Surrey’s on-demand service is due to expand to cover more of the county. Surrey County Council first trialled the Surrey Connect service in the Mole Valley area in June 2022, and plans to extend the service to cover more areas from September. The second phase of the network expansion will increase the number of minibuses in use from 12 to 28, which can be booked with as little as 30 minutes’ notice the council says.
The council spent a reported £1.2m on the service in 2023/24 and has budgeted £4.85m for 2024/25 following the expansion of the scheme to new areas. The BBC reports that a further allocation of £3.15m could be spent in 2024/25 for a third phase of the scheme, which would see its reach widened even further.
Central Guildford, Epsom and Redhill will not be covered by the Surrey Connect service, as there are deemed to already be good, predominantly commercially-run local bus services in those areas.
