Bridgnorth's bus service halved this week

And now Bridgnorth Community Transport Group has said it may have to step in and run a service itself, in a bid to help residents.

The route 101, run by Central Buses, previously ran every half an hour.

But as of Monday the service is now hourly.

The service runs from Bridgnorth Sainsbury's through High Street, Low Town, Danesford, The Grove, the Severn Valley Railway, back to Sainsbury's, then to Innage Lane, Oak Gardens, Racecourse Drive and back to Sainsbury's.

Kay Kightley, office manager at Bridgnorth Community Transport Group, said the group "desperately" needs more money.

She said: "We were making inquiries last week, we were told by Shropshire Council it was going to remain in place.

"I believe it's an important service for residents.

"We run a community bus but we send it out to the villages to bring people into Bridgnorth. So we might have to run a service within Bridgnorth, but we've got to be careful within our operating licence that we're not in competition with main services.

"We could operate a dial-a-ride service where it picks people up from their home.

"But we always need more volunteers and we desperately need more money.

"If we'll need someone on duty all the time we may have to pay someone, volunteers can only do so much."

Stephen Robbins, chairman of Bridgnorth Chamber of Commerce, said that it was "disappointing" that the service has been reduced.

He added: "The 101 is the town service which operates between High Town, Low Town and the Grove.

"It is very disappointing that the service has been reduced to run hourly, as there are residents who will struggle to get about because of this.

"Public transport for Bridgnorth has been poor for many years, but we have seen a number of reductions or disruptions in services more recently which negatively impacts on the town.

"It is unfortunate that rural areas which most need good public transport links often fail to receive them because they are not profitable. There is a failure to adequately consider the effect on the local economy of lack of investment in this area."

Mayor Ron Whittle added: "The reduction in bus services is going to lead to some inconvenience to passengers.

"The complaints we do get from passengers is that our services are not running on time.

"From what I've seen myself it's to a great extent elderly passengers who use the services, but not exclusively by any means."

Shropshire Council said that the service has been changed as an "interim measure" until July 29.

James Willocks, Shropshire Council’s transport commissioning manager, said: “Shropshire Council have received notification from the bus company that runs this service that they were unable to achieve the timings on the route, and as an interim measure have agreed to the timetable change from June 4 until July 29.”