MidlandRed.net

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/24 ... stershire/
I very much hope that Worcester, as the central hub of many South Worcestershire bus services gets LOTS of £ from the various government funding streams, and that any £ is used in the most sensible, intelligent way, and not frittered away - -

I don't know how the insurance cost, high wages (now needed to get drivers and engineers), and the £800 PA per employee extra N.Insurance contributions are going to fit-in with SUSTAINABLE service improvements !

I still see people looking at damaged, out of date timetables at bus stops -- -- which I think is a damning indictment of the present system and "players".

Likewise, the two councils and Governments, continue to develop areas (housing etc) but not the roads -- putting paces like Worcester in an ever-tightening strait-jacket so that ever worsening traffic jams mean reliable bus services are impossible and Bromsgrove and Droitwich; Evesham and Pershore; Malvern and other places are all adversely affected !

The subject of damaged / missing bus stop signs / shelters in and around Kidderminster has recently been discussed on the Rotala Management thread on Tony Hunters wmbusphotos site. Simon Dunn of Rotala has said that some bus stops 'belong' to the County Council and some to the District Council . . . . . Rotala have offered to take over responsibility of the maintenance of the WCC owned sites but WCC declined the offer !

Since deregulation, maintenance of all bus stop infrastructure that isn't on private land, such as bus stations, is the responsibility of the County Council. In some areas the work is done by contractors or bus operators, but this is only when all parties agree and if that work is not done for any reason the County Council still have responsibility.

Examples are Gloucestershire and Herefordshire that do all the work themselves, while Oxfordshire provide equipment to operators to do basic maintenance and subcontract bigger work to an external company. Meanwhile, Wilkshire write into tender contracts that the winning operator must also oversee the upkeep of bus stops.

To make matters worse, some district or borough councils will install new shelters or stops using their local budget, but will not take responsibility for the maintenance as they wrongly assume the County Council will automatically adopt it. This leads to some shelters falling into disrepair with nobody willing to pay for their upkeep.

Thanks Adam, good innit !

Thanks for that table of detailed info. Adam.

Interesting reading , thanks for posting the link.

January service updates now showing on First Worcester website...

https://www.firstbus.co.uk/worcestershi ... nuary-2025

Droitwich stuff is good to see - is this new, or taken over from someone else?

MattW wrote: ↑

20:24 Tuesday 3rd December 2024

Droitwich stuff is good to see - is this new, or taken over from someone else?

I believe that some of it is taken over from Astons Coaches and some from LMS, and the 22/22A appears to be taken over from "Kevs " (355).

I once lived and worked in Droitwich (briefly) and I have for very many years felt that Droitwich needed a better service, and I'm very pleased that First have got this work.

I've also thought I would like good links with the employment sites to Blackpole and north-east of there, but maybe that will happen later.

The pathetic "haphazard" planning system ( roads, housing, industrial +retail , amenities etc) that this country has suffered since World War Two, means that it would be prohibitively expensive to provide a sustainable bus service for ALL needs !!