HEREFORD City Council is forging ahead with its £2.4 million plan for a new bus service from the leisure pool to the train station – a journey of 1.3 miles.

The vision is part of the #StrongerHereford vision for the city, which is seeing the Government hand out £22 million for 15 different projects.

One of those projects is the Hereford “City Zipper”, an electric bus service connecting Hereford’s transport hubs with its cultural, retail and hospitality quarters.

The City Zipper’s aim is to showcase quality zero-emission public transport which, through its accessibility and convenience, will encourage people not to use their cars when accessing the core of the city, the board behind the project said.

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A turn-up-and-go service will minimise the need for users to consult a timetable, it added.

The board's vision says a person can arrive in Hereford on a rural or inter-urban bus and find it easy to interchange for the hospital. Or, it says, visitors arriving by train would hop on and off the service to reach attractions, shops, inns and cafés in different parts of the city.

The board also sees driver training including a thorough knowledge of the city and customer care.

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The route will include the Station Medical Centre, Hereford Transport Hub and railway station, student accommodation, County Hospital, the Country and City Bus Stations, the Town Hall, St Owen Street, Maylord Shopping Centre, High Town, Broad Street, Hereford Leisure pool and Old Market retail complex.

All those destinations are within 1.3 miles of each other.

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Hereford City Council has since agreed to order three buses for the service.

The initial plan said the total cost of the project would be £2.4 million, with £1.8 million coming from Government funding.

That, the board said, would buy four electric buses including energy supply, design and marketing, training, bus stops, shelters, and real-time information.

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