A long-awaited rail link bus from Glastonbury to Castle Cary station will launch next month, but not on the route campaigners say local communities asked for.

Somerset Council's new 567 service will start on Sunday, 3 August, linking Glastonbury and Street with Castle Cary railway station seven days a week. The trial service will run alongside the existing 667 from Street and is intended to connect passengers with trains to London, Exeter, Plymouth, Paignton, Salisbury, Weymouth and Gloucester.

The council says the route, which will use a low-floor accessible minibus, gives the service the best chance of attracting enough passengers to survive in the long term. It has been developed with support from Great Western Railway and Clarks Village.

But the launch comes after Glastonbury TrainLink pushed for a different route via Pilton and Shepton Mallet, serving Cannard's Grave, Prestleigh, the Bath and West Showground, Ansford and Castle Cary town centre. The group said that route was the one "widely endorsed by the community".

That tension is now at the heart of the new service: Glastonbury and Street get a daily rail link, while Pilton, Shepton Mallet and other communities on the campaigners' preferred route miss out.

Councillor Richard Wilkins, Somerset Council's lead member for transport and waste services, said: "We are delighted to be able to provide this trial service linking Glastonbury and Street to train services at Castle Cary. We're grateful to our partners, GWR and Clarks Village, for their help in promoting the new route.

"It will be good for Somerset businesses, including Clarks Village which is a popular destination for local people and visitors from further afield."

Cllr Wilkins said the service would give people the choice to leave the car at home and save money. He said bus times at Castle Cary had been planned to leave enough time between bus and train arrivals and departures, particularly for London services.

He added: "The route needs to be sustainable in the long term and well used, so we need people to make the most of it."

Glastonbury TrainLink had argued that a route through Pilton and Shepton Mallet would better serve rural communities, workplaces and leisure destinations between Glastonbury and the railway station.

TrainLink member Susannah Clemence told Somerset Council's climate, environment and place scrutiny committee in Taunton on Thursday, 4 June, that the group had invested money, research and marketing work into the route communities had requested.

She said: "We have invested and accumulated considerable resources, both monetary and in professional standard research and marketing work, towards what Glastonbury, Pilton and other communities asked for.

"Namely, they want a bus that serves communities, workplaces and leisure destinations on the route from Glastonbury to Pilton, Cannard's Grave, Prestleigh, the Bath and West Showground, Castle Cary station, Ansford and Castle Cary town centre."

Ms Clemence said the group had compared its preferred route with an option via Street and Keinton Mandeville, which she said was rejected by respondents. She said parish councils and businesses along the campaigners' route had supported the proposal, with more than £29,000 pledged towards initial costs.

Somerset Council rejected that route on viability grounds. Mike O'Dowd-Jones, the council's service director for infrastructure and transport, said the TrainLink proposal had been given "a great deal of consideration", but that the council had to balance local requests against value for money and passenger numbers.

He said: "We recognise the desire for a transport link to Glastonbury to Castle Cary railway station — and that's why we are providing this new service.

"It's important to stress that we need to provide the best value for the available funding we have, and therefore it's not possible to cover all the requested calling points."

Mr O'Dowd-Jones said the council's main concern was that the campaigners' route had "significant limitations" in terms of potential users. He said the route through Street would help attract visitors to both Clarks Village and Glastonbury, while widening the catchment area.

The council is also adding a return journey using the Somerton Slinky service, linking Somerton and Langport with a morning peak train from Castle Cary to London. A direct return journey will run in the evening peak, and off-peak passengers will be able to pre-book the Slinky to connect with the 567 at Keinton Mandeville, subject to availability.

For passengers in Glastonbury and Street, the 567 means a new daily link to the rail network from August. For campaigners in Pilton, Shepton Mallet and communities along the rejected route, it leaves a familiar rural transport question: whether the most viable service is the same as the one people said they needed.

Original reporting: Daniel Mumby/LDRS

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