I was expecting a lovely, quiet ride in the countryside on this trip with Minsterley Motors from Shrewsbury down to Ludlow. What I found instead was a bit of a surprise to me. A bus that tried its hardest to stick to a really tight timetable to the extent that it made the ride uncomfortable and just a bit too fast (in my opinion). Does that make it unsafe? Well, I’d love to know your thoughts on that.
It’s a lovely part of the world this though, at the speeds the bus was going, it was really difficult to appreciate the countryside. But I’ll try and show you some sights as best I can!
Thanks as always guys for taking the time to watch my videos. All likes, comments, subs are massively appreciated and it really encourages me to make more content for you all to enjoy.
Cheers for now.
Mark
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📖Chapters
00:00 – Introduction
00:45 – Down to the Bus Station
03:50 – Shrewsbury to Church Stretton
07:18 – Church Stretton to Ludlow
13:07 – Summary
Picture Credits:
Route map: OpenStreetMap (annotated)
https://www.openstreetmap.org/
Old Shrewsbury Bus Station: Johnragla (no changes made),
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1967_Rowley%27s_House,_Shrewsbury.jpg
Stokesay Castle: Tony Grist (no changes made), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stokesay_Castle_from_churchyard_2.jpg
Good morning guys from my hometown of Shrewsbury in Shropshire where today I was thinking well maybe I should do a local trip quite a few people have commented saying well why don’t you showcase some of your local area and the things you can you can see and do and and the
Ways to get there as well so I was racking my brains a little bit and I thought well maybe I could do um I could do a decent journey of about an hour and 15 minutes without actually leaving
The county and what is it well it is going to be this the 435 bus route from Shrewsbury all the way down to Ludlow in South Shropshire now Ludlow apparently is a historic Township so we’re going
To see what it’s all about aren’t we come with me we’ll get on the bus and I’ll catch you in a bit. OK well I was walking from the Quarry Park in Shrewsbury towards the current bus station in Raven Meadows which, incidentally, took me past the site of the old bus station (which is
Now a car park). I have fond memories of the towns Midland Red and Hotspur buses and the old green Crosville country buses arriving and departing from here. There’s not much going on now sadly but you know everywhere needs a car park these days don’t they.
Round the back of the shopping centre (next to another car park) is the existing bus station which is, in my opinion, a horrible dark space and a bit run down as well. It is handy for shoppers though. I think it may be earmarked for closure at some point in the near future
And the buses will just stop on the street. There is also a National Express stop here on the Aberystwyth to London route which I have used a couple of times in the past and most of the longer distance (or country buses) park up in this waiting area here prior to driving
Onto stand. Right Shrewsbury bus station, I’ve just found out it goes from Stand N and it’s yeh this one here the 435 to Ludlow via all these little villages and towns as Isaid an
Hour and 15 minutes all the way down there so we’ll see how it goes. It’s not a bad day for it so weather-wise it should be alright a few things to see hopefully. I’ll see you in a bit. There’s a handy timetable here with the country buses operating from stand N and
This was the one we were catching today – the 10:55 due to get into Ludlow exactly 1 hour and 17 minutes later at 12:12. There was already a bus here which looked like the one I should be
Catching but it was actually going somewhere else and was on the other side of the stand. Bit of confusion because the 435 which goes to Ludlow is parked up in the I dunno country bus car parking area over there and it should be at stand N in 8 minutes time another bus
Has rocked up the 552 which goes to Plox Green that’s kind of towards Bishops Castle way and the driver got off and he’s just wandered off somewhere so it’s occupying the 435’s space whether that changes to the 435 I don’t know there’s a couple of passengers on it so
Maybe I can do some investigative work but yeh not sure what’s going on at the moment. Well I wandered back over to the stand and yeh I think stand N has like two sides to it or
Something? Because a couple of minutes before it was due to depart, our bus made its way over and parked up on the road side of the bus station (if that makes sense). YJ65EVU an 8 year-old Optare MetroCity operated by local firm Minsterley Motors from er Minsterley.
