£1.1M to boost bus use in Herefordshire

Details have been revealed of how £1.1 million will be spent improving Herefordshire’s bus services.

Herefordshire Council has committed to spend the capital funding from the government’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) in the current financial year.

The largest share, put at £650,000, will go on refurbishing main bus stops in the county’s market towns.

A further £150,000 will go on “real-time information” screens at stops, and the same sum on route planning and management software.

A review of adjusting traffic lights to give priority to buses will get £80,000, while the remaining £50,000 goes on “specialist consultancy services”.

The improvements “will enhance the experience of bus travel for all users, as well as encouraging greater patronage across the network”, the council said.

It cautioned that “there is not the time nor the resource to reinvigorate every bus stop in the county”, but added it was “confident” of being able to improve all market town bus interchanges over the next two years thanks to further expected funding.

The council’s report on its spending plans said that during a consultation with councillors, “members from the Green Party and Conservative Party said they did not want money to be spent on consultants”.