Villagers reach out to volunteer-run bus service
Residents in a Shropshire village say they’re thrilled that a new bus service – run by a not-for-profit, volunteer-run organisation – will give them more options for trips to and from town.
Villagers in Upton Magna to the east of Shrewsbury had complained that there were not enough buses into town – and said they desperately wanted to see better transport options.
Now, improvements are on the way thanks to the intervention of Shrewsbury MP Julia Buckley and the determination of the villagers. A new mini-bus service will start on June 6.
Having heard the complaints of the villagers over public transport, the MP approached the local community transport charity Dial-a-Ride who have in turn spoken of ‘a genuine and exciting opportunity’ to help villagers, and not just in the short-term.
A community meeting bringing together villagers and representatives from Dial-a-Ride took place earlier this month.
Mrs Buckley said: “The villagers of Upton Magna had aired their views at a community coffee afternoon I hosted. Many said they were desperate to have more buses, and so I suggested Dial-a-Ride, a Shrewsbury-based organisation funded by the council and run by volunteers, and who run an excellent mini-bus service. I thought they might be able to help. And it sounds like they can.
“Of course, if we can make this work for Upton Magna then perhaps there’s scope to make it work in other rural areas as well.”
Dial-a-Ride’s Chief Officer Neil Langford said: “I really do think there’s a genuine and exciting opportunity here, not just to help in the short term but also to give us the chance to rethink how we do things at Dial-a-Ride so we better meet the needs of more rural communities like Upton Magna.
“I’m fully committed to extending what we offer at Dial-a-Ride, including looking at weekend services to align with the wider Shrewsbury Transport Plan.
“There are many different options we can explore with this.
“I’m also absolutely delighted, by the way, that Julia Buckley, in her wisdom, sees us as an organisation that can help in these situations.”
Upton Magna village hall committee members Ann Dalton and Amanda Hartley-Newton have also been in dialogue with Shrewsbury Dial-a-Ride and say they too are excited at the prospect of working with the organisation.
Ann said: “We’re really thrilled. It’s exciting. Dial-a-Ride are very keen. We all want to make this work. It’ll be great to have a service which means we can get in and out of town without using our cars.
“The meeting with Dial-a-Ride was very positive. The idea of a service between Upton Magna and Shrewsbury town centre was very well received and it looks like it’ll be up and running from June 6.”
She said: “Julia Buckley had an extremely positive response from the people of Upton Magna when she visited, and she actually galvanised many other ideas. Lots of the people Julia met were very impressed at the comprehensive knowledge she had about many different things. It was all very positive.
“There’s a large group of us here at Upton Magna involved in maintaining the village hall – but also very involved in many other activities too.”
Ann added that fellow village hall committee member Amanda Hartley-Newton, who has also been instrumental in setting up the new arrangement with Dial-a-Ride, is, for example, also involved in the Ramblers and is deeply interested in care of the countryside, and that the committee as a whole was concerned about the climate emergency and keen to pursue environmentally-friendly initiatives.
“This of course ties into Dial-a-Ride and into reducing car traffic. There’s a great deal going on in Upton Magna around sustainability, another example being that we’ve recently started working with the Food Hub.”
