAC31C79329802573C400554A54

Campaign for Better Transport http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/ http://thebuspeople.co.uk/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75F3CSZcCFs&feature=youtu.be

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