Herefordshire Council, Route 66
Making Buses Easy
More passengers in a month. On one rural route.
The Setting
Herefordshire is a rural county where bus use had been falling for years — like most of the UK.
The council, three separate commercial bus operators, and communities who’d largely stopped expecting the bus to be part of their routine.
We called the programme Making Buses Easy — because that turned out to be most of the answer.
The Discovery
“People weren’t avoiding the bus. They didn’t trust it.”
Not because it was unreliable — because people didn’t know the times, didn’t trust the connections, or assumed it wasn’t really for them.
“I didn’t know if it even still came through here.”
What We Did
Over one year, across three different bus routes in the county.
Before any survey, we talked to people — at community centres, cafes, events for older residents — places people already trusted, rather than trying to build trust from scratch.
Then we tested what we heard with a proper survey, and mapped where perception and reality pulled apart.
The Result
On Route 66, Passenger Numbers Rose 40% in a Single Month
DfT has since shown interest in the programme as a potential benchmark for other rural authorities — timely, given the funding cycle authorities are currently planning for (2026–28).
“This wasn’t really about buses. It was about how quickly a community’s expectations can shift, once you understand what’s actually stopping them.”
Who We Are
oomph is a strategic consultancy that spends most of its time listening to communities before telling anyone what to do.
If you’d like to talk about whether any of this applies to your area, get in touch.
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Stephen Priestnall, CEO at oomph