ALMOST 70 per cent of Advertiser readers said they would be willing to pay to use the hospital hopper shuttle bus that ran between hospitals in Redditch and Worcester.

This paper reported that the service, which gave patients, visitors and staff the chance to travel between the Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester, and the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, was axed yesterday Friday, August 11.

The reason given by hospital bosses was “the number of passengers who have used the service has been too low to make it financially viable longer term”.

Responding to a poll on this website 69 per cent of people said they would be happy to pay a small fee to use the bus.

28 per cent of people said they would not be happy to pay a small fee and that it should be free, while just three per cent said they weren't sure if they would pay or not.

Bosses at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust have said an alternative “community transport option” will be in place from early September and it will be an on-demand service but people will be charged for it.

There are no more details at the time about what the transport option will be or how much people will have to pay to use it.