THE future of a troubled town centre bus service in Ludlow has been secured.

In a move that has been welcomed by Andy Boddington, who represents Ludlow on Shropshire Council, Minsterley Motors has been reappointed to run services.

Councillor Boddington describes the development as ‘seriously good news.’

The service that has been confirmed links Ludlow town centre with the Park and Ride at the Eco Park.

He says that improvements to the service, that include better access for disabled people because of the low platform, will be continued but that some problems remain.

“Shropshire Council has agreed to renew Minsterley Motors’ contract to run Ludlow’s town services – the 701 and the 722 which serves the park and ride,” said Cllr Boddington.

“This is seriously good news and I know that the decision will be popular with bus users.

“We’ve had more than our fair share of bus troubles in Ludlow. There was a time when buses had no disabled or buggy access and broke down with depressing regularity.

“After R&B withdrew from running the services, Minsterley stepped in at short notice. The quality of service was a revelation with new, low floor buses and friendly bus drivers.

“Mind you, there were still problems. At one point we had bus services reduced because they were too popular.

“The routing was all ’round the Wrekin. There were no services to Tollgate Road. And we still had a few bus breakdowns though Minsterley has a spare low floor bus on hand to keep the service going.”

One of the changes that Cllr Boddington says would further improve the service would be to make some modifications to the timetable.

At present the two services that take different routes into the town leave at the same time and Cllr Boddington believes that it would be better if the were 15 minutes apart.

“In February this year, we settled down with the 701 and 722 services,” Cllr Boddington added.

“That works just fine, although it would be better if the buses left the town centre 15 minutes apart rather than at the same time. But the quality of the service is excellent.

“Shropshire Council has confirmed that Minsterley has retained the contract to run the town services. That’s excellent news. We’ve had too much chopping and changing on Ludlow’s buses.”

In another development for public transport Worcestershire County Council has announced that it is to re-tender for the service that links Ludlow with Kidderminster.

The service is currently operated by Diamond.

“Worcestershire County Council has been re-tendering the 2L Ludlow to Kidderminster,” Cllr Boddington said.

“The current operator Diamond tried to expand the service but it has proved unreliable.

“We should know shortly whether Diamond will retain the contract, or whether a new operator will step in.”