Bob – nearly 30 years on…

Bob the Bus has been a familiar sight on the streets of Totnes for nearly 30 years.

The much loved service is currently running scheduled services from Monday to Saturday, linking Follaton and Bridgetown with Totnes town centre. Buses also run twice a week to Stoke Gabriel, Ashprington and Cornworthy. In the last 12 months the charity has clocked up over 40,000 passenger journeys.

In tandem with the regular Bob 1 and 2 bus routes there is a Travel Club. Bob’s Travel Club has over 100 members who for a very low fee, can enjoy regular day excursions, usually monthly, to places of interest across Devon and Cornwall such as Eden Project, Cotehele or perhaps a trip to Weston Super Mare! Bob also provides a private hire service that anyone can book to have a driver for excursions or ferrying people from place to place.

Remarkably, with the five buses, all this is delivered by only two part-time staff and just over 30 volunteers.

Like all small charities, they are always keen to hear from new volunteers. Most of our regular drivers will offer a half-day shift every week or two. Some volunteers prefer to drive for the Travel Club or some of our other community activities, such as park and ride for Totnes Show and the Christmas market. The charity have also just taken delivery of a brand-new bus in May this year and it is just waiting for you to get behind the wheel…

Drivers need a ‘D1’ category (minibus) on their licences. If you qualified before 1997, you’re one of the lucky ones who already has the entitlement included on your licence. If you have sadly missed that bus, (see what we did there?) the process to apply for the category to be added to your licence here. If you’re past the magic age of 70, your licence renewal probably didn’t include the D1 category – but as a volunteer driver, Bob the Bus can help you reclaim your qualification with the help of a free medical examination and they will continually assess, support and mentor your development as a minibus driver.

Not a driver? Don’t let that stop you! Non-driving volunteers are welcome too. If you have a few hours to spare and want to make a real contribution to the community, do get in touch at the email below. They would especially like to hear from anyone with a background or interest in PR, marketing or fundraising.

Bob is invariably a happy journey and the invaluable service remains to enable people living outside the centre of town to access shops, GP surgeries, cafés and other essential facilities. So if you have a business in town, why not sponsor or advertise with Bob? All three service buses carry large passenger information screens, so your static or video advertising message can reach up to 200 regular passengers and visitors each day.

There’s no money in it but the warm fuzzy feeling of contributing to something so tangibly beneficial to so many people is the ultimate reward.

Please get in touch if you can help keep Totnes moving!
Contact Steve Grove, the Chair of Trustees of Totnes and Rural Community Transport
email him here: totnescommunitytransport@gmail.com