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Vale Public Transport Group - Bus Routes in the Vale of , February 2019

Some considerations on existing services and what could be done to improve them.

Area and services considered The area covered is that centred on and Evesham and broadly that with which the Vale Public Transport Group is concerned.

The services are the regular and more frequent services. These are provided with at least two buses per day in the same direction.

What is excluded? School services are not specifically considered although many of the services considered include school services. Buses running once a week, National Express, and community buses are not included.

Description of the routes Figure 1 shows the routes serving Evesham and Pershore. Also included are the 32 and 350 routes running into Worcester for completeness. The routes may be categorised as follows:

Intertown routes: X50: Hourly, direct from Worcester via Pershore to Evesham. This route only passes one substantial village, . X18: Half Hourly, fairly direct from Evesham to Stratford upon Avon. This service does pass through local villages and and the buses do use a non direct route involving further mileage. 247: Hourly from Evesham to . This route serves a number of villages and is not direct. 540: Hourly, Evesham to . This route serves a number of villages and is not direct.

Town to Villages routes: 552 and 553: The hourly 552, clockwise and the 553 anti-clockwise run the same routes from Evesham serving the villages to the east of Evesham, including , and . Both services are circular services. R4: Two hourly, this is a fairly direct service running from Evesham through to Broadway and extending to .

Pershore to Evesham Village Hopper Services: 564 and 565: These services run a basic twice or three times daily. The 564 is clockwise, the 565 anti-clockwise using a large circular route taking in altogether 18 villages, as shown on Figure 2 and Figure 3. (These figures are designed as posters for display in bus shelters). Since the 50’s services provided by First were reduced in 2018, the services have been amended so that the route on Monday, Wednesday and Friday is different from that offered on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. This 2 permits those villages previously served by the 50’s still to have a bus service, albeit on alternate days.

Town Services (not shown on Figure 1) 566: Hourly, the 566 is a circular route serving Pershore town and extending to . 582: Hourly, the 582 is a circular route contained within Evesham, serving the town centre and the west and south of the town.

Some comments on existing services X50 and X18: Both of these routes are provided by national bus companies, First and Stagecoach. Yet the routes are quite different. Whilst the X50 route uses the main road and does not pass through villages the X18 is more circuitous through Harvington and Salford Priors. In addition, the X18 within Evesham is not direct.

Circular Routes There are six circular routes in this report, the 552 & 553, 564 & 565, 566 and 582. It is suggested that the public can find it difficult to understand these routes especially for the 552 & 553 and 564 & 565. Simplification would be helpful.

564 and 565: The complexity of these services is additionally puzzling and it is difficult for the ordinary mortal to understand at what times the buses run. It is suggested that an easy simplification could be introduced by renaming the services as one route for the northern side (Figure 2) and another for the southern side (Figure 3).

Services within Evesham Evesham services are complex partly because of the one way system in place. This means that allbuses from the Town Centre going towards the east need to take a circuitous route. In addition, some routes take other circuitous routes within the town before leaving for the villages. An example (Figure 4) is the 247.

Evesham has seen substantial development of the outskirts and although some new infrastructure has been installed within the Road estate (a closure except for buses and two bus shelters), bus routes have not yet been changed to use this.

Demand for bus services It would be useful to have statistics from County Council on bus passenger numbers. Without these statistics, recourse is made to population (numbers eligible to vote).

Figure 5 shows the local villages grouped into areas which could be served by existing or recast bus services centred on either Evesham or Pershore. The villages to the north, east and south of Evesham are catered for by existing services, but those between Evesham and Pershore and surrounding Pershore are not well served.

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Possible Changes to Pershore and Evesham Town services. For Pershore, it has been suggested that Wick and the nearby Pershore Horticultural College could be included within a revamped Pershore Town service For Evesham, a second service could be introduced serving the east side of the town and possibly The Valley to the north. It is possible that some of the existing services such as the X18 and 247 could be made more direct within Evesham.

Replacements for 564 and 565. Four new routes are suggested, one based on Evesham, three on Pershore. Each route would be a simple out and back route based on the settlement areas shown in Figure 5. These routes are similar to the R4, Evesham to Willersey service.

Evesham 1: This route (Figure 6) attempts to combine the villages north of Evesham. It would serve the new retirement village at Wood Norton. It starts at , although this is served by the 350, the Evesham 1 needs a substantial village to terminate. Pershore 1. This route (Figure 7) attempts to combine the villages north of Pershore. It starts at Inkberrow, although this is served by the 350, the Pershore 1 also needs a substantial village to terminate. Pershore 2: This route (Figure 8) attempts to serve the villages south and south west of Pershore. is included as it does not have a service except for school journeys. Pershore 3: This route (Figure 9) is a short one. is included as it currently only has one bus a day (the 349). Really this route could become the basis of a modification to the Plumline 566 service.

Health Warnings  Most of the times shown are based on existing timetables but some estimates have been made.  The routes shown are mostly used by existing services, but some places may not be suitable in practice for larger bus vehicles.

Conclusions and the way forward This paper is an attempt to understand the current provision which is complicated. It is felt that future services should be easy to understand and well promoted.

The four new routes which are proposed in replacement to the 564, 565 and possibly the 566 are only examples of what could be done. All routes would need to be driven and checked. Other ideas are welcomed.

In Evesham some of the existing routes could be rationalised and there is potential for a new Town route, probably also serving ‘The Valley’ retail park.

