Biggest bus timetable improvements for 10 years coming in the new year

First Worcester and Worcestershire County Council have announced changes to services that will see one of the biggest improvements for people travelling by bus in the past 10 years.

Improvements to the services include increased service frequency, new peak time buses, new Sunday services and later evening buses on various routes across the county.

Most of the improvements are part of the council's Bus Service Improvement Plan, which aims to further improve bus provision in the county. It focuses on improving frequency, reliability and punctuality of bus services as well as integrating services with other modes of travel, improving services in rural areas and enhancing infrastructure such as bus shelters and real time information displays.

Councillor Marc Bayliss, Worcestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, said: “The improvements to timetables provide a huge boost to bus users and a much broader service across the county. These extended services should make bus travel a good option to travel around the county and beyond, even for those who don’t currently take the bus.

“We want the traditional bus service to link in with the successful Worcestershire on Demand service and to link into other modes of transport, such as rail, to provide a really comprehensive service. We want to give people a real choice about how they travel around the county and wider.

“And with the additional funding announced recently to support our Bus Service Improvement Plan, these improvements to services in the New Year will now be part of a plan for local services to be much bigger and better over the coming months and years.”

Rob Pymm, Commercial Director for First Worcester, said: “This is a really exciting time for bus services in the Worcester area. By working closely with Worcestershire County Council we’ve been able to further expand the bus network in the county, and connect even more communities to public transport thanks to government funding to support the council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).

“In addition to these BSIP service changes, I’m really pleased that we are also investing in further improvements to lots of our existing routes by adding journeys in the mornings, evenings and at weekends. All-in-all this is great news for Worcestershire, and demonstrates our commitment to further growing the services we offer to encourage even more people to travel sustainably and try the bus.”

More information about new services and changes to existing services from Sunday, January 5 can be viewed on First Worcester's website.