Great Western Coffee Shop

Bridport pensioner has decided to fund his local bus service out his own pocket after a transport company axed Sundays routes through the winter.

Alan Williams, 78, previously financed First's X53 service between Bridport and Weymouth in 2019 and has chosen to do so again.

This year, he has arranged for the service to be extended to Lyme Regis because he believes the route is 'important' to people who use it.

The amount he has paid First has not been disclosed.

Mr Williams said: “I just want to give the community their bus service and to encourage people to use it more.

“I hope it also encourages bus companies to keep such services."

He added: “People still need to travel on Sundays. Some people have got places to be or they have to work and don’t have cars so this service is a lifeline.”

In the short term, admiration and thanks to Alun for taking this initiative and putting his money where his mouth is.    I do worry about those who are in normal funding channels seeking other opportunities to follow the example and get other such benefactors / sponsors to provide money where they should be doing it I a co-ordinated way, I wonder about how this fits with a reliable (over time) and joined up network service, and I wonder whether there’s any motivation on the operator to help market and build traffic and business.

First has now decided the run the service commercially and will refund any charges made to Mr Williams.