On Monday, Ludlow councillors management with the portfolio holder and deputy portfolio holder for transport along with council officers to discuss improvements Ludlow’s bus services. There has been widespread dissatisfaction with the bus services since new timetables were introduced by Shropshire Council last September. These were introduced without consultation with councillors by the previous council administration. The new administration is examining what changes can be made within existing resources with a view to beginning revised timetables in September.
There are lot of variables to juggle here and we have some constraints we can’t shift. But we also have opportunities. Our thoughts are helped by Ludlow 21’s Sustainable Transport Group which conducted a community consultation two weeks ago.
We can’t have any more money for buses. We don’t have it. We are restricted to three drivers. That means there need to be breaks for the routes during the day so that drivers can get their statutory breaks and take comfort breaks.
Timetables need to be coordinated so that passengers can transfer from one to the other, for example those travelling from south Ludlow to the hospital or Helana Lane. Or those catching the Shrewsbury bus.
The 703 lunchtime service should be abolished. I hope it will be and it is not included in the draft timetables I am drawing up with councillors and Minsterley Motors.
There is a clamour for the 701 to return to a 30 minute frequency. But it didn’t run at a 30 minute frequency before, despite the timetable. It was impractical to drive the route in 30 minutes if there was the slightest holdup. Buses would get so far behind schedule, the driver would have to drop a run to get back to timetable. I recall one driver missing a statutory break to try and keep the service running. Another telling me he ended up stressed and exhausted at the end of the day. This was before the route was extended to Rocks Green. We now plan to extend the route to Knights Way and we have to allow for that.
The 722 park and ride must remain a dedicated service because it was specified in the funding bid (Bus Service improvement Plan) to government. The bus is too big for the number of passengers, except at on busy weekends and during festivals and concerts. We need smaller more frequent shuttle bus that that can run continually, except for driver breaks. This is unlikely until next year.
The 702 is running okay. There is not enough passenger demand for a 30 minute service. It needs to be extended to Corn Mill Road on the Foldgate Lane development.
With both the 701 and 722, we are looking at whether we can increase frequency to 45 minutes rather than hourly. This would mean that buses would not depart at the same time every hour. So, for example. 09:00; 09:45; 10:30; 11:15; 12:00. And repeating. A constant complaint is that people don’t know when the bus is coming. There is a trade off between making timetables easier to understand and increasing the frequency of services.
If we agree a new timetable, it will be in place for a year. Procurement rules mean that the Ludlow bus contract will be put out to tender in the summer of 2026. We don’t yet know what level of service we can afford after next summer. There will be a public consultation at that point.
I am hoping we can agree new timetables early next week. It takes 90 days to introduce a new timetable because archaic rules imposed by the Traffic Commissioners which date back to age when information was exchanged on paper. We are aiming for the beginning of September as the start date for the new timetables.