AN OFF-PEAK bus service between a Herefordshire town and Worcester has been resurrected – but locals have been left questioning whether the solution is good enough.

Earlier this year, Bromyard-based DRM Bus axed its off-peak weekday services between the town and Worcester, leaving only a 7.05am outward bus and 5pm return.

That impacted villages along the route including Bringsty and Whitbourne.

But the solution has been for Herefordshire Council to cut subsidy for the 671 Bromyard to Ledbury Tuesday bus service and fund a 420 Bromyard to Worcester return bus on the same day instead.

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Coun Nigel Shaw, who represents the town, said: "I suppose one bus a week is better than none, but it hardly constitutes a regular service to and from Worcester where many residents go to shop, visit the hospital and catch the train or other long distance transport.

"I only hope that this one bus will be well utilised and so be able to continue."

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The new bus, run by First, is not benefitting from any subsidy from Worcestershire County Council – which funds a 423 service from Knightwick, near Bromyard, to Worcester instead.

That bus service runs several times a day, Conservative councillor Nigel Shaw said, and it was "a shame" that there wasn't "joined up thinking" between the two councils to fund an extension to this service so it could operate to and from Bromyard.

"This is the solution that I would prefer to see adopted as it would also link the villages of Alfrick and Leigh in Worcestershire with Bromyard," he said.

"The late David Morris, who ran DRM and whose funeral I attended on Monday, kept his loss-making service running in the hope that passengers would return after Covid.

"There is universal lament when these rural bus services cease but when so few people use them their subsidy is called into question.

"I hope that this new service will be welcomed by passengers in Bromyard and Whitbourne and that gets well used."

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Simon Carter, who regularly used the 420 services before they were axed, said the reintroduction of the off-peak buses to Worcester was warmly welcomed.

But from November 7, First Bus's timetable shows it will start running a service from Bromyard to Worcester at 9.45am and a return journey at midday – but only on Tuesdays.

He said that only gives passengers an hour and 25 minutes in Worcester, and waiting for the 5pm return bus "might be a long day for let's say a pensioner or a bus user with disabilities".

"It would have perhaps been better to have scheduled the return trip between 1pm and 2pm which would have given users a little bit longer in the city," he said.

"However, this intervention by Herefordshire Council and First is an important step for Bromyard and the villages along the route, as they will be reconnected with the city."