BUS passengers in the Malvern Hills district will have the chance to air their views next week.

The district council's overview and scrutiny commission, which last year looked at trains, is now turning its attention to buses.

At its meeting on Tuesday (January 18), the commission is setting aside 30 minutes for members of the public to ask questions or raise problems.

At the meeting will be Pete Brown, Worcestershire County Council's head of passenger transport, along with a representative of First, the region's largest bus operator.

Smaller bus companies that run services in the district have also been invited, although so far only Malvernian Tours has confirmed it will be sending a representative.

Members of the local Older People's Forum and the Young People's Council will be at the meeting as well.

Commission chairman Di Rayner said: "We looked at trains and now we will look at buses.

"What we want to do is find out the rationale of when and where the buses run and what the strategy is to provide transport for people to and from work.

"For instance, one thing that always annoyed me is that there's no direct bus linking Malvern with County Hall and the hospital on that side of Worcester.

"Anyone wanting to get there has to go to Worcester and change there. No-one who has to get there and back each day is going to bother with that."

The meeting starts at 7pm at Priory Lodge Hall, Avenue Road, and all are welcome.

At September's meeting of the commission, representatives of rail operators pledged to improve services including better timetables, faster trains, live information boards and a facelift for Great Malvern station.

It followed interest in the issue sparked by the Malvern Gazette & Ledbury Reporter's 'Not Getting There' campaign.