Council check: Gloucestershire County Council

This week, it's the turn of Gloucestershire County Council to tell us about the bus services on their patch.

Where do the buses go?

If we click through to Thinktravel.info, there are two bus maps, one each for Gloucester and Cheltenham, but they aren't the easiest to read and there is no map for the rest of the county. What we do have is this list of all bus routes in Gloucestershire, confusingly hosted on yet another third-party site we need to click through to, with direct links to Traveline's timetables and individual route maps. 2 out of 5.

Timetables

This page lists all bus routes in the county together with direct links to the timetable over on Traveline. 4 out of 5.

Fares

Nothing on single and return fares. The bus operators get a brief mention over on the Thinktravel.info site, but there is no clear information on ticket prices. There is no multi-operator ticket. Plusbus, available in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud, gets a passing mention. 1 out of 5.

Summary

So, there are no maps to help people navigate their way around the county by public transport. The list of bus routes is not really an adequate replacement and will deter some tourists from visiting Gloucestershire. The timetables are easy to find but that's down to Traveline rather than the council. The lack of information regarding bus fares and tickets is shameful. Gloucestershire County Council scores a total of 7 out of 15.