Town Centre ‘Shoppa Hoppa’ Bus Finally Scrapped

Plans to scrap the ‘Shoppa Hoppa 101’ bus link were passed this afternoon in the Council Executive Board meeting, as we predicted last week here.

The bus service, which was introduced as a trial in March 2012 as a way to transport people to the main retail units in the town, was scrapped following low passenger figures.

Since the trial came to an end in December, performance figures have shown little to no increase in patronage since its inception.

Cllr Bob Dutton said: “Unfortunately we have not been able to get the number of passengers we had hoped for. It’s costly and hardly anyone is using it.

“It was bravely put in place around 12 months ago, regrettable as it is, now is the time to bring it to a halt.”

In November last year, the Council revealed the details of passenger usage to Wrexham.com, with numbers varying from 950 in April 2012 to 905 in October 2012. This peaked in July 2012 with 1129 people using the service. This equates to around 3 passengers per circuit.

Cost per passenger has exceeded £1.50, which Cllr Dutton has branded last week as ‘uneconomical’, with total costs forecast at exceeding £35,000.

Cllr David Bithall described the service as a ‘brave effort’ that was ‘worth trying’. Light heartedly he said “Despite the Chief Executive travelling up and down on a few occasions its not worked, it was worth trying and was a brave effort” *

However consultation with traders in the Town Centre has shown there has been little support for the continuation of the bus service, with many traders finding the service has had little effect on their businesses.

The recommendation to cease the bus service was met with unanimous agreement from the rest of the board.

There is an ongoing thread on our Wrexham Forums about the closure of the Shoppa Hoppa service, you can read and take part by clicking here!

* One wag also mentioned something unprintable about a Lady Godiva style invite for the Chief Exec…!