Nippy new bus on the road

Wednesday 11 March 2015

A new bus is taking to the Island’s country roads and the hunt is now on to find people to drive it.

The new Mercedes Vito, like one of the big black taxis you see in town, will pick up and drop off in St John, St Lawrence and St Mary.

The new community transport is part of the "Your ParishLink" service set up by LibertyBus using profits from the main bus service and will be driven by a team of volunteers, trained up by the company.

Francesca Rotheram from LibertyBus said: "Passenger numbers have risen by just over 11% year on year and therefore, a profit has been made. This success means that some of the profits can now be reinvested into other transport services for the Island other than the main stream bus network, such as Your ParishLink.

“The new, high specification vehicle is small enough to access the smaller roads on the Island, yet can also accommodate a passenger using a wheelchair on board. The service will operate a “pavement to pavement” service, based on ‘hail-and-ride’ service on designated routes.”

It won't cost any more to ride on the new bus, fares are the same as on other buses and you can hop onto another of the bigger ones with your ticket without having to pay twice but you will need an AvanchiCard or concessionary pass as the drivers won't accept cash. 

If you'd like to help drive the bus you can apply by contacting Nikki Withe on 828550 or email: nikkiwithe@hctgroup.org, or you can speak to your local Connétable.