Councillors agree to spend £5,000 to look at future of Hereford's free Zipper bus service once government funding ends
Government funding to maintain the free Zipper bus service ends in just over a year
Hereford city councillors have agreed to spend £5,000 to look at the future of the city’s free Zipper bus service, once government funding to maintain it ends in just over a year.
The new electrically powered buses were among 15 schemes that secured funding from the Government’s Stronger Towns programme, which was to jointly fund the service along with the city council for four years.
Hereford City Council was to then take on the full cost of the service, as well as being liable for any cost overruns during the project period, according to the original business case made for the scheme.
A report by city council clerk Kim Carpenter said councillors should be “aware of the commitments that were made within the business case and the implications these had over the lifespan of the Stronger Towns projects”.
The city has meanwhile been “progressively raising funds” from its share of council tax to “remove dependency” on the Stronger Towns funding, her report said, from £50,000 in 2023/224 when the service began, to £150,000 for the financial year from next April.
Earlier this year, city councillors rejected the idea of using the “precept” they receive from council tax raised in the city to fund the buses beyond that.
But on September 30 they voted 12-to-one to spend up to £5,000 on a feasibility study, “in partnership with Stronger Towns and Herefordshire Council” to assess how it could be retained in the longer term.
Coun Sam Potts alone voted against the spending decision.