Taxi Driver Online

UK Newsquest Regional Press - This is Worcestershire

July 12, 2006 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Rural call for taxibus

DATELINE: Redditch

A COMMUNITY leader is calling for the popular taxibus scheme to be extended into some of the town's rural areas.

Redditch councillor Antonia Pulsford, who represents Astwood Bank and Feckenham, praised the service and is requesting it be made available to some of her constituents. "When the initial routes were chosen, Astwood Bank residents were told they'd be next on the list, but nine months later it still hasn't extended here and people are losing out," she said.

Taxibus operates as a normal bus at designated stops from 8-11pm Monday to Saturday, then as a taxi when not serving the route. It offers a 20-minute service on route 51 and 55/56. Worcestershire County Council has already revealed it is looking to expand the scheme, including the use of a bigger vehicle.

The county's passenger transport development officer Chris Wilson said if the scheme continued to be successful it could be extended to other areas including Astwood Bank. The council also reiterated its commitment on providing more evening services for Redditch. This could be through more taxibuses or other innovative forms of passenger transport.

Mr Wilson added: "We're looking at every possible avenue to provide the services people want. Having quality evening services not only requires people to use the evening service, but also more people need to use buses during the day. "That way, commercial operators will consider it worthwhile to invest in evening services, which otherwise have to be subsidised by the county council."

The scheme is operated by A Touch of Class on behalf of the county and Redditch councils and funded from the Urban Bus Challenge 2003, a grant from the Department for Transport. For timetables, call Traveline on 0870 608 2608 or visit www.worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables
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