Myself and a couple of other passengers boarded the bus at this point. Price for today’s journey (and in accordance with the Governments single bus journey price cap currently in place) was just £2. We departed on time and proceeded to drive through the medieval streets of Shrewsbury doing a couple more pick-ups, after which there
Were 11 people on board. I was the youngest I suspect the only one who had actually paid any money at this point! Incidentally, for comparison purposes a normal single from Shrewsbury to Ludlow on the train would’ve been £9.50 at the time of this recording so it’s not
A bad deal really in that respect. Though if you manage to make it to the end of this video, I would be interested to know if you’d prefer to pay the extra £7.50 and taken the train. On the outskirts of Shrewsbury now, we’d left the A49 main road and were heading towards one
Of the villages on route – Condover. We were going at quite a pace here and the road was fairly bumpy. The ride didn’t feel particularly smooth and tbh I thought we were going a little bit too fast if anything for this size of bus and the width of the road in places. Btw,
I can assure you, this video has not been speeded up at any point. Have to say, I wasn’t really enjoying the experience, at least there was a solid bar in front of my seat to hold onto. As we came across another narrow stretch of road,
Our driver had to brake suddenly and my phone flew into the aisle!! I mean, this is not ideal is it! Turned out another massive Minsterley Motors bus was threatening to emerge from a junction ahead so I guess we were taking evasive action. Note there were no seatbelts on this bus,
If there had been, I’d certainly have mine on at this point. Mercifully, we were off the ‘yellow roads’ (as per Ordnance Survey maps) and back onto the A49 (thank God) at Dorrington which is a small village, 6 miles south of Shrewsbury.
There did used to be a railway station here on the main Welsh Marches line, but that closed in 1958. The road crosses over the line just south of the village as you can see here. And it’s at this point that we catch our first proper glimpses of the Stretton
Hills really with The Lawley, Caer Caradoc and Ragleth rising up to the left of the main road. As you can see, we’re already turning off again, this time to our right onto the B4370 towards All Stretton (it’s effectively the back road into Church Stretton). Again this enables
The bus to pick up/drop off passengers in the smaller villages along the way, which is really what this route is designed to do. I’d moved to the back of the bus by this point as I thought I’d be closer
To the emergency exits located on both sides of the bus should the need arise! The bus itself, well there was space for a wheelchair at the front. Three lateral facing seats on either side and an extra one behind the driver. 2:2 seating plus 5 at the
Back gave a total of 44 seats all-in-all. Other than seating, no other facilities were provided really. No visual stop displays or audible announcements, no usb provision, no WiFi (you must be joking!), no anything really not even any nice advertising on the bus or promotion of the route which
I thought was a bit surprising considering leaflets were available telling you all about it. okay uh Church Stretton a minute early actually um I tell you what it doesn’t hang about going down those country lanes and timetable it’s quite tight isn’t it so you know
It doesn’t really allow for much um lag in terms of um getting from Shrewsbury down to Church Stretton it’s hard going see how the rest of it goes Yes and this was the thing really, the timetable didn’t seem to leave much margin for error and as such, it felt like the driver really
Had to get a move on to stick to it. I don’t know how they’re designed or who sets them but I do know that a lot of bus and coach drivers watch my videos and I would love to hear your thoughts on
This. I don’t know whether there are punctuality incentives or performance related pay or what, but I would have been hard-pushed to do this in the time allocated in my car – let alone a bus! Quite a few passengers got off at Church Stretton. I was tempted but decided to eat
A banana instead to calm my nerves. Nicknamed Little Switzerland in the late Victorian and Edwardian period due to the surrounding hills. Church Stretton is a quaint, slightly touristy market town with the beautiful Cardingmill Valley and Long Mynd rising above it – it
Really is a lovely place to visit and don’t worry, you can get a train here if you want to. And to the south of Church Stretton we have Little Stretton (some great pubs in this village btw) Little Stretton also had it’s own halt on the Welsh Marches line, closed at the same time
As Dorrington in 1958. We pass over the line once more and back onto the A49 which we stay on for about a mile and a half before turning off again towards Bushmoor which, I must admit, I’d never heard of before this trip. And we meet another Minsterley Motors bus coming
The other way on this tiny lane. Watch out for the guy on the bike here who, quite sensibly, took cover in a nearby driveway! After the hamlet of Bushmoor (where surprisingly someone got off), we headed down the ancient lane which was once part of a Roman Road to Wistanslow
And back onto the A49 into Craven Arms (there is not much to see in Craven Arms believe me) though the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre may be worth a look if you want to know about the local geology. The most interesting feature is just south of the town – Stokesay Castle,
One of the finest examples of a 13th century fortified manor house in the whole of England. Well-worth a visit, you may catch a slight glimpse of it here on the right as we drive past.
We’re on the A49 for quite a bit now so I take this opportunity to have a look at the seat. It’s basic, quite firm on the back and the cushion area and not much leg room either. There wasn’t much leg
Room in any of the seats I tried to be honest. And overall, basic is probably an appropriate description for the bus and probably the worst bus I’ve been on in all honesty. Maybe I’ve been spoilt with some of the previous journeys I’ve taken like the Witchway between
Manchester and Burnley, the Excel between Peterborough and Norwich or the Coastriders from Leeds. Fantastic buese but I do have to remember that these services are conveying passengers between major population centres. Shropshire really is a comparative backwater and the demand just
Isn’t there. Tbh, I’m surprised these large buses are being used at all because surely something like an Optare Solo would be much better suited to some of the lanes on this route? We reached the level crossing at Onibury (without incident) where we had to wait for one of the new
Transport for Wales class 197’s to pass, making its way south. There’s a lovely restored station building here – another one that closed in 1958 but there’s much more to see with this one and whoever lives here has obviously dedicated a lot of time to maintaining it’s history.
After that, it was fairly plain sailing as we kept on the main A49 before forking off towards Ludlow. I thought long and hard about releasing this video, because I was aware that it could be seen as click bait or over the top (or both). But,
Whilst I run the risk of never being able to show my face in the bus station again, this was my 100% honest experience of the trip and that’s what you saw in the preceding footage. I was looking forward to just a nice steady ride around some beautiful villages and countryside
But in reality it was nothing like that. And the reason why? Well, as I said before, the timetable just doesn’t seem to allow for any delays or hold-ups so the drivers they’re on it all the time.
Now I don’t think anyone would mind if, say, an extra 10 minutes or so was added onto the route. It would give the drivers more time which would make for a more comfortable ride for passengers. The first part of the route in -particular (between Shrewsbury, Condover
And Wistanslow) seems very tight. And let’s face it, if you’re in a rush to get to Ludlow, you’re not going to take the bus are you, you’re gonna take the train. This is a service for local people (and maybe a few
Tourists) between the towns and villages on route – that is the point of it from what I can tell. Anyway, that would be my suggestion but let me know yours. I’d be interested to know what you think.
And before anyone leaves one of those ‘what do you expect for £2’ type of comments well, safety is number one isn’t it, whether you’re paying £2, £100 or nothing. We arrived into the centre of Ludlow bang on time, I thanked the driver (as is customary)
And got off the bus. He quickly sped off again as soon as possible and I just took a minute at the side of the road to sum up my experience of the last hour-or-so. Well what did you think of that guys that was the Shrewsbury to Ludlow 435 service with Minsterley Motors
Do you know what that should be called an express shouldn’t it because the timetable doesn’t allow for any kind of slowness whatsoever so you know the the driver he really had to do his best to stick to the times and that meant
A lot of fast driving down country lanes and some narrow misses as well is the bus too big for this kind of Journey I mean there was only about 10 passengers max at any one time and um
Yeah the bus itself there’s nothing on it really is there well at least we got some seats and one or two other things but let me know what you thought in the comments below uh I’m
Off to have a look around Ludlow now it’s a lovely town this is so um thank you very much for watching I hope to catch you on another adventure soon and as always guys cheers for now
25 Comments
Your not wrong Mark…Shrewsbury bus stations an absolute dump, considering it's the main Shropshire Town and welcomes visitors from all over.
In regards to the tight timetabling, that's usually put together by somebody sat in an office miles away, whose never been to that area. Or, Councils put them together in areas like Shropshire where they subsidise most services.
I'd presume Minsterley Motors don't use the "Greenroad" safety App that observes drivers braking/accelerating/cornering etc.
The longer vehicle is probably used as this route may get busier at particular times, i.e: with school kids or during market Days
Apologises for the essay, but that's a bus drivers perspective
i've been a driver in Manchester for 10+ years i suspect you will find it's a combination of the local council setting unrealistic timetables because it's a tendered paid for route and having spent part of my life living in Ludlow and Church Stretton the A49 is a vert unforgiving road especially in a large vehicle
Did you have the courage to go home with the same bus company
Bus or train. Hmm well first time be bus then at least see some of the smaller towns/villages. After that by train.
Hi Mark, good video as an old driver it's the same everywhere I used to drive around Brighton and its busy
Hi Mark, Minsterley Motors works out of Stiperstones up in the hills above now.
My son used to take this bus from Shrewsbury to Church Stretton to go to school as had moved from Church Stretton ,Howver the way the timetables ran he took the train in the end as otherwise he had to wait in the town for an hour for the school to open and a long wait at the end of the day as well .
The thing with Optare buses when fitted with the Cummins ISB6.7 engine (rather than the 4.2-litre Mercedes) is that Optare don't restrict the throttle response or set low engine speeds for gear changes like Alexander Dennis (for example) would do, so abrupt and quick acceleration is available to the driver.
The fact that the bus was an Optare tells us everything we need to know. The very embodyment of cheap and nasty, with the benefits of a poor ride and terrible seats. If I had joined you using my buspass I'd have felt that the cost was too high! It's a very good way of getting people to use their cars.
As it happens, I know the area as my mother's family hailed from just outside Craven Arms. The 'Arms' (named after the pub) used to have an important sheep market and was a nice little town, but progress happened and the last time I visited it was a shadow of what it had been. Just a small point, it's Stokesay with the 'a' pronounced as an 'a' rather than an 'e'.
I hope you have recovered from the battering!
I have travelled on thes 125 bus service stourbridge to bridgnorth via highley and i found from bewdley to bridgnorth section on the narrow roads the bus is going very fast i would not like to drive that fast. so i can agree with you. thanks for a truthfull report.
I've done that trip loads of times Mark as I used to live in both Ludlow and Shrewsbury and whilst it's an excellent Shropshire Hills day ranger scenic bus route along the lines of what they have in the Yorkshire Dales and Dartmoor, you are right – nearly everyone in both Ludlow and Craven Arms prefers the train to get into Shrewsbury for speed. Before deregulation, the bus was the farthest south Midland Red North 'Hotspur' would run, and it was numbered 956. Then it was renumbered 435 when Midland Red West got it (along with the 436 bus to Much Wenlock and Bridgnorth) and operated from Ludlow. Then it lost the tender to Whittle/Go Whittle and operated from their former base in Ludlow and for many years it has been Minsterley Motors. The good thing about Shrewsbury bus station was that when it opened, it was convenient for both the Darwin and the Riverside shopping centres – the sad demise of both those places have of course contributed to the sad demise of the bus station.
"I had a banana to calm my nerves" – this kind of voiceover gem is what has me coming back again and again. Golden ❤
Guessing it depends on how quickly you need to get between Shrewsbury and Ludlow,and vice versa. Whilst the bus journey would be free for me (one of the few peak of being visually-impaired…I get free bus travel in England) although given the limited (?) onboard facilities, I’d probably be tempted to take the train with a railcard discount. What we didn’t see in the video Mark, was you dashing into a pub in Ludlow to get a pint to calm your nerves after that experience…!!
thanks for highlighting these timetable issues.I am a driver in a rural setting and have to constantly flirt with legality to complete my journeys on time.i call my route the hamster wheel because once youre in the cab you cant get out again for a breath of air as you are constantly chasing your tail.my theory is that the route was timed at 0400 on christmas morning on a motorbike and god forbid that you stop to pick up or alight passengers as there is little or no allowance made for this.from a drivers point of view it is frustrating and more than a little depressing and some of these route planners should be in jail.one theory i heard is that they cane the drivers this way to fit more journeys in during the daily operating period.it really is awful mark.please consider the poor bugger in the driving seat on your entertaining journeys.cheers pal.
I use the 21 from Lakeside of Ellesmere to Reabrook (with my disabled concessionary pass), and I can't remember the last time I saw someone pay for it instead of using a concessionary pass!
Highly agree! Optare Solo bus will be perfect for this route.
Plus: front axle in this bus is at very front, so tight corners are easy.
Our bus operator in Derbyshire replaced Optare buses to bigger ones, only because high demand.
But before replacement, I always was amazed how many people can squeeze into one 😉
Thanks Mark very enjoyable video I have never been in the area so it’s great to see 👍
Hi Mark, I agree with what everyone else is saying. I'm a bus driver in Plymouth and our duties are set by the Exeter office. They dont seem to get there own rosters right, let alone ours.
I do sympathise with drivers. The timetables are a guide however and it is better to run late and safe rather than rush through. I get complaints that I'm a minute late sometimes. How ridiculous!
That green road safety system is an interesting one. Its on my buses and each time a particular bus is serviced, its seems the system is fiddled around with. I may then get an event on one bus but not on the other for driving exactly the same way. Cheers
Great video and very fair comments. These sorts of bus journeys are very familiar to me in West Yorkshire cities.
I didn't realize that Crosville got to Shrewsbury as it was pretty firmly Midland Red territory.Maybe National Welsh got in to Shrewsbury to from the south as well.Crossville was a unique NBC subsidiary in that it ran services in Wales and England mainly just the Midlands but some of it's services got north of the Mersey encountering Ribble.
The timetable scheduler obviously drove the route on a motorbike at 4am on Christmas morning.
Good video mate, definitely a look at the "real" service. As many have said, I doubt the driver has much choice. Shame really.
I've done the 435 route from Shrewsbury to Ludlow. Tbh, it was fine. Quite a good route too tbh
I really enjoyed visiting The Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre. Thank you for another brilliant video
Hope you took the train back!