A new bus service has been introduced providing peak time journeys between Budleigh Salterton and Exeter.

The 358 bus runs between Otterton and Exeter city centre on weekdays and is aimed at commuters and students needing to travel at the beginning and end of the working day.

The maximum single fare has been capped at £2 until the end of this year.

The bus leaves Ottery Street in Otterton at 07.05, calls at East Budleigh at 07.13 and then has two stops in Budleigh Salterton: Granary Lane at 07.17 and opposite the Public Hall at 07.22. It also calls at Woodbury and Topsham, arriving at Exeter RD&E Hospital at 08.14 and the city centre bus station at 08.21.

The return bus leaves Exeter city centre at 17.05, reaches the hospital at 17.13, and arrives in Budleigh Salterton via Topsham and Woodbury at 18.00. The service ends in Otterton at 18.15.

The 358 service is run by Stagecoach and is financially supported by Devon County Council. The service has been delivered through the county council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, funded by the Department for Transport to the tune of £14 million for the period from 2022 to 2025.

Under the Bus Service Improvement Plan, the county council works with local bus operators to make services ‘more frequent, more comprehensive, easier to use and better integrated with other modes of transport, to make buses an attractive alternative to the car for more people’. There was a focus on improving reliability and punctuality, making ticketing simpler, smartening up bus stations and installing better lighting at bus stops. One of its aims was to provide more frequent buses between Exeter and the surrounding market and coastal towns, as a sustainable transport option for journeys into and around the city. The introduction of the Otterton to Exeter peak-time service is one of these measures.