Anger as Shrewsbury Sunday bus routes axed
Sunday buses in Shrewsbury will be axed – despite pleas from campaigners that it will stop the elderly and vulnerable from accessing health and medical services.
Shropshire Council will no longer subsidise six routes which run in the town on Sundays, which it says cost the authority £44,620 a year.
The services will run for the last time on March 29 as officials at Shirehall have said there is no more funding to run them.
It comes despite Pam Moseley, a Shropshire councillor and member of Bus Users Shropshire, claiming the move will punish the elderly and vulnerable.
The routes, which made 32,800 passenger trips one year, link the town centre with Monkmoor, Gains Park, the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, Radbrook Green, Harlescott, Sutton Farm and Bayston Hill.
The Sunday routes were cancelled in 2011 before they were re-introduced in 2013 thanks to a Local Sustainable Transport Fund grant. Councillor Moseley said: "Those who rely on the bus for shopping, worship, or leisure purposes will be affected, particularly youngsters, older people and those on low incomes."
Peter Gilbert, of Bus Users Shropshire, said people were angry at the prospect of the routes being cut and said Shropshire Council should have done more to publicise the routes when they were re-introduced two years ago.
Claire Wild, Shropshire Council cabinet member for transport, said: "Unfortunately a service without the subsidy – which is over £44,500 a year – is not sustainable."
The routes include the number 1 from Gains Park to Telford, the 8A from Shrewsbury to Shrewsbury Business Park, the 20 from Shrewsbury to Radbrook Green, the 24 Shrewsbury to Harlescott Tesco (via Moston Road), the 25 from Shrewsbury to Harlescott Tesco (via Sultan Road), and the 27 to Bayston Hill.
