Currently buses service the park and ride every half an hour, though sometimes the gap extends to fifty minutes. And it can take up to half-an-hour to get back from the town centre to the car park.
Many visitors have been appalled by poor timetable, let alone the scrappy state of the buses, some of which entered service in 1978. Several have said that they will never return to Ludlow again.
Now the park and ride will be served by just one bus an hour – and it will still take half-an-hour to get back from town. This level of service will only drive tourists away Ludlow.
Shropshire Council should close the Eco Park park and ride this weekend, and not reopen it until the bus service is resolved. It needs to cover over the park and ride signs approaching the town.
Hopefully a new regular bus service will be announced within weeks. We will be in desperate need of it by the time the tourists season kicks into gear in April.
But given the mess that Tory-controlled Shropshire Council has made of Ludlow’s bus services so far, I am not holding my breath.