News: Free bus for Rotherham town centre

Transport links in Rotherham town centre are set for another boost as FreeBee, a new free bus service, launches on Monday October 26.

The service will run every 12 minutes from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday, and buses will run around the town centre from Rotherham Interchange via Rotherham Central Rail Station, the police station, Westgate, Canklow Road, the Town Hall, Wellgate, Clifton Park and the town centre markets, then returning to the Interchange before heading to Parkgate past St Ann's Leisure Complex, and back to the Interchange.

The new FreeBee bus service will be operated by Powells, and will introduce the first fleet of environmentally-friendly Euro V buses to Rotherham.

The launch in Rotherham follows the announcement that the hugely popular Sheffield FreeBee has recently carried its millionth passenger after launching just two years ago.

Transport chiefs forecast that the introduction of the service is set to increase patronage in Rotherham by 9,000 per month by the end of the 2009/10 financial year.

David Young, Director of Customer Experience at South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) - part of the Travel South Yorkshire partnership - said: "This is great news for Rotherham as it will give a wide range of people the chance to travel easily and for free around the town centre. FreeBee will transform the town centre offering, improving accessibility and connections for all transport users."

Denis Copeland, manager of Parkgate Shopping said: "We look forward to quick, cheap and easy connections so that shoppers can enjoy the range of our large national brands and the more individual town centre shops in one seamless visit."

Last month a pioneering tram-train system was announced that will operate between Rotherham and Sheffield and a £7.5m planned redevelopment for the Central Railway Station is due to start at the end of November.

Travel South Yorkshire website
Rotherham

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