Rural communities could benefit from improved bus services (From Gazette Series)

Rural communities in Gloucestershire could benefit from improved bus services

8:30am Friday 17th February 2012 in Gloucestershire news By Liza-Jane Gillespie

RURAL communities could be about to benefit from better transport links to Dursley.

Gloucestershire County Council has confirmed that it has put out to tender for new and more frequent bus services between Dursley and outlying communities such as Berkeley, Newport, Sharpness and Stone.

Cllr Dennis Andrewartha, county councillor for Cam and Dursley, said the new bus routes would provide people living further away from amenities such as shops, libraries, the railway station and the new hospital with better access.

He said: "There seems to be agreement about buses in the area. Several concerns have been put to us and we’re listening."

It is believed one proposal includes a new Friday service between the Berkeley Vale and Dursley, as well as better routes linking Cam, Dursley town centre and Whiteway.

Cllr Andrewartha added: "When we are in the middle of cuts that are extremely painful throughout the county it is good that we can start to look at bus services and improve them and still save money."

The new bus services come just months after Gloucestershire County Council slashed its transport budget by 40 per cent to save £2 million, as part of the authority’s Meeting the Challenge programme.

Meeting the Challenge was launched to save the council £108 million over the next four years because of funding reductions from central government.

The county council currently subsidises 150 bus services across Gloucestershire.

Philip Williams, lead commissioner for community infrastructure at Gloucestershire County Council, confirmed the authority was considering new bus services for the area but said it was too early to reveal details.

He said: "We are proposing a number of changes to the bus services in the area. The proposals are currently out to tender and, if prices are affordable, the new services would start in April.

"The aim of the improved service is to improve links to the new Vale Hospital, Cam and Dursley railway station, Dursley Library, the two supermarkets, the post offices and Dursley bus station.

"The proposal is to do this with fewer buses and drivers in the hope of achieving lower costs. We will publicise the new services once we have agreed the final details."