Shoppers in Rotherham will soon be riding into town for free. A complimentary SYPTE / Travel South Yorkshire funded bus service will operate on a 3 year contract from October 26th 2009. The new free service will be know as 'FreeBee' and shuttle shoppers and all members of the public between the interchange, town hall and Parkgate Shopping complex, for free!

The new service is being funded by the South Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority (SYITA) and will operate to a 3 year contract, ending in October 2012, with the option of extending to a 5 year contract.

The launch of this new service, is expected to raise passenger numbers on the local Rotherham bus network by up to 9,000 people within the first few months of operation, due to the improved connectivity between the town centre and Parkgate Shopping.

The route of the new service will be the following,

Rotherham Interchange, Chantry Bridge, Bridge Street, College Road, Centenary Way, Main Street, Westgate, Canklow Road, Alma Road, Moorgate Road, Moorgate Street, The Crofts, Stanley Street, Mansfield Road, Wellgate, Doncaster Gate, Doncaster Road, Wharncliffe Street, Drummond Street, Rotherham Interchange, Flyover, Centenary Way, St Ann’s Road, Rawmarsh Road, Rotherham Road, Parkgate Shopping, Rotherham Road, St Ann’s Road, Centenary Way, Drummond Street and Rotherham Interchange.

The service will have a total PVR of 3 vehicles and operate to a 12 minute Monday to Saturday service, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. The service will not operate during public holidays. We've also added the new route to our updated Rotherham Network Map, the 'FB' route has become the Rose Line and the Rotherham Network Map can be accessed here.

The new vehicles that are to operate this new route will be 3 Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 Darts, which are currently in production at the Alexander Dennis plant at Scarborough, North Yorkshire at this moment in time.

A detailed timetable is not available at this time, though should be shortly made available on the Travel South Yorkshire website, or if you wish to do so, you may call Traveline on 01709 51 51 51 for further information about this new route.

For further details please visit www.travelsouthyorkshire.com

Thanks,
Staff at South Yorkshire Transport