Park and ride buses to provide free transport for hospital staff

Shropshire Council is to deploy its park and ride buses and drivers to provide free transport between Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals for hospital staff, in particular a number of student nurses that need to travel between Telford and Shrewsbury each day for training

Following a fall in passenger numbers the Shrewsbury park and ride service will be suspended after the last journey this Saturday (28 March) until further notice.

Steve Davenport, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for highways and transport, said:

“We’ve held really positive discussions with our health and hospital colleagues about how we could best use the park and ride buses to benefit their staff once the service comes to a temporary end this weekend.

“I’m delighted that from next Monday we’ll be able to utilise the buses and drivers to transport our fantastic hospital staff between Telford and Shrewsbury hospitals, especially student nurses who need to travel for training.

“We’re also intending to run buses at a regular frequency throughout the day so that staff can come and go as needed – so we’ll continue to talk to our health colleagues to understand at what times the service needs to operate.”

Meanwhile Shropshire Council is also working with its partners to identify where transport services can best be deployed to support essential services, key workers and our communities. Several initiatives are currently being discussed and these include:

• Supporting our community transport providers.
• Assisting in the distribution of pharmacy where needed.
• Delivering essential supplies to vulnerable groups.
• Providing public transport solutions that reflect the needs of essential services and keyworkers.

Councillor Davenport added:

“We’re looking to utilise our own internal fleet, council staff and the numerous commercial bus and taxi operators that have contacted us wishing to help in the current situation, and we hope to make further announcements soon.”