Wiltshire Council’s new Wiltshire Connect on-demand bus services in the Pewsey Vale area has had a hugely successful start, the operator says, with more than 5,000 passengers travelling on the service in the first two months. The service, which launched at the start of August, initially covered the area west of Pewsey, from Pewsey to Devizes, but will be expanded with the addition of two additional vehicles from Monday 30 October, covering the rural area to the east of Marlborough to Hungerford.
To celebrate these new buses, a Wiltshire Connect bus roadshow visited the town of Marlborough on 25 October to give residents the chance to find out more about the on-demand service. Passengers using the service can travel between any designated pick up and drop off point within each of the scheme’s designated travel zones.
Wiltshire Cabinet Member for Transport Cllr Caroline Thomas said: ”Wiltshire Connect has been a fantastic success so far, with more than 5,000 passengers using the service, and more than 2,400 people downloading the easy-to-use smartphone app. We want to build on this success and that’s why we’re launching another service covering the Marlborough and Hungerford areas on 30 October. We’re also taking our Wiltshire Connect roadshow to Marlborough Market for people to find out more about the service.
“It’s really easy for people of all ages to book their bus journey on the smartphone app, or by calling our dedicated phone line, up to seven days before they wish to travel or with as little as 30 minutes’ notice. We’re also working on a web-based booking portal to give people even more options to book their ride. We have committed to having vibrant, well-connected communities with improved rural bus links in our Business Plan, and Wiltshire Connect does just this, and also links to GWR services at Pewsey, Bedwyn and Hungerford stations.
“We are also currently holding our bus services review, so if people would like more on-demand buses – or other services – we’d love to hear from them.”
Alongside the new demand-responsive service, a new direct route 100 bus service between Marlborough and Devizes will also launch on 30 October, offering a semi-flexible service that sticks to a planned route and timetable but can deviate from the route on demand; there will be four journeys in each direction from Monday to Friday. A new timetabled service 110/120, plus the Wiltshire Connect on-demand service, will also replace the existing services 20 and 22 from Marlborough to Great Bedwyn and Hungerford, whilst revisions will be made to the timetable of existing route 101 between Pewsey and Marlborough.
