West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has welcomed improvements to a county bus service which will allow more people to use public transport around Pershore and into Worcester. The 50s service has been enhanced to ferry passengers between Evesham, Pershore and Worcester and will also benefit people living in villages like Eckington, Besford, Defford and Birlingham. First Buses, which operates the service, has agreed to make the changes to try and encourage more people to use public transport with a focus on getting people into Worcester. The company worked with local town councils and parish councils to create a bespoke solution and will run the service to assess demand. Harriett commented: "I welcome the initiative shown by First Buses to work with local community groups to identify where there could be demand for an enhanced bus route. "The company has agreed to trial this service to see if it can encourage more people to get on the bus rather than drive into Worcester and pay parking charges. "The economics of this route are very tight but only a handful of extra passengers using the service each day could make a huge difference. "As ever, the message is 'use it or lose it' and I welcome the hard work of the Vale Public Transport Group which continually lobbies for better local services and has been the driving force behind this service improvement."