Students, shift workers and city passengers to benefit from Worcester’s new bus services
Students and shift workers across Worcester are set to benefit from new bus services connecting the university and business parks to the rest of the city under a package of changes from First Worcester.
The bus operator has announced today that it is planning to introduce a new U1 service, which will serve students and other passengers every 30 minutes, with specially timed morning journeys to ensure students arrive at the university before the typical teaching day gets underway at 9.15am. The new route will complement the links already provided by the 31 and 31a services to ensure buses linking Worcester and the university every 15 minutes.
The proposed changes are part of a bi-annual review of routes by First Bus, and will come into force on Sunday 3rd September.
In other changes:
- There will be a slight change to the bus stop position for the 38 and X38 services at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital to improve its punctuality by helping it avoid traffic congestion in the area around the children’s hospital. The services will terminate at the accident and emergency (A&E) department during the afternoon peak hours to avoid the worst of the congestion and speed up journeys for hospital workers and patients.
- There will also be changes to some services to retail and business parks in the city to help shift workers get to and from work, including: an additional morning journey on the X44 to the Malvern Retail Park; an extra evening trip on the 35 service to the Shire Business Park; an extra morning journey on the 34 service to serve the Shire Business Park at 6am.
- There will be an improvement to the frequency of the 30 service between Dines Green and the city centre and the 35 service between Blackpole and the city centre between 11am and 2pm on Saturdays to cater for increased demand. Both services will move from every 15 minutes to approximately every 12 minutes.
Rob Pymm, Commercial Director for First West of England, said: “We’re delighted to announce this investment in improving bus services across Worcester. These changes will bring benefits to lots of our passengers, particularly students and shift workers by offering better connections to the city’s university and retail and business parks. By making some tweaks to other services, such as the improvements we’re making on the hospital route, we’ll also be improving punctuality for our customers.
“With adult single fares still £2 and our on-board Tap On, Tap Off technology making payment quick and easy, we’re making bus travel accessible to even more people.”
First Bus has consulted on the new routes with local organisations, including Worcestershire County Council and the Worcestershire Royal Hospital, ahead of them coming into effect in September.
PLEASE NOTE: Timetables for all new/changed routes will be available soon.