Our scruffy little corner of Gloucestershire seems to have made it onto the national news, courtesy of our Shelter Arts project to decorate the bus shelters in the Parish.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-gloucestershire-53941318

The one in your photo looks great but I don’t know about some of the others in the article

We decorate bus shelters up here. But our artists work late night after work and go for a mainly beige pointillistic look

Great

I'm surprised you have buses..!!

They're all empty around here.

I don't think we do either. I can't recall the last time I saw one with anyone on board. I did put together a business case outline for a ride-hailing/scheduling service for a company to lease electric minibuses and operate them onusing an Uber-style app. The idea is that you'd have a app or website where you could pre-book a bus, either regular trips or a one-off, then a scheduling algorithm would work out the appropriate route and stops, and base the fare and time on the result.

So if you order a trip that loads of other people use at the same time it would be dead cheap, if you want a special one-off trip it's going to cost you like a taxi would. There could also be a bit of negotiation. You tell the app "I want to get from my house to the town centre by mid-day" and the app might respond "Be outside the Dogfondler's Arms at 11:00 and it'll cost you a fiver, otherwise it's £10" or whatever.

It's a cracking idea, and if I was a thrusting young entrepreneur I'd be at this like a rat up a drainpipe, but frankly I can't be arsed.

My old mum uses something similar called 'dial a ride' but I think only over 65's can use it, so obviously I'm not eligible she proudly announced last week that she had her own personal bus & driver to take her into town as she was the only one on board

We have a bookable bus service:

https://www.bwcabus.traveline-cymru.info/about-us/

On a trip to Cuba back in March, we noticed a lot of people gathered at road junctions on the outskirts of larger towns, some laden with shopping bags, suitcases etc.
They were all awaiting a free lift to their destination! A government appointed transport officer, called the “yellow man” ( due to his uniform) notes required destinations from the queue then flags down approaching cars and if their destination matches someone waiting, they are obliged to take them. Anyone refusing to stop gets fined!
Apparently, the average wait is about 20 minutes.
Tourist buses are only exempt when they have tourists on board. Following our trip homewards to the airport, our coach would be obliged to pick up passengers on his way back to the depot!

No vandalism in Stroud Tim?
Such artwork I fear would not hold its pristine state for long in some areas of our fine country...sigh.

There's this one at the top of town in Malvern.