Passengers fed up with 'poor, expensive and unreliable' bus services
The majority of bus users in Shropshire think services are 'poor' with hundreds complaining of expensive fares and unreliability, the results of a poll have found.
Shropshire Council asked people to share their views of buses and public transport in a survey, as well as improvements they would like to see.
A bid is expected to be made to the Government’s Bus Back Better fund to transform services across the county.
More than 2,000 people shared feedback in the survey and the interim findings have been published in a report to Shropshire Council's communities overview committee, which meets next week.
More than half of respondents – 1,155 – rated bus services in the county as 'poor', with 612 saying they were 'fair', 212 rated them 'good', 43 'very good' and 13 as 'excellent'.
Some respondents said services were "too expensive and too infrequent” and complained of "poor frequency, reliability and route options”.
Others criticised services for starting "too late" and ending "too early” and called for more buses.
The main concern raised was about buses not running at suitable times, according to the survey – 1,379 respondents shared this concern.
That was followed by buses not being frequent enough (1,105), concerns over the availability of services (953), and fare prices being 'too expensive' (734).
People also wanted to see a single website for information about all buses in Shropshire.
Earlier this year, Boris Johnson unveiled an ambitious shake-up of the bus sector, which will see lower, simpler flat fares in towns and cities, turn-up-and-go services on main routes, and new flexible services to reconnect communities.
The government’s new bus strategy, backed by £3 billion of investment, aims to see passengers across England benefiting from more frequent, more reliable, easier to use and understand, better coordinated and cheaper bus services.