Please note any views expressed are not necessarily the views of the Vale Public Transport Group.

Colin Tether 22nd February 2019 Figure 1 Figure 1

515 1,82

Bredicot 350 2 hours 18 901 368

Spetchley 51 499 128 Other Town and Parishes 144 334 Abberton (Only those over 500) 56 Churchill 959 28 564 3 p day 266 X18 0.5 hour 1,976 Whittington Droitwich 18,339 831 565 3 p day 122 Hanbury 777 Norton 190 Hindbury 803 778 518 Harlebury 2,304 574 Peopleton North Claines 2,937 497 Saleway 962 32 0.5 hour 394 144 464 647 1,332 1,335 247 1 hour 187 778

138 498 545 769 683 1,211 722 1,104

X50 1 hour 492 6,189 Vale Public Transport Group 377 543 105 Bus services from Evesham and 216 Pershore. 19,614 366 964 1,590

Birlingham 460 2,103 552, 553 1 hour School services not shown. 283 27 566, Pershore and 582, Evesham 169 not shown 251 565 3 p day Netherton

600 564 & 565 services too compli- 1025 439 R4 2 hour cated to comprehend 564 3 p day

183 South 250 Town and Parish Sizes 203 540 1 hour Figures show number of people 678 630 Westmancote 190 by parish listed on the September 259 2018 Electoral role. This excludes Grafton 671 Prepared by Colin Tether 312 163 56 2,671 any person under 18 and other- 1,91 Based on Wychavon District Council Analysis wise not entitled to vote January 2019 53 460 Figure 2 564 & 565 Village Hopper Services All buses stop in Take a wonderful bus journey into the Inkberrow heart of rural Worcestershire.

Why not stop in a village and visit a pub?

564 564 565

565

Via Pinvin Mon, Wed, Fri

564

565 564 565 Via Tue, Thu, Sat

From Pershore to Evesham 564 bus leaves Broad Street at 10:05, 13:34. The 17:50 terminates at Inkberrow

From Evesham to Pershore 565 bus leave High Street at 09:50, 13:10 & 15:38 (13:28 on school days)

Journey time is about 90 minutes between Pershore and Evesham. Reference must be made to current timetables to check on times.

Vale Public Transport Group, 21st February 2019 Figure 3 Figure3 From Pershore to Evesham 565 bus leaves Broad Street at 09:00, . 564 & 565 Village Hopper Services Mon, Wed, Fri: 09:00, 11:33, 14:23, 15:50 Tue, Thu, Sat: 09:00, 11:40, 14:30, 15:50

Take a wonderful bus journey into the From Evesham to Pershore heart of rural Worcestershire. 564 bus leave High Street at 09:00, 11:43 & 14:43 Journey time is about 90 minutes between Pershore and Evesham. Reference must be made to current timetables to check on times. Why not stop in a village and visit a pub?

Pershore 565 564 Wick Via Wick Tue, Thu, Sat & 15:50 565 565 Mon—Sat 564 565 564 Evesham 564 564 565 565 564 565 565 565 564 564 564 All buses stop in Via Eckington Mon, Wed, Fri

Vale Public Transport Group, 21st February 2019 Major Retail 247—Diamond Figure 4 Major Schools Monday to Saturday

Health & Leisure Every 60 minutes

Transport Hub 07:40 to 18:56 Figure5 Figure 5 Villages Grouped showing suggested 515 1,821 hub, Evesham or Pershore

Bredicot 18 901 8148 Population in group 368 247 of villages Spetchley 552 499 51 2789 128 553 Existing bus services, 144 334 Abberton if any 56 Churchill 28 1707 266 Whittington 831 White Ladies 122 Aston Norton 190 3310 778 518 X18 574 1,200 Peopleton 497

394 144 464 647 1,332 Wadborough 1,335 1690 187 778 2106 138 498 8148 1757 545 769 247 683 552 722 1,211 1,104 553 6,189 492 377 Blackminster 543 105 Besford 216 366 19,614 964 1,590 Birlingham 460 2,103 283 271 Bricklehampton 251 169 Netherton 29 600 4401 1025 439 3114 R4

2523 183 678 Willesey South Wychavon 600 250 540 Town and Parish Sizes 203

Figures show number of people 630 Westman- 190 by parish listed on the September cote Overbury 2018 Electoral role. This excludes Grafton 671 Prepared by Colin Tether 312 163 56 2,671 Based on Wychavon any person under 18 and other- 1,912 Conderton District Council Analysis wise not entitled to vote 53 January 2019

460 Figure 6 Proposed Place Miles Time Inkberrow 0 0 Evesham 1 4.7 14 Service Lenchwick 7.5 23 12.0 32 Charlton 13.6 36 Evesham 17.0 50 Figure 7 Proposed Pershore 1 Service

Place Miles Time Inkberrow 0 0 3.5 10 6.2 19 Throckmorton 7.6 23 Wyre Piddle 10.0 30 Pershore 13.0 40 Figure 8 Proposed Place Miles Mins Elmley Castle 0 0 Pershore 2 Little Comberton 1.8 3 Service Great Comberton 2.9 6 Eckington 5.8 16 Birlingham 7.6 21 Defford 8.9 25 Pershore 11.7 35

Birlingham Figure 9 Peopleton Place Miles Time Proposed Peopleton 0 0 Pershore 3 Drakes Broughton 1.8 5 Service Wadborough 3.4 11 Pershore 6.9 20 Wick 8.8 30

Wadborough