A BUS service running from Kenilworth train station is being axed.
Warwickshire County Council say the service will be withdrawn at the end of May as the number of passengers has been “very low” since the new station opened last year, and it cannot justify renewing the contract.
Council communities strategic director Mark Ryder said: “With around 700 visits each day, the station is obviously being well supported but the vast majority of users are ‘walk-on’. We have achieved our aim of getting cars off the road and getting people walking to the station, using the train and leaving their cars at home.
“As part of the strategy to do this, we also trialled a bus service and we have given it time to see if usage improved.
“However, nearly a year on, our studies show that only a small proportion of people coming to the station use the bus to do so. Clearly, the service is not representing value for money.
“But it was only ever a trial and to have provided it long term was dependent on it being well used which has not been the case.
“While we were able to access funding to build the station, the bus service comes out of our annual budget so having it at the station is in place of another service that we could provide. We simply cannot afford to sustain a service with such a low take up.”
* Kenilworth Station was recently recognised as one of the best public transport projects in the country.
It was highly commended in the Best Large Project Category by the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation.
It highlights outstanding examples of transportation or highways projects which have made a major contribution to the West Midlands.
It was also one of only three projects shortlisted in CIHT’s national Best Public Transport Project category.
