First bus made some changes to their timetables on 3 September, much of this was adjustments to journey times to reflect traffic congestion and there have also been some changes to evening services. This does include some bits of good news including a later last bus to Totley on weekdays.
Coming up on 29 October is much more significant change. This will see reductions in evening and Sunday services on routes that are operated with subsidy under contract to the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, additionally there will be some changes for buses run under contract to Derbyshire County Council. At the time of writing the majority of the planned changes hadn’t been announced so keep an eye on travelsouthyorkshire.com for Sheffield buses and derbysbus.info for Derbyshire buses.
From CAMRA’s point of view having buses available to get you to and from pubs, particularly at the most popular times for socialising and leisure activities which is evenings and weekends, is important and we are concerned at the prospect of more cuts to services in South Yorkshire. There are already parts of the city with no buses at these times and not being able to get to the pub and enjoy socialising is bad for mental health as well as potentially leading to pubs going out of business from lack of custom if they are relying on customers travelling from further afield than their local neighbourhood – not everyone can afford regular use of taxis!
There are some further positive developments included in the 29 October changes we are aware of however, including the introduction of a later evening service on the X17 between Sheffield and Chesterfield and also the extension of evening and Sunday services on route 44 through to Chesterfield. The recently introduced improvements to evening services on the 218 and 257 to Bakewell and 272 to Castleton are also to continue. Many of these improvements are being supported by Derbyshire County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) package funded by the government.
The previously reported Peak Sightseer open top bus tour between Chatsworth, Baslow, Calver and Bakewell ends its daily summer service at the end of September but will continue running at weekends until Christmas eve if you still want to give it a go!
The 1 November sees some changes to fares with the government subsidised bus fare cap increasing from £2 to £2.50 and the end of the South Yorkshire Mayor’s Zoom Beyond card trial, which offered 18-21 year olds travel at 80p per ride. It may also sees the £2 fare on trams funded by the South Yorkshire Mayor end – details here are not yet announced. If you are taking more than one ride a day or travelling regularly check if one of the unlimited travel passes will save you money.