Wrexham’s Shoppa Hoppa Future To Be Decided

If you have been in the town centre over the last few months you many have walked past a bus trundling around. That is the ‘Shoppa Hoppa’ bus, which was introduced to ‘improve accessibility around the town’ and ‘to stimulate economic activity and to help ensure the continued success of the Town Centre through these difficult and challenging times.’

Many we have spoken with believe Wrexham has been split in two, with the traditional shopping areas of the town being detached from the Eagles Meadow development. The introduction of the bus was perhaps to combat this issue, as well as increase circulation of people within the town plus provide for those less mobile.

The Council told us “Shoppa 101 bus has been running as a pilot from 26th March to 29th December with a view of helping shoppers move across the town centre more easily. As we are coming towards the end of this pilot WCBC is starting to assess the success of the scheme.”

Without prompting the Council also told Wrexham.com details of the usage, saying “Monthly passenger numbers have varied from 950 in April 2012 to 905 in October 2012, with a peak of 1129 in July 2012. This equates to approximately 3 passengers per circuit. The majority of passengers using the service have a bus pass which is as expected for such a service.”

In terms of the future we are told “No decisions have yet been taken as to the future of the service and if any changes are to be made then a statutory period of 70 days notice would be given.”

Revenue details were not revealed, however Wrexham.com has sent in an Freedom of Information Request to discover more.

Prior to launch a report stated for the budgets “Based on commercial bus operating costs, provision of the new town centre bus link has been calculated at £35,685 per annum with the proposed works on High Street estimated at around £35,000 to £40,000. These costs will be met through utilisation of Section 106 monies obtained through the planning process from developers paid in lieu of car parking spaces at new developments in the Town Centre. Conditions of use specify that these funds are used to provide/promote sustainable transport access to the Town Centre. Income received from passenger fares (including concessionary fares) will be retained to offset the cost of providing the service.”

You can read our report from April as the Shoppa Hoppa launched by clicking here.

You can read the report prior to the start of the Shoppa Hoppa on the Council’s website by downloading this .doc file.