A Sunday bus service between Ledbury and Hereford will continue with financial support from Herefordshire Council.

But a service connecting Ledbury and Great Malvern is among those that will end later this month.

The Bus-It scheme, which has been providing free weekend bus travel around the county, will end on Sunday, August 28.

And with it, the least-used Sunday services are being cut.

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The five most popular services will still be funded by the county council, however, so will continue to operate seven days a week.

Herefordshire Council says the Bus-It scheme, which was funded by a Government Covid recovery grant, proved “extremely popular”, with thousands of passengers using the free service each month.

John Harrington, cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, said: “We introduced free weekend bus travel to encourage people back onto public transport to visit new places following the pandemic to help support residents and the local economy.

“I hope that people have enjoyed using the scheme and found there are alternatives to using the car, sitting back and taking in the scenery as they travel around our beautiful county.

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“I hope it has shown that you don’t necessarily have to drive to places you could get a bus to, or that teenage children can take the bus to places like the skatepark instead of being driven by car.”

Cllr Harrington said the council knew it couldn’t afford to fund the scheme in the longer term and it was “bitterly disappointing” that an £18 million bid to improve bus services in the county had been rejected.

“We are continuing to consider ways we can work with our valued local bus operators to improve our local bus services to make them a more convenient and attractive way to travel.”

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The buses continuing to operate on Sundays are the 476 Ledbury-Hereford, the 34/40 Ross-Monmouth, the 420 Bromyard-Hereford, the 461 Kington-Hereford and the combined 426/492 Leominster-Bodenham-Hereford service.

The Sunday services ending on Sunday, August 28, are the 36 Monmouth-Hereford, 454 Fownhope-Hereford, 675 Ledbury-Great Malvern and 496/401 Pembridge-Leominster.