High Wycombe’s Park and Ride service has come under fire after low passenger numbers forced the county council to turn it into a regular bus service.

The town’s Park and Ride – operated by Carousel from the coach way at Handy Cross – has been blighted by problems in its first year of service, with passengers complaining about “unreliable” buses.

Added to this, in September 2017, the Park and Ride buses – which were supposed to provide a frequent and quick service between the coach way and the town centre - were effectively converted into normal bus routes by the county council after the number of passengers using the service “grew only slowly” in its first year.

In a bid to reduce operating costs, the service was “adjusted” and the PR1 and X80 buses run between High Wycombe Coachway, the railway station, Eden Shopping Centre, Wycombe Hospital and Hicks Farm Rise.

Former Wycombe District Council (WDC) leader, Roger Colomb, questioned WDC on their thoughts on the service - considering they made a financial contribution to Bucks County Council (BCC) towards a frequent bus service between the coach way and the town centre.

Cllr Steve Broadbent, economic regeneration boss at the district council, said they had been in contact with the county council about “levels of unreliability” in response to concerns made by passengers.

However, he defended the low usage of the bus service, saying all the potential “attractors” to Handy Cross Hub are not yet in place – and could improve when the proposed office buildings and hotel are built.

He said: “All the potential attractors for people to Handy X Hub are not yet in place, such as new employment uses, the proposed on-site hotel and more regular motorway coach services. Therefore the county council changed the park and ride operation so as to integrate it with other bus services in the area and thereby reduce operation costs and extend the period over which services can be provided.

“I would hope that passenger numbers would continue to increase so people can park and use the services that are available. In terms of financial matters, as a developer, we have paid and we will be making sure we ask the county council to protect the service and the reliability of the service.

“Given the park and ride service has to consider a number of travel needs, it has meant that some compromises were needed with the timetable and at times this can be confusing, particularly if the scheduled journey times have been disrupted.

“We’re looking again at this and have asked Carousel for options as to how we offer a simpler Park and Ride timetable while keeping within the budget available.

“They have also been told to focus on improving punctuality in the short-term and ensure all buses are tracking correctly within the electronic journey system.”

In a statement to Cllr Broadbent, BCC blamed problems with “driver error and significant congestion issues in the run up to Christmas” for the poor service, but said Carousel has assured them the issues had been addressed.