Councillor Matt Cowley visited the Harpenden Hopper today

Today, the Harpenden Hopper Team were delighted to welcome Councillor Matt Cowley to join the minibus for part of the morning shift. Matt is the Conservative County Councillor for Harpenden South West and one of the Conservative Councillors for Harpenden South on St Albans City & District. It is always a pleasure to welcome our local politicians on the Hopper minibus; the Hopper Team is so pleased when the politicians show interest in how the Harpenden Hopper serves the local community. There’s no better way to find out than to step onboard and talk to the volunteer driver and our lovely passengers. So that’s what Matt did; he joined the bus at Church Green (in the pouring rain) and was met by Harpenden Connect Chair (and founder of the Harpenden Hopper), Andy Buchanan, together with Peter Hart, Company Secretary and Trustee. Matt was interested to know how the Hopper service was started and how it has developed over the past 10 years - particularly with passenger numbers. He spoke to a number of our regular passengers and could immediately see the little social community that has developed within the passenger groups and the drivers. Matt stayed on the Hopper for the town loop (Townsend Road-Barnes Dean-Clarence Road etc) and also for the second Southdown loop. He said that the session had been very informative and he had learned a lot. He will be a great supporter going forward. Being a politician the session involved an obligatory couple of photos - see Matt with Andy Buchanan below.