CALLS have been made for a 'modern and innovative' approach to public transport by councillors who took up a challenge to use bus services for a month.

From April 9, a £175,000 subsidy for seven rural bus services – which was reintroduced on a one-year trial period for 2015 to 2016 – was withdrawn.

It affected services across the county but one man, 23-year-old Jordan Creed from Ross-on-Wye, launched a campaign and petition asking Herefordshire Council to ensure it did not cut its bus subsidy completely.

As part of his campaign, Mr Creed challenged all Herefordshire councillors to use the bus for one month.

Those who took up the challenge included Herefordshire councillors Liz Harvey, Jim Kenyon and Ross town councillor Daniel Lister.

Cllr Harvey, who lives in Ledbury and has already completed the challenge, said: “I was happy to support Jordan’s call for councillors to take-up the bus challenge because I felt it was important both to support him as a young person taking action over an issue affecting him, his friends and his community – but also because as a group It’s Our County has championed the cause of public transport in Herefordshire since our inception in 2010.

“Most of my meetings were during the day and as a councillor I don’t have a regular pattern to my week, so I was able to fit my meetings around the bus timetable. I recognise that many people who rely on the buses to get to work and back don’t have that luxury.

“Even so, using the bus to get to and from my councillor work did make my working day longer than it would have been had I used the convenience of my car. It also meant I didn’t go shopping – I just came straight home.”

She said she also struggled slightly to find out what options were available for other bus journeys than her regular one.

“I’d like to see the council investing in some of the phone Aps you see in other parts of the country and in getting buses with GPS on board so passengers get real time information about where the buses are and how long they need to wait before catching one,” she said.

Her calls for modern technology to be installed in buses were echoed by Cllr Kenyon, who said there needed to be an 'innovative approach' to public transport in the future.

"It would be wonderful if there was a little bit of modern technology so people could connect to the internet," he said. “This is what we need to be looking at in the future.

“We need to look at innovative ways of approaching public transport. I didn’t achieve my aim but I didn’t think I would for a minute but I took up the challenge to see how difficult it was and it was difficult to get to meetings and to my work with the bus service we have got."

Town councillor Daniel Lister added that he took up the challenge to support a local resident and because the bus service is an important service connecting Ross to the surrounding areas.

Mr Creed said he will continue to campaign for public transport and is calling for anyone with any ideas for community transport schemes to get in touch.