BUS users were today hoping to thrash out a better deal for passengers at a special transport summit.

The Worcestershire Bus Users Group, the County Council and First Midland Red were due discuss potential improvements to the service.

Among its wish-list, the Bus Users Group is pressing for:

6 A one-day ticket allowing unlimited travel within the city.

6 Tickets that allow an hour's worth of travel without the need to buy a new ticket when changing buses.

6 Return fares before 9am to encourage commuter travel.

Mark Young, of the Bus Users Group, said Worcester passengers had seen fares increase three times this year with little improvement.

"All over the country, our members have seen bus companies offering marketing initiatives to promote bus travel, but little of it seems to be happening in Worcester," he said before today's summit at County Hall.

"One of the things we would like to see is a return ticket from the start of the day's business, which at the moment you cannot get.

"There have been swingeing price increases over the last 12 months above the rate of inflation.

"These used to be advertised weeks before they came into effect. Now the company just seems to announce it the night before."

Worcester MP Foster, who was hosting today's summit, said people who lived and worked in Worcester "appreciate the fact that bus fares are expensive".

He added: "This was flagged up when the Conservative city council tried to change the pensioners' bus fare scheme and brought home how expensive they were."

First Midland Red spokesman Austin Birks said he hoped to outline the commercial pressures with which the firm had to deal, but also to restart regular meetings with bus users.

But he warned that a bus transport partnership signed by First Midland Red and the city and county councils as far back as 1996 had shown "very little movement."

"It has always been our intention to plough back our gains into benefits for passengers," he said.