Parish Councils Climbing Aboard

We are now in the final stages of our Start-Up fundraising for the new 232 Daffodil Line bus service between Ross-on-Wye, Newent, and Ledbury, and we hope to have the service on the road in time for Easter. 

This week we’ve received pledges of financial support from Dymock and Linton Parish councils – thank you! 

Next week it’s the turn of Much Marcle Parish Council to vote on whether to support the new bus service. 

Much Marcle is in a slightly different situation to the rest of us. For all the other communities along the route, the new 232 will replace bus services axed by stagecoach back in February last year. 

Much Marcle hasn’t had a regular bus service for quite some time – which seems crazy considering the size of the village and its location just off an A road. 

When we were doing our trial runs for the new service we found that adding Much Marcle into the route put just 4 minutes onto the journey time and still allowed us to complete the Ross to Ledbury run in under an hour. 

So it seemed like it would be rude not to include Much Marcle in the route. 

We hope that having a regular 7 days a week bus service every 2 hours to Ross, Newent, and Ledbury will be a benefit for people in the village. 

And for the rest of us along the route, having the option of taking the bus to visit Hellens (who have already made an amazing pledge of support), Westons Cider Mill, the country pubs, and walks in the area is going to be a real plus. 

We’ve asked each of the parish councils along the route to consider donating £2 per voter. This is going to be the cost of a return bus fare from a village to the next town. For Much Marcle this would come to £1,140. Fingers crossed they think we’re worth it!

The council will be debating our proposal at their next meeting on Tuesday 24th. All council meetings are open to the public, so if you’re a local resident why not go along and have your say?

So thanks again to Linton and Dymock parish councils for your support and watch this space for more news – we expect to be able to confirm a start date and exact timetable for the new service in the next few weeks.