A MAJOR strategy on how the council plans to provide transport in the next decade is set to go before the public.

Councillors are set to allow a 12 week consultation into Worcestershire County Council’s transport plan which would give the public the opportunity to voice their thoughts on how the bus system should be run.

The review would look at every form of transport, including commercial and subsidised bus services, home-to-school transport, community transport and social care transport.

The county council currently spends around £30 million a year on a range of services including transport for children and adults in care as well as transport for students to and from home and school and for the elderly and disabled who travel to day centres.

The review would also look at fares and ticketing, real-time bus information, bus shelters and integrated transport between bus, rail and cycling.

Once approved, the document would set out the council’s vision for transport up to 2030.

Cllr Alan Amos, cabinet member for highways, said the council needed to focus on residents who do not drive to avoid the “scourge of loneliness and social isolation.”

He said: “Rather than facing twice yearly cuts of bus routes by the bus companies, I want to put the whole network onto a much more secure longer-term footing by finding out what services people actually want, what they’re prepared to pay for, and how the county council can assist both financially and logistically with it all.

“In particular, we want a network that allows people to get to and from work, school, shopping, healthcare, leisure and social activities, and going to the library. I am keen to develop community transport for the more remote areas.

“On home-to-school transport and SEND provision, I am sure we can run things in a better and more cost-effective way by getting rid of duplication and ensuring our services are better co-ordinated and rationalised.

“It is a big task but we need to be ambitious and innovative to ensure we have long-term provision for a county-wide network.”

First Group, one of the country’s biggest transport companies and the biggest provider of buses in Worcestershire, announced last week it would be selling off its operations in the UK as it looks to focus on the US market.