Improving Herefordshire buses

[GWVillager]

My word, buses are terrible in Herefordshire. Really, there are only a few areas that can compete. A bus every two hours on the main routes between large towns, and operating between about 9AM and 5PM (it goes without saying, Sunday services are a rarity, even on city routes)

If that wasn’t enough, many lines have closed over the past few years with no adequate replacement. The buses themselves are old, battered and have very Spartan interiors by UK standards (looking at you DRM), and fares are by no means cheap either.

It seems almost everything about them is simply not good enough, and I have been thinking for a while how to rectify this. Long story short, hopefully someone with more knowledge on this than me can advise on what ought to be done to give the county a viable alternative to the car.

 

[Man of Kent]

My word, buses are terrible in Herefordshire. Really, there are only a few areas that can compete. A bus every two hours on the main routes between large towns, and operating between about 9AM and 5PM (it goes without saying, Sunday services are a rarity, even on city routes)

If that wasn’t enough, many lines have closed over the past few years with no adequate replacement. The buses themselves are old, battered and have very Spartan interiors by UK standards (looking at you DRM), and fares are by no means cheap either.

It seems almost everything about them is simply not good enough, and I have been thinking for a while how to rectify this. Long story short, hopefully someone with more knowledge on this than me can advise on what ought to be done to give the county a viable alternative to the car.

I'd suggest starting by reading the council's unfunded Bus Service Improvement Plan
www.herefordshire.gov.uk/bsip

 

[rcro]

Funding would make a difference. Unfortunately there’s no money for councils as it is before factoring in Herefordshire Council isn’t Conservative any more. With Leominster, at least, being one of the safest Tory seats in the UK (and with an MP who has achieved the sum total of nothing in 21 years) - I can’t see the government showing any interest in making anything better here. It really is some achievement there are still buses at all, even if totally useless for most people.

Buses in Herefordshire have been on the slide ever since 2004. My memory is a bit rusty but recall the council had been Lib Dem and fairly liberal at splashing the cash and making use of government grants, and then was voted out and austerity came in several years ahead of the rest of the country.

It’s a little sad that public transport in Hereford does better from the Welsh Government than it does from the UK. Same with the trains - for many years Central Trains had a pathological fear of going west of Ledbury, leaving just the Cardiff trains. West Midlands Trains aren’t bothering with the service at all (and same for Worcester…) on non-strike days so seems there’s still no interest in providing a service.

I’m not sure if Hereford’s just forgotten, deliberately ignored, or the rest of England genuinely believe it’s part of Wales. So I can’t see anything changing. At best, there might be a bypass built in my lifetime but stumbling block seems to be nobody wants to pay for it…

 

[Simon75]

2015 First Midland, closed and abandoned Hereford

 

[GWVillager]

I'd suggest starting by reading the council's unfunded Bus Service Improvement Plan
www.herefordshire.gov.uk/bsip

Yes I’ve read that, but in my humble opinion it isn’t good enough, and seems unlikely to happen anyway. Several years down the line and the service has only got worse. The circular routes proposed turned out to be and hourly or half hourly one directional loops that take ludicrously long to get anywhere, and (of course) no Sunday or evening buses.

 

[kijeta]

As your southwestern neighbours, I must say, Herefordshire buses are already quite good from a rural standard. Of course it is not comparable to larger cities, but Herefordshire has free weekend service and also sunday services, whereas the only Sunday services within Monmouthshire are either from Herefordshire (Hereford or Ross) or Traws services.

Being in England, Herefordshire passenger can use ENCTS. Our Welsh equivalent isn't on par at all. (Although we do have an overbudget children's version, but that isn't great at all, at least not compared to free weekend services)

I often find myself going to Herefordshire on a Sunday, just because there are simply no inter-town links on sunday here in Mons. First time coming here from a large city, I was baffled to see the signage on the bus stops (which btw, we don't have in Mons) saying "Friday only service", mostly from Nick Maddy (who doesn't have the friendliest drivers, from my experience); not to mention the laugh I guffawed seeing the route 458, with a monthly service.

There's also the dial-and-ride system, which I've never tried, but I don't see it being much better than the "grass routes" system we have here, in other words, non-existent.

But for a rural county like Herefordshire, I think you're already doing great. At least, from Mons' perspective you are...

 

[GWVillager]

As your southwestern neighbours, I must say, Herefordshire buses are already quite good from a rural standard. Of course it is not comparable to larger cities, but Herefordshire has free weekend service and also sunday services, whereas the only Sunday services within Monmouthshire are either from Herefordshire (Hereford or Ross) or Traws services.

Being in England, Herefordshire passenger can use ENCTS. Our Welsh equivalent isn't on par at all. (Although we do have an overbudget children's version, but that isn't great at all, at least not compared to free weekend services)

I often find myself going to Herefordshire on a Sunday, just because there are simply no inter-town links on sunday here in Mons. First time coming here from a large city, I was baffled to see the signage on the bus stops (which btw, we don't have in Mons) saying "Friday only service", mostly from Nick Maddy (who doesn't have the friendliest drivers, from my experience); not to mention the laugh I guffawed seeing the route 458, with a monthly service.

There's also the dial-and-ride system, which I've never tried, but I don't see it being much better than the "grass routes" system we have here, in other words, non-existent.

But for a rural county like Herefordshire, I think you're already doing great. At least, from Mons' perspective you are...

I must say I haven’t really been to Monmouthshire that much by bus, probably for obvious reasons on consideration! That was perhaps a bit of an omission, I only compared Herefordshire in English statistics as they were the most readily available. Anyhow, it is the same general area, there do appear to be issues West of the Malvern Hills.

Funding would make a difference. Unfortunately there’s no money for councils as it is before factoring in Herefordshire Council isn’t Conservative any more. With Leominster, at least, being one of the safest Tory seats in the UK (and with an MP who has achieved the sum total of nothing in 21 years) - I can’t see the government showing any interest in making anything better here. It really is some achievement there are still buses at all, even if totally useless for most people.

Buses in Herefordshire have been on the slide ever since 2004. My memory is a bit rusty but recall the council had been Lib Dem and fairly liberal at splashing the cash and making use of government grants, and then was voted out and austerity came in several years ahead of the rest of the country.

It’s a little sad that public transport in Hereford does better from the Welsh Government than it does from the UK. Same with the trains - for many years Central Trains had a pathological fear of going west of Ledbury, leaving just the Cardiff trains. West Midlands Trains aren’t bothering with the service at all (and same for Worcester…) on non-strike days so seems there’s still no interest in providing a service.

I’m not sure if Hereford’s just forgotten, deliberately ignored, or the rest of England genuinely believe it’s part of Wales. So I can’t see anything changing. At best, there might be a bypass built in my lifetime but stumbling block seems to be nobody wants to pay for it…

(Sorry for the late reply). Yeah, the county seems to be a bit politically unambitious. I have to agree with you on the indecisiveness over why Herefordshire seems a bit overlooked, but the issue of paying for improvements doesn’t quite add up if you ask me. Council tax is really quite high, yet there doesn’t seem to be much spending on anything at all. I’ve heard that they’re trying to pay off debt, but exactly what that debt was incurred for I don’t exactly know.

Anyhow, that’s not really my question, I ought to have worded it a bit better. How can a county like Herefordshire improve the bus service and ridership on a budget, or without “pouring money in”, so to speak? As you say, it seems unlikely for many to be willing to pay for a whole fleet of new buses or the like.