A BUS has been named after a goddess which aims to highlight the routes Romans took in ancient times to gather salt.

The 144 Salt Road bus service - which runs between Worcester, Droitwich Spa, Bromsgrove and Birmingham - has been relaunched with a new theme following the 12 buses which have been named after Roman goddesses.

As part of the launch outside Worcester Guildhall yesterday (October 28), Proserpina was welcomed.

Ady Culpin from First Group said: “We are producing a sticker book for children which will have the 12 goddesses in and a description of what they represent and some history. When they see the name of the vehicle then they can take the sticker out of the back of the book and put it next to the goddess.

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“We then want to take it into school so we can educate children as a project to learn about Roman gods and goddesses in the association of the Salt Road route and how the salt used to be transported. The goddesses were around at that time, so it’s all linked.”

Mr Culpin added: “There’s been a huge amount of interest in it. The Salt Road service was launched last year, and it’s really taken off. We are carrying a lot more people on it now. I think it’s down to the association - people see it and know where the bus goes because it’s got an identity.

“This service has not had any changes made to it in relation to the recent cuts because it’s a different service - it doesn’t run just in Worcester.”

The Salt Road bus service was launched in June 2018, and since then there’s been around an eight percent increase in growth of people using the service, according to managing director Nigel Eggleton.

From next week all 12 of the Roman goddess buses will be running.

The launch of the new service comes after First Group announced numerous cut bus from October 13.