Dorset Community Transport has relaunched its PlusBus services for 2026, following a major review. The reforms are the result of a nine month project to identify communities without a connection to their local town, conversations with existing passengers and other stakeholders, re-routing and rescheduling some services, piloting new routes and evaluating data.
The refreshed network now connects 174 villages without access to mainstream public transport with their local town across 35 routes on either a weekly or fortnightly basis. This represents a significant improvement over the previous network, adding 14 new routes – some as a result of successful pilots, others new for 2026 – and adding new destinations including Poole, Stalbridge and Wareham.
“We’re really pleased that the relaunched PlusBus network can now serve more people in more communities than ever before” said Tim Christian, general manager at Dorset Community Transport. “PlusBus exists to provide transport in places that are not served by mainstream public transport. Old or young, with a mobility difficult or without, if you don’t have easy access to public transport, then PlusBus could be just what you’ve been looking for.”
“I would urge our existing users to check the details of their current services – some routes have changed their times, some routes now call at different places along the way – and some places are now served by different PlusBus services, giving people more choice on where they can visit.”
The new network comes into force on 2 January 2026. You can find full details of the new service here.
