23/09/2024 - Permalink

New dedicated Ludlow park and ride service to begin on 5 October

Related topics: Highways, transport and environmental maintenance

A new, dedicated Ludlow park and ride service will begin operating on Saturday 5 October 2024 – with improvements to Ludlow’s town centre bus services being introduced at the same time.

Ludlow park and ride is currently integrated with the town centre bus network with multiple stops between the ECO park and the town centre.

However, from 5 October there will be a standalone, 722 park and ride bus that operates from the ECO park and provides an express shuttle to Ludlow Railway Station, Corve Street and the Assembly Rooms.

The park and ride will operate from 7.30am until 5.30pm, Monday to Saturday and the fare will be just £1 return until 31 March 2025.

Meanwhile there will be some minimal changes to the 701 North Ludlow town service with buses operating around Sandpits, Rock Green Estate, Stanton Road and Livesey Road as before, and school journeys also accommodated on the route to Ludlow CE School.

There will also be a new 702 South Ludlow town service – an upgraded variant of the current 722. And between 12noon and 2pm a combined 703 service will operate in place of the 701 and 702 to accommodate driver breaks while ensuring the whole town is covered throughout the day.

Ian Nellins, Shropshire Council’s deputy Leader and Cabinet member with responsibility for public transport, said:

“We’re working hard to deliver a public transport system that the county will be proud of and I’m delighted that we’ll soon be making improvements to Ludlow’s park and ride and town centre services. I know these will be welcomed by many people.

“These changes have been made possible by the award of £1.8m of Government funding which has also made it possible for us to halve the park and ride fare in Ludlow and Shrewsbury, and also improve the Shrewsbury to Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury to Market Drayton services – with more improvements on the way.”

Minsterley Motors has been awarded the contract to operate these services.

The improvements have been made possible by the award of £1.8m from the Department for Transport (DfT) to Shropshire Council following the submission of its updated Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) in July 2024. It’s one of many planned improvements to bus services across the county – all of which are included in the BSIP.