Shropshire Council has found parking income to keep the Meole Brace bus running past 1 November. No end date is set; Bowbrook is floated as a long-term site.
The Meole Brace Park and Ride in Shrewsbury will keep running after 1 November. Shropshire Council had planned to stop the service on that date. On Thursday it said it had found money in its parking income to keep the buses going for now.
No end date has been given. The council calls it a temporary extension while it works out what Shrewsbury’s park and ride should look like in the long run.
What the council said
Councillor Rob Wilson, the council’s portfolio holder for transport and regeneration, set out the decision in a statement issued to local media on Thursday 24 September. The Shropshire Star and Shropshire Live both carried it word for word. It had not appeared on the council’s own newsroom by Friday afternoon.
“Residents have made their feelings about Park & Ride services very clear, and we have listened,” he said.
“By looking again at our parking income, we have found a way to keep Meole running temporarily. That gives us some valuable breathing space to develop the right long-term solution.”
He added that keeping all three sites for good “isn’t the answer either”. His view is that Shrewsbury needs two well-located and financially sustainable sites.
“Bowbrook is one option we should seriously explore, looking too at opportunities to work with the NHS, as well as whether CIL funding could help us deliver the necessary infrastructure,” he said. CIL is the Community Infrastructure Levy, the charge councils take from new development.
What had been planned
The closure was part of the council’s review of 21 bus services whose five-year contracts end this year. Its June announcement said the three Shrewsbury sites would become two from 1 November 2026. Oxon and Harlescott would stay, and Meole Brace would be suspended.
The council’s review document gave its reasons for Meole Brace:
- patronage had fallen in recent years
- it was “no longer viable” to run three separate park and ride services
- the money would be moved to protect inter-urban and rural buses elsewhere
The same document promised evening buses at Oxon and Harlescott from November, running from 6.30pm to 10pm, Monday to Saturday. Thursday’s statement did not say whether that change still goes ahead.
The council said in June it would need an extra £1.25 million to keep all 21 reviewed services running as they were.
Where the money comes from
Parking charges in some council car parks and on-street bays rose from 3 November 2025, the first rise since 2022. The council said then that the extra money would go on car park maintenance, road improvements and public transport. Most of the changes fell in Shrewsbury.
Councillor Wilson’s statement says that parking income is what is now paying to keep Meole Brace open. It does not give a figure.
The petition and the motion
A motion on the service was on the agenda for full Council on 24 September. Councillor Rosemary Dartnall tabled it with the support of the Labour group. It asked Cabinet to consider pausing the closure.
The motion said a petition against the closure had reached almost 5,000 signatures. It also set out what campaigners found by talking to passengers at all three sites:
- about 40% of users live in Shrewsbury and Bayston Hill
- about 40% come from further afield in Shropshire
- about 20% come from outside the county, including overseas visitors
It said wheelchair users and families with buggies found the park and ride buses easier to board than ordinary services. It also warned that Oxon was already at capacity.
How busy the service is
The council answered a public question on the service at the same meeting. In its written response, it said the three services went from every 20 minutes to every 12 minutes in June 2025, paid for with government bus improvement funding.
It gave these averages for the three months either side of that change, across all three sites:
| Before (every 20 min) | After (every 12 min) | |
|---|---|---|
| Passenger journeys a month | about 34,500 | about 38,000 |
| On-board revenue a month | about £28,000 | about £37,000 |
The questioner, Mike Streetly, said the council had quoted recent Meole Brace usage of 135,000 journeys, 30% of the three-site total. He put pre-pandemic use at about 260,000 a year on average between 2013 and 2018. The council did not give site-by-site figures in its answer. It said officers would send them to him after the meeting.
That written answer was prepared before Thursday’s announcement. It still says the retendering review had found three sites no longer affordable.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes on 1 November. The Meole Brace buses keep running on the current timetable for now.
- There is no end date. The council calls this temporary. Watch for a further decision on the site, and on Bowbrook, before you rely on it long term.
- Finding the car park. The entrance is off Hereford Road at the first set of traffic lights north of Dobbie’s roundabout, through the Darwin’s Edge housing estate. The nearest postcode is SY3 9PW, according to the council’s site page. The old entrance from Meole Brace Retail Park has closed.
- Times. Buses run every 12 minutes from 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday, and from 10am to 4pm on Saturday. The last bus back from town is at 6.30pm. There is no service on Sundays or most bank holidays.
- Fares. A return is £2. Concessionary pass holders pay £1 after 9.30am, and accompanied children under 16 travel free. Parking is free. Details are on the council’s fares page.
Driving into the centre instead? Our guide to parking in Shropshire lists the town car parks, and Shropshire roadworks and travel covers current closures.
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