A new trial bus service linking two Staffordshire towns and the villages in between has got off to a great start with encouraging passenger numbers in its first few weeks.
The year-long county council-funded 151 service runs from Stone to Rugeley and was launched this month. It will call at Aston Lodge (replacing service A), Burston, Sandon, Weston, Hixon, Great Haywood, Little Haywood and Colwich.
An hourly service now runs from Monday to Saturday, with nine journeys in each direction between just before 9am and 5.30pm. It means people can easily access shops and leisure facilities in both towns, as well as the many businesses and attractions on the route, including pubs and eateries, Shugborough (from Great Haywood), Wolseley Bridge, Bishton Hall and more.
Initial take-up has been good, and now people are being urged to continue to use the service to build a case for its continuation. The county council’s transport team will monitor the service and passenger numbers throughout the year’s trial period.
The 151 timetable is available on the county council’s bus travel webpage.
Andrew Mynors, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Connectivity said:
This new service has had a great start with encouraging passenger numbers in the first few weeks.
It is serving communities along the A51 corridor, connecting them to both Rugeley and Stone on a route where there hasn’t been a continuous link for number of years.
We’ve worked closely with the town and parish councils to get this trial service off the ground. We’d urge people make regular use of the service when they can, as forward plans will depend on passenger numbers.
This route hasn’t had a regular service for several years and it will be a welcome addition for people of all ages.
It’s a priority to us to ensure our residents have a choice of transport options to access work, education, health and leisure services so we’ll continually review our bus network so that it’s efficient and targeted where services are needed most.”
Brendan McKeown, Stafford Borough Councillor for Haywoods & Hixon said:
We’re pleased that as anticipated the new service has been well received and people have got on board already.
We’ve worked with the county council to launch the 12-month trial service, which is a generous period.
After our hard work and planning to get to this point, we hope as many people use the service as possible, as its future will depend on passenger numbers over the next 12 months.”
