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Service 963: Service History

Service 963 (2004–2005)

Operated by First Midland Red Buses Limited

Service 963 was introduced on Tuesday 1^st June 2004 (the Monday was a Bank Holiday) by First Midland Red Buses Limited with funding from Worcestershire County Council under their “easyLINK” scheme. The scheme was to provide improved bus services in rural areas, and initially this service provided a link between Upton-upon-Severn, Hanley Castle, Hanley Swan, Fruitlands, Poolbrook and Great Malvern. Four fragmented journeys were provided each day, but only one of these ran the whole route.

On Monday 6^th September 2004, Service 363 was re-routed through Little Malvern on journeys towards Malvern, as the difficult turn at the top of Upper Welland Road was deemed to be unsafe now that larger vehicles were being used. At this time Service 963 was changed to serve Upper Welland, not Upton-upon-Severn, thus maintaining a link between the village and Malvern.

The service was operated using one of two B16F Koch Mercedes-Benz 411D minibus. These vehicles were mostly used in the Malvern area for on-demand “flexiLINK” services where passengers would need to telephone the County Council control room beforehand to request the service, however, certain services such as Service 963 were run to a convention timetable and were know as “easyLINK”.

With the revised route, three journeys towards Malvern and two return journeys were provided Monday to Saturdays, with buses running via Welland, Hanley Swan, Hanley Road and Barnards Green to Great Malvern. In addition, all except the last journey ran via Fruitlands, Poolbrook and Sherrards Green.

The “FlexiLINK” services were short-lived and all were withdrawn on Monday 5^th September 2005. Although part of the “EasyLINK” scheme, Service 963 was also withdrawn and a replacement service was not provided meaning people wishing to travel towards Great Malvern would have to walk to the main road.

Route Summary