A new bus service between Glastonbury and Castle Cary railway station will begin on a trial basis in the near-future after securing council funding.

Castle Cary station serves more than 354,000 passengers per year across a large rural area, with many communities relying on the private car to reach the station owing to limited public transport.

Glastonbury TrainLink has been campaigning for a new bus service to run between the town and the railway station via Pilton and Shepton Mallet, submitting a bid through the Somerset Bus Partnership for £150,000 to cover the cost of running the service for at least six months.

Somerset Council has now confirmed funding for the trial as part of its local transport plan, though it has not indicated how soon such a trial will begin.

Glastonbury TrainLink trustee Nick Hall addressed the issue when the council's executive committee met in Taunton on Wednesday morning (March 11).

He said: "Our trust has been set-up to promote a direct and frequent bus service between Glastonbury and Castle Cary railway station via Pilton.

"We have proposed a pilot scheme and have gained the support of communities along its route, supported by local councillors and MPs.

"Your local transport delivery plan tables a proposed budget for buses – and refers, under 'service enhancements', to the introduction of one trial bus service.

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"Is the executive in a position to confirm that this trial bus service is

the Glastonbury TrainLink?"

The local transport delivery plan commits to the "introduction of a new service on a trial basis" as part of a wider programme backed by more than £3.4m of funding from the Department for Transport (DfT).

This funding will also be spend on adding Sunday services on four existing routes and additional evening services on eight commercial routes from Monday to Saturday.

Councillor Richard Wilkins, portfolio holder for transport and waste services, confirmed: "The trial does refer to Castle Cary railway station, but we are currently reviewing the possible options in which to introduce this. There is no time-scale for this."

Councillor Claire Sully (whose Mendip South division covers a substantial section of the proposed route) urged the council to press forward with the trial as soon as humanly possible.

She said: "For too long, rural communities have been left behind by a bus system designed around profit rather than people.

"That must change – and the Glastonbury TrainLink is exactly the kind of bold, community-led solution that should sit at the heart of this new local transport plan."

Out of 900 people surveyed by Glastonbury TrainLink, 82.7 per cent said they would use a bus to Castle Cary railway station if one were available, and 83.2 per cent said they would always or mostly use the TrainLink service.

Ms Sully added: "These are not marginal figures – they represent a community crying out for a solution.

"A bus connecting Castle Cary railway station through Pilton and the villages on route to Glastonbury would cut car journeys, support our green agenda, and open up access to rail services for thousands of rural residents who currently have no viable alternative to the car.

"The Somerset Bus User Group has long advocated for exactly this kind of approach: services that start with the needs of passengers."

A provisional timetable, along with further information about the proposed service, can be found online at www.glastonburytrainlink.org.

Mr Wilkins(who represents the Curry Rivel and Langport division) responded: "I have very much tried to prioritise the link-ups between various forms of travel, including bus and rail travel – and that's not just with this link, but across the county.

"We appreciate the work that Glastonbury TrainLink has done, and we are very much looking at the best way to deliver link-ups to all our stations.

"We are very much concentrating on building rural transport hubs, where we link up not just buses to trains but also walking, cycling and even river transport, for that matter.

"It is part of our forward plan to look in those areas, but we don't have specifics at this point because we are working on what is best for everybody at this point.

"We are working hard to get to that point, and as soon as we've got details we will let everybody know."