Both the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) and First bus recently consulted on changes to some bus services from 7 April. Routes in Sheffield affected include 10, 10a, 24, 31, 32, 52a, 58, 72, 72a, 73, 97, 135, 137, M92, X1, X5, X10, X78. If you use those services check before travelling!
Supertram changes operator from 22 March with Stagecoach’s operating concession coming to an end. A new publicly owned company (controlled at arms length by SYMCA) will take over as the new operator. There are no changes to services planned initially but there will be some changes to ticketing with it no longer being a Stagecoach service. Supertram runs on four routes – Blue route from Halfway to Malin Bridge, Purple route from Herdings Park to Sheffield City Centre, Yellow route from Middlewood to Meadowhall and Tram Train from Sheffield to Parkgate via Rotherham Central. The maximum single fare is currently £2.80 and various unlimited travel passes are also available.
Although there has been plenty of talk recently about cuts to bus services in South Yorkshire that happened in the last year or two, mainly due to the South Yorkshire Mayor not having sufficient budget to support as many non-commercial bus services and subsidised fares that he’d like to it is worth reminding there has been good news when it comes to buses into Derbyshire with the County Council implementing their Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) they successfully won government funding for. From Sheffield this includes route X17 with more buses to Matlock, an hourly extension via Matlock Bath to Wirksworth and an evening service between Sheffield and Chesterfield; route 218 gaining an evening service between Sheffield and Bakewell; route 272 gaining a later last bus from Sheffield to Castleton on Fridays and Saturdays; extension of Sunday journeys on route 257 beyond Yorkshire Bridge to Glossop and Castleton; extension of evening and Sunday journeys on route 44 beyond Dronfield to Chesterfield. Other buses from Sheffield into Derbyshire include the 65 to Buxton, 43 to Chesterfield via Dronfield, 50/50a to Chesterfield via Eckington and 53 to Mansfield via Clowne.
The majority of buses in our area continue to have the £2 maximum single fare offer funded by the government, there are also various unlimited travel passes available.
For public transport information in South Yorkshire visit travelsouthyorkshire.com, for Derbyshire visit derbysbus.info.