From tomorrow, 30 November, there will be minor changes to the Ludlow bus services introduced in September. The 701 North Town service will remain unchanged and will continue to run hourly, as will the 702 South Town service. The 722 Park and Ride service will continue with the existing timetable, calling at all stops into and out of town as it does at present.
The 703 lunchtime North and South town service will change. The 12.00 midday departure from town will, as before, not go to Rocks Green. However, on the journey back into town it will travel via Steventon and Old Street. The 13.00 service from town will call at Parys Road, Tollgate and Vashon Close. It will not call at Steventon and Old Street.
New timetables are due to be put in place today. Let me know if timetables are missing.
It is fair to say that the introduction of the new timetables in September was not well advertised. Many bus stops did not get new timetables. Lessons have been learnt from that botched exercise and revised timetables should be in place by tomorrow. Passengers have adapted to the new timetables but not all are happy, especially over the long gaps in service over lunchtime.
701 North Town Service. A significant complaint is the reduction of the 701 north town service from two buses an hour to one. This was an essential change as the route is too long and too complex to be driven in half an hour except in quiet periods. As a result, more than one third of buses used to run late. Lateness here is defined as more than five minutes late. The drivers were also driving flat out, which is not desirable. Some scheduled departures were scrapped. The new one hour frequency works more smoothly and allows Rocks Green to be included in the route. I hope that this service can be extended to Knights Way in the near future.
702 South Town Service. The 702 (was 722) arrives now arrives on time and includes Lloyds Way for the first time. I will be pressing for this to serve Ludlow Green in the near future.
722 Park and Ride Service. A dedicated park and ride bus has been on Ludlow’s wish list for at least a decade. The new 722 service uses a brand new liveried bus, which is good for the image of our town. It is a very comfortable ride and has sufficient capacity for peak season. And you can charge your phone if you are desperate and have a charging cable. In recent years, the park and ride buses have not had adequate capacity and have failed to pick up all the passengers at the Eco Park at peak periods. That was not good for the image and trade of our town. There have been complaints the new service is often running empty. That will not be the case during the run up to Christmas and the New Year. Or in the Easter to September season. The bus has been introduced at low season in order to have the service ready for peak season and to ensure grant funds were spent in a timely fashion.
Funding. Shropshire attracts additional funding through its Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP). Part of a government BSIP grant of £1.8m in July has been used to fund improvements to Ludlow bus services. The dedicated park and ride bus was highlighted in the BSIP submission. The BSIP bid was for £43 million to fund a total reworking of the county’s bus services. Regrettably, very little of this has been awarded. The government recently announced an additional £2.5 million funding to the council, and a total of £3.1 million when support to local bus companies is included. How this will be spent has yet to be announced.
The Lunchtime Lacuna. The biggest problem the town faces is that there are few buses over lunch. The main problem here is the lack of finance to employ a relief driver over lunch. Use of a relief driver hasn’t worked since the pandemic due to the driver shortage. Very often, the 701 and former 722 routes were combined. That combination is now formally the 703 service. This is far from ideal and am pressing to get hourly services to all areas of town through lunch. That will depend on securing another slice of BSIP the money and identifying sufficient drivers.
Delays and diversions. Since a truck all but demolished a house and severely damaged the Three Fishes pub on 11 November, there have been delays to the 435 Ludlow Shrewsbury service, with some cancellations. These have eased this week with a shortening of the length of the A49 restricted to one lane. It may be months before the lane restriction is lifted because the vibrations of traffic could cause further building collapse. Temeside will be closed until 6 December, hopefully no longer. The 435 will depart from Tesco until the road is reopened. Old Street will not be served by town buses until Temeside reopens.
Ludlow All Town 703 lunch